Historic pastoral reading
Joy in God is real. Treating happiness as the test of God's will is not how the letters talk.
1 Thessalonians 4:3
God wants you to be happy.
The text
WEB
3 For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality.
KJV
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication.
What kind of text
- Letter
- To a church
- God's will
Paul names God's will as sanctification, not a mood.
How Christians have read this
Common misuse
Used to bless a choice because it feels good.
What the next verse does
The next verses keep talking about holiness and how to treat a brother.
Older commentary
Matthew Henry
Henry on 1 Thessalonians 4:3: this is the will of God, your sanctification.
Charles Spurgeon
Spurgeon preached joy in God. He did not reduce God's will to a mood.