1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

1 Thess 4:9 “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. 10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; 11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing."

“But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” We may ask ourselves when and how are we taught of God and not man to love one another? We look to the following verses of scripture to answer that question:

1. 1 John 4:16 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” Here we are taught that God is love and thus the very nature of God is love.
2. 1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” Here we are taught that God is the very source of love and that everyone that loveth is born of God. This of course has reference to the Spiritual birth.
3. James 2:8 “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:” Here we are taught that love is the fulfilling of the royal law. A royal law is a law given by the King. This law was given by our King Jesus Christ.
4. Heb. 8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:” The laws written in our heart and put in our mind are the laws of God or the royal laws, which are love to God and love to our neighbor.
5. Heb 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;” See the reference above.
6. Gal. 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” The first of the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit is love. We love because we have been born again.
7. 1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” Thus we know we have passed from being dead in trespasses and sins unto Spiritual life because we love the brethren.

From the above we can conclude that God wrote his laws of love in our heart in the Spiritual birth and gave us a nature that mirrors his nature of love. Thus we have a loving nature in the inner man because God gave us this nature in the inner or spiritual man that is born of God. As a result we are taught of God to love one another and do not need someone to teach us to love one another. Now this is true for those who are born of the Spirit.

"And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;” Paul had previously commended the members of the church at Thessalonica for their labor of love. They were already manifesting love toward the brethren in all Macedonia. Paul then encourages them to increase their love even more and more. That should be our desire as well that we not only continue in the love that we have to others but that we increase in our loving others more and more throughout our lives.

“And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;” Here Paul commands the brethren to do three things: study to be quiet; do their own business; and work with their own hands.

To study to be quiet means to refrain from meddlesomeness or unnecessary speech. We should refrain from meddling in the lives of others:

1. 2 Thes. 3:11 “For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.”
2. 1 Tim. 5:13 “And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.”

To do our own business means we should engage in taking care of the things we are responsible for and to not practice unsolicited meddling in the business of others. The Lord gave us a good example of that when Peter asked the Lord what would he have John do: John 21:20 “Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? 21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? 22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.”

Moreover, Paul encouraged he brethren to work with their own hands. This principle is reinforced in the following verses:

1. Acts 20:33 “I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. 34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. 35 I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
2. 2 Thes. 3:10 “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”
3. 1 Tim. 5:8 “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”
4. 2 Thes. 3:11 “For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.”

“That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.” Paul has shown the members of the church at Thessalonica that if they follow the things that he has instructed them in then they will wlak honestly toward them that are without and that they will have lack of nothing, either spiritually or naturally.