Apostolic Goals III ~ Purity: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, especially vs. 7: "For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness." Yesterday we traced St. Paul's spiritual logic from faith to love and on to holiness, learning that holiness manifests itself as one acquires purity of heart, soul, and body. The Faithful take up the transforming work of purity with the aid of the Holy Spirit by engaging actively in the life of the Church. The primary goal of this work is restoration of one's natural purity. Earlier, St. Paul spoke of this goal generally (1 Thess. 3:13). Now, he addresses holiness more specifically (1 Thess. 4:3,4). He focuses on sexual purity, encourages abstinence from immorality, alerts us to the inner struggle against the passion of lust (vs. 5), and illumines the damage which sexual immorality wreaks in the human community (vss. 6-8).
The early Church faced a highly indulgent sexual milieu, one that is paralleled for the contemporary Church in modern society. The pagan, Greco-Roman world embraced every sort of carnal vice, including gross sexual practices even within its religious rites. Prior to the Lord's Incarnation, Judaism already recoiled against the debauchery accepted by the majority culture.
The author of Wisdom, facing pagan, Hellenistic society, observed that "...making idols was the beginning of fornication...And this became a hidden trap for mankind...whether they kill children in their initiations, or celebrate secret mysteries, or hold frenzied revels with strange customs, they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure, but they either treacherously kill one another, or grieve one another by adultery, and all is a raging riot of blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury, confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors, pollution of souls, sex perversion, disorder in marriage, adultery, and debauchery" (Wis. 14:12,21,23-26). Does not Hellenistic culture read like the tabloids of today, that hold up all the sordid details to titillate their readers' prurient hungers?!
The Apostles inherited godly attitudes from the Lord Jesus and the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Naturally they opposed sexual vice. While the Church knew that the Mosaic Law alone would not provide salvation, yet the Apostles did not throw out the morality of God's ancient Covenant. They understood that the Law was a clear explication of the will of God for moral life. Their goal was to fashion a new, "holy nation, [God's] own special people...once not a people, but...now the people of God" (1 P. 2:9,10). Hence, calling the Faithful to the will of God for sanctification - "that [they] should abstain from sexual immorality" (1 Thess. 4:3) was natural to St. Paul and reflected his own relationship with God and others.
In addition, St. Paul addresses the problem of restraining sexual vice at its source - in human passions and lusts. Christians should possess themselves in sanctification, "not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God" (vs. 5). How does one control "his own vessel in sanctification and honor" (vs. 4) and attain purity of heart and soul? Each must watch over his inner life, for in the Lord's words: "...whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt. 5:28). Inner victory is the key to pure behavior.
The worst aspect of sexual immorality, as the passage from Wisdom quoted above reveals, is the shredding of trust, fidelity, and loyalty. It disrupts honest interaction among people (1 Thess. 4:6,7). Adultery defrauds the spouse of the offender, even as sexual sins also affront God, take advantage of the community's trust, and reject the Holy Communion of the Life-giving Chalice. The sexual sinner rejects "God Who has given us His Holy Spirit" (vs. 8) to assist us in attaining purity in every aspect of our lives.
Thou, O God, dost unite us in purity and holiness; keep us in Thy ways all of our days.