“Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God” (1 Thessalonians 4:1).
The phrase “abound more and more” indicates an excess or overflow. In effect, that Christians, learning what God requires of us, should work to grow and grow in these things to the point that they are immeasurable. Abound in what? Anything that pleases God!
In the previous chapter Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to “abound in love to one another and to all” (3:12). After these words in (4:1), he includes as an aspect of pleasing God to be sanctified. This means to have a life that is characterized as righteous or holy.
Specifically, he writes, “that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor” (3). Such a call to purity and celibacy outside of marriage (cf. Hebrews 13:4) is mostly ignored in our day but has great importance placed upon it by God.
Any type of sexual activity outside of marriage between a man and woman is NOT abounding more and more in pleasing God!
