Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
Parallel translations
- WEB not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God;
- BSB not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God;
- NKJV not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
- NASB not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
- NLT not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Believers are not to live in lustful passion like those who do not know God. Knowing God should change how one handles desire.
Overview
Paul contrasts the believer's purity with the "passion of lust" that marks the Gentiles "who don't know God." Ignorance of God and unbridled desire go together, while knowing God produces self-control. Sanctified living visibly distinguishes God's people from the surrounding culture.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Gal 4:8Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
- Acts 17:30–31And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
- Eph 4:17–19This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
- 2 Th 1:8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
- Col 3:5Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
- Eph 2:12That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
- Rom 1:26For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
- Rom 1:28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
- 1 Pet 4:3For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
- 1 Cor 15:34Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
- Rom 1:24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
- Matt 6:32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
- Luke 12:30For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
- Acts 17:23For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
- 1 Cor 1:21For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The believer waits for God's Son from heaven, Jesus who delivers from the wrath to come and who will return to gather his people to himself.
How 1 Thessalonians 4:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.