The Christian's Worship Duties

Paul has just addressed the relationship of the congregation to its pastors and the congregation individually to one another (vv.5:12–15). Now, Paul turns his attention toward instructing the church while corporately gathered in worship. It is true that these characteristics should mark every Christian’s life, and so, at first, they may not look like a passage on worship. However, here, Paul’s eight commands grammatically appear as encouraging guidance for worship in the gathered Thessalonian church.1