For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from lewdness.

for this is the will of God, your sanctification; that ye abstain from the whoredom,

For this is God's will - your purity of life, that you abstain from fornication;

For the purpose of God for you is this: that you may be holy, and may keep yourselves from the desires of the flesh;

For this is God's purpose – that you should be pure; abstaining from all immorality;

For this is the will of God. This is doctrine of a general nature, from which, as from a fountain, he immediately deduces special admonitions. When he says that this is the will of God, he means that we have been called by God with this design. "For this end ye are Christians -- this the gospel aims at -- that ye may sanctify yourselves to God." The meaning of the term sanctification we have already explained elsewhere in repeated instances -- that renouncing the world, and clearing ourselves from the pollutions of the flesh, we offer ourselves to God as if in sacrifice, for nothing can with propriety be offered to Him, but what is pure and holy. That ye abstain. This is one injunction, which he derives from the fountain of which he had immediately before made mention; for nothing is more opposed to holiness than the defilement of fornication, which pollutes the whole man. On this account he assigns the lust of concupiscence to the Gentiles, who know not God. "Where the knowledge of God reigns, lusts must be subdued." By the lust of concupiscence, he means all base lusts of the flesh, but, at the same time, by this manner of expression, he brands with dishonor all desires that allure us to pleasure and carnal delights, as in Romans 13:14, he bids us have no care for the flesh in respect of the lust thereof. For when men give indulgence to their appetites, there are no bounds to lasciviousness. [1] Hence the only means of maintaining temperance is to bridle all lusts. As for the expression, that every one of you may know to possess his vessel, some explain it as referring to a wife, [2] as though it had been said, "Let husbands dwell with their wives in all chastity." As, however, he addresses husbands and wives indiscriminately, there can be no doubt that he employs the term vessel to mean body. For every one has his body as a house, as it were, in which he dwells. He would, therefore, have us keep our body pure from all uncleanness. And honor, that is, honorably, for the man that prostitutes his body to fornication, covers it with infamy and disgrace.

Footnotes

1 - "Il n'y a mesure ne fin de desbauchement et dissolution;" -- "There is no measure or end of debauchery and wantonness."

2 - "Au regard du mari;" -- "In relation to her husband."

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification - It is the will or command of God that you should be holy. This does not refer to the purpose or decree of God, and does not mean that he intended to make them holy - but it means that it was his command that they should be holy. It was also true that it was agreeable to the divine will or purpose that they should be holy, and that he meant to use such an influence as to secure this; but this is not the truth taught here. This text, therefore, should not be brought as a proof that God intends to make his people holy, or that they are sanctified. It is a proof only that he requires holiness. The word here rendered "sanctification" - ἁγιασμὸς hagiasmos - is not used in the Greek classics, but is several times found in the New Testament. It is rendered holiness, Romans 6:19, Romans 6:22; 1-Thessalonians 4:7; 1-Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 12:14; and sanctification, 1-Corinthians 1:30; 1-Thessalonians 4:3-4; 2-Thessalonians 2:13, and 1-Peter 1:2; see the Romans 6:19 note; 1-Corinthians 1:30 note. It means here "purity of life," and particularly abstinence from those vices which debase and degrade the soul Sanctification consists in two things:
(1) in "ceasing to do evil;" and,
(2) in "learning to do well." Or in other words, the first work of sanctification is in overcoming the propensities to evil in our nature, and checking and subduing the unholy habits which we had formed before we became Christians; the second part of the work consists in cultivating the positive principles of holiness in the soul.
That ye should abstain from fornication - A vice which was freely indulged among the pagan, and to which, from that fact, and from their own former habits, they were particularly exposed. On the fact that they were thus exposed, and on the reasons for these solemn commands on the subject, see the Acts 15:20 note, and 1-Corinthians 6:18 note.

This is the will of God, even your sanctification - God has called you to holiness; he requires that you should be holy; for without holiness none can see the Lord. This is the general calling, but in it many particulars are included. Some of these he proceeds to mention; and it is very likely that these had been points on which he gave them particular instructions while among them.
That ye should abstain from fornication - The word πορνεια, as we have seen in other places, includes all sorts of uncleanness; and it was probably this consideration that induced several MSS., some versions and fathers, to add here πασης, all. Directions of this kind were peculiarly necessary among the Greeks, and indeed heathens in general, who were strongly addicted to such vices.

(2) For this is the will of God, [even] your (b) sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
(2) This is the sum of those things which he delivered to them, to dedicate themselves wholly to God. And he plainly condemns all filthiness through lust, because it is altogether contrary to the will of God.
(b) See (John 17:17).

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification,.... Which is another reason to enforce the above exhortation. "Sanctification" is internal or external. Internal sanctification is the work of the Spirit of God, and is a principle of spiritual life in the soul, a divine and spiritual light in the understanding, a flexion of the will to the will of God, and a settlement of the affections on divine things, and is an implantation of every grace in the heart. External sanctification arises from this, and lies in holiness of life and conversation; and is what is chiefly designed, as appears both by what goes before, and follows after: and this is "the will of God"; the will of his purpose and decree; for in the same decree that he wills the salvation of any by Jesus Christ, he also wills their sanctification in heart and life, and here and hereafter: and this is his approving will, or what is well pleasing in his sight, being agreeable to his nature, and divine perfections, particularly his holiness, in which he is glorious; and it is his will of command, and what he requires in his law, which is holy, just, and good, and perfectly agrees with the sound doctrine of the Gospel, and the revelation of his will in both.
That ye should abstain from fornication: which is particularly mentioned, abstinence from it being a branch of external holiness; and because that this sin was common among the Gentiles, and not esteemed a sin by them; as also to observe to these Christians, that as simple fornication was not to be allowed of, much less other acts of uncleanness, as adultery, incest, sodomy, and the like, which were iniquities that greatly prevailed among the Heathens. The Syriac version renders it, "from all fornication"; on this subject the apostle enlarges in some following verses.

For--enforcing the assertion that his "commandments" were "by (the authority of) the Lord Jesus" (1-Thessalonians 4:2). Since "this is the will of God," let it be your will also.
fornication--not regarded as a sin at all among the heathen, and so needing the more to be denounced (Acts 15:20).

This is the will of God. What he had taught them was the will of God and needful to their sanctification, or holiness of life.
That ye abstain from fornication. The student of the Epistles will note how often this command is repeated to Gentile churches, a fact easily explained when we remember that fornication was considered no sin among the heathen.
That every one of you should . . . possess his vessel. Should restrain his bodily desires, and make even his appetites holy.
Even as the Gentiles which know not God. Even the greatest of heathen moralists, Socrates, instructed a harlot how she should conduct her shameful business. The heathen moralists condemned unchastity only in the case of a child-bearing wife, as it would wrong her husband not to know the paternity of her children.
That no man go beyond. Beyond the bounds of purity, so as to wrong his brother. In our age, to assail the purity of wife or daughter is counted as a fearful crime against the family.
The Lord is the avenger. He will punish the adulterer, or libertine.
Unto holiness. The Christian calling demands purity of life.
He that despiseth. Who considers not the rights and welfare of his fellow-beings, and invades the purity of the home, let him know that it is God he despises, not man. God has required of him holiness instead of uncleanness.
Giveth his Holy Spirit. The temple of the Holy Spirit must be holy. To defile it, that is ourselves, is to insult God.

Sanctification - Entire holiness of heart and life: particular branches of it are subjoined. That ye abstain from fornication - A beautiful transition from sanctification to a single branch of the contrary; and this shows that nothing is so seemingly distant, or below our thoughts, but we have need to guard against it.