Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Thessalonians 4:2

"For ye know what charge we gave you through the Lord Jesus." — 1 Thessalonians 4:2 (ASV)

So Paul stimulates his converts’ memory of what he and his companions had told them. He characterizes their previous ministry as a delivering of “instructions” (or “commands”; GK 4132). These were binding because they were given “by the authority of the Lord Jesus.”