Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Thessalonians 5:19

"Quench not the Spirit;" — 1 Thessalonians 5:19 (ASV)

Paul now shifts from the personal life to communal worship (vv.19–22). “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire” alludes to the Holy Spirit as a burning presence (cf. 2 Timothy 1:6). In particular, this is his impartation of specialized capabilities for ministry to people in the body of Christ. In his discussions of spiritual gifts elsewhere (Romans 12:6–8; 1 Corinthians 12:8–10, 28–30; Ephesians 4:11), Paul distinguishes eighteen such special abilities—half of which involve speaking publicly. When he commands, “Stop putting out the Spirit’s fire” (lit. translation of v.19), he advocates stopping something already being practiced. Perhaps gifts other than prophecy (cf. v.20) had been abused, so that the more sober-minded leadership overreacted and prohibited Spirit manifestations altogether, with a resulting loss of spiritual benefit. Paul forbids such repression here. The proper course is to allow gifted people to share in a decent and orderly fashion what the Spirit can do through them for edifying of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 14:12, 26, 40). Control is necessary, but over-control is detrimental. The leadership and the whole community must find the right balance.