This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers 1 and 2 Thessalonians, which includes the apostle Paul’s writings on loving all men, abstaining from fornication and being “children of light” (1 Thessalonians 5:5).

Church News recently dug through archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to learn what leaders and scholars have said about these chapters.

1 Thessalonians 2

“When I came home from my mission, I attended Brigham Young University. …

“In a New Testament class, I learned that the apostle Paul wrote letters to his recent converts. To me, his love for them is obvious in these verses:

“‘But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. …

“‘For ye are our glory and joy’ (1 Thessalonians 2:17, 20).

“What would Paul say to me — someone with a cell phone in hand and a personal laptop never far away? The means and ease I have of communicating with converts are much greater than they were in his day. …

“It isn’t always easy, and sometimes I’ve fallen short, but I’m grateful I’ve taken the time over the years to talk with people I taught. In Paul’s words, ‘We were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us’ (1 Thessalonians 2:8). The call to serve as a missionary was one of my first calls to minister, but I’ve learned that many more will come — and I must be willing to answer.”

— Cheyenne Larimer in the October 2019 Ensign article “Answering the Call”

1 Thessalonians 3

“Jesus Christ never said to love only those who stay in His fold. In fact, as we come unto Him, He can help us ‘increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men’ (1 Thessalonians 3:12).

“Striving to be like Him means that we also strive to love as He did. So don’t focus on the fact that your loved ones have left the Church. Focus your energy on the positive things your loved ones do for the world and have done for you.”

— Noelle Barrus in the March 2022 Young Adult Weekly article “When Loved Ones Leave the Church, How Can We Love Them in Christlike Everyday Ways?”

1 Thessalonians 4

“One common marriage-preparation paradox is the cohabitation paradox. Many young people are attracted to cohabitation prior to marriage because they believe that it acts as a ‘test drive.’ It is supposedly a way to lessen the risk and chance of divorce. In fact, many of our best and brightest minds in the social sciences back in the 1980s were claiming that we would see a huge reduction in the divorce rate because of the increase in cohabitation. They believed cohabitation would act as a sort of Darwinian ‘survival of the fittest’ mechanism that would weed out the weak relationships and only the strongest would survive into marriage — and divorce rates would thereby decline. This line of thinking is widely believed to be logical. On the surface, the test-drive idea sounds quite logical — you wouldn’t buy a car without test-driving it, right?

“But that principle doesn’t apply to marriage, and it doesn’t fit the Lord’s pattern. The Lord has made it clear where He stands on this issue. As the apostle Paul said, ‘It is the will of God … that ye should abstain from fornication’ (1 Thessalonians 4:3; see also 1 Corinthians 6:18; Alma 39:5). The Lord’s wisdom is greater than that of the world. As a second witness of this truth, over 30 years of studies have shown that the opposite of what researchers had anticipated is true: cohabitation before marriage has historically been associated with greater odds of divorce. And while some of the newer studies show that there may be a weakening of this association, no study to date has ever shown cohabitation to act as a buffer against divorce.”

— Jason S. Carroll, professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University, in the March 2017 Ensign article “Delaying Marriage: The Trends and the Consequences”

“If the adversary cannot entice us to misuse our physical bodies, then one of his most potent tactics is to beguile you and me as embodied spirits to disconnect gradually and physically from things as they really are. In essence, he encourages us to think and act as if we were in our premortal, unembodied state. And, if we let him, he can cunningly employ some aspects of modern technology to accomplish his purposes. Please be careful of becoming so immersed and engrossed in pixels, texting, earbuds, twittering, online social networking, and potentially addictive uses of media and the Internet that you fail to recognize the importance of your physical body and miss the richness of person-to-person communication. Beware of digital displays and data in many forms of computer-mediated interaction that can displace the full range of physical capacity and experience. …

“In contrast, we need to heed the admonition of Paul: ‘That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour’ (1 Thessalonians 4:4).”

— Elder David A. Bednar in the June 2010 Ensign article, “Things As They Really Are”

Paul is depicted writing about Jesus Christ in this scene from the Bible Videos series. “Come, Follow Me” for Oct. 16-22 includes the apostle Paul’s writings on loving all men, abstaining from fornication and being “children of light” (1 Thessalonians 5:5).

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

1 Thessalonians 5

“I like the counsel that Paul the apostle gave the Thessalonian Saints: ‘Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness’ (1 Thessalonians 5:5). As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you are the children of light! You have the light of Christ, as well as the guiding light that comes through the gift of the Holy Ghost. Always, always walk in that light, which will lead you to truth and enable you to walk with Jesus Christ.

“As we embrace the light and truth of the Savior, we will be able to follow His footsteps and listen for the sound of His sandaled feet and learn how to walk with Him. I pray that each of us will be able to declare with great joy, ‘I will walk with Jesus,’ and then confidently say, ‘He will walk with me.’ Walking with Him is the road best traveled.”

— Elder Ulisses Soares in the June 2023 Liahona article, “Light, Truth, and Our Walk With Jesus Christ”

“From the New Testament writings of Paul we read:

“‘Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

“‘Therefore let us not sleep, as do others. …

“‘For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

“‘But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:5–8). …

“The phrase ‘children of light’ describes a people in whom the light of the gospel shines brightly. It describes a people who seek the light and are drawn to that which is virtuous, clean and pure. There is an expectation that children of light are alert and watchful — not sleeping, in a spiritual sense, when they should be awake. Children of light do not sit passively in darkness; they have the courage to stand up and stand out. When the adversary comes looming, children of light know when to fight back, when to say no and when to simply walk away.”

— Elder Craig C. Christensen in the August 2014 Ensign article “Becoming Children of Light”

“You know and we know that there are many good people in other churches. There is much of good in them. Your family and your prior religious traditions may have taught you many good things and established many good habits. As the apostle Paul said, ‘Prove all things; hold fast that which is good’ (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Bring the good things with you, keep them and use them in the Lord’s service.”

— President Gordon B. Hinckley in the October 2006 Liahona article, “A Perfect Brightness of Hope — to New Members of the Church”

2 Thessalonians 2

“The fourth truth that Joseph Smith learned was that the full and complete Church of Jesus Christ was not then upon the earth. Of course there were good people and some components of the truth, but the apostle Paul had anciently prophesied that the Second Coming of Christ would not come ‘except there come a falling away first’ (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

“Following Joseph Smith’s First Vision, the Restoration of Christ’s Church commenced ‘line upon line, precept upon precept’ (Doctrine and Covenants 98:12). …

“Through Joseph Smith have been restored all the powers, keys, teachings and ordinances necessary for salvation and exaltation. You cannot go anywhere else in the world and get that. It is not to be found in any other church. It is not to be found in any philosophy of man or scientific digest or individual pilgrimage, however intellectual it may seem. Salvation is to be found in one place alone, as so designated by the Lord Himself when He said that this is ‘the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth’ (Doctrine and Covenants 1:30).”

— Elder Tad R. Callister, October 2009 general conference, “Joseph Smith — Prophet of the Restoration”

“The New Testament indicates that the early apostles worked hard to preserve the church that Jesus Christ left to their care and keeping, but they knew their efforts would ultimately be in vain. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Saints, who were anxiously anticipating the Second Coming of Christ, that ‘that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first’ (2 Thessalonians 2:3). …

“By 1820 the world was ready for the ‘restitution of all things’ spoken of by Peter and ‘all [God’s] holy prophets since the world began’ (Acts 3:21). …

“When 14-year-old Joseph Jr., considered which church to join, he investigated each denomination carefully, listening to the respective ministers and trying to sort out the truth. … 

“I testify to you that... the Father and the Son appeared in wondrous vision to young Joseph [Smith] as a step in the restoring of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. As a latter-day Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, my testimony, and the testimony of millions of faithful members of the Church the world over, is that what I have told you is true. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been restored to the earth through Joseph Smith and is administered today by a living Prophet. These things I know!”

— President M. Russell Ballard, October 1994 general conference, “Restored Truth”

“Come, Follow Me” for Oct. 16-22 includes the apostle Paul’s writings on loving all men, abstaining from fornication and being “children of light” (1 Thessalonians 5:5).

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints