It has almost become a cliche in our time to declare that, ”the institution of marriage is under attack.” It is a cliche because it is true. An all out ware is on the destroy marriage as Christians understand it.

Though we have taken the two letters to the Thessalonians as our starting point for the next series of commands, Paul does not directly address home and family issues to a great extent in those letters. Most of his family-specific commands come later, notably in Ephesians and Colossians as well as, interestingly, in the letters to the two single men, Timothy and Titus.

In now climaxing this series of ”Turn from sin” commands, we recognize that it would have been equally appropriate to have begun with the conscience as with the admonition to repent.

We are familiar with the saying, ”Confession is good for the soul.” There is little doubt that confession is cleansing. Yet why does confession make us feel better?

This sounds like a command straight out of the Old Testament. What came to your mind when you read the words--a crucifix on the wall, a statuette, a golden calf, a revered object such as people have been falsely worshipping for thousands of years? However, here we’re talking about idols of another kind.

This is clearly the most difficult of the three ”avoidance commands” (participation, association, avoidance) to lay hold of.

The mirror probes deeper. Indulgence in sin may be passive. Participation raises the stakes a little higher. Now the command becomes active, forceful, imperative: Don’t even associate with immorality.

The practicality of the progression continues to tighten like a noose around our necks. Can it get any more real than this -- Do not participate in the sins of others.

The progression of commands in this section grows probing, stringent, convicting...eve, perhaps we should say, impossible.

We suddenly crash headlong into a command whose reality may be difficult to penetrate at first glance. You may have turned the page and feel like you rounded a corner and collided with a stranger.