What does it mean to “not quench the Spirit”?
I think the image you offer is appropriately invoking fire, but it’s not something you hold in your hands. It’s the fire inside. And the fire itself is not physical, but spiritual in nature. When we think in terms of ‘quenching’ something, the association that probably first comes to mind is the concept of being thirsty. Having a desire and a need for water-- which is what would “quench” that thirst. In scripture, the writers often refer to water and fire alike, as symbolizing the spirit within.
With respect to fire, we are told not to quench this spirit, yet with respect to water we are instructed to drink the living water, which is the spirit of Christ. The two ideas might seem polar opposites. Interesting also, that in discussing Gehenna (hell) Jesus describes it as a place where the fire is not quenched. Is he suddenly talking about a physical fire, or is he relying on this concept of a spirit that is captive to such a miserable existence?
He offers us water that we can drink to never thirst again. And as the psalmist writes, 'My soul pants for God, and thirsts for the living God" -surely Paul in Thessalonians isn’t telling us not to quench that kind of burning? So what is he talking about?
It might sound confusing, but there is something to consider. Just as there are two kinds of water-- water that we drink (physical) and that water from above (spirit) that we read about even in Genesis, at the beginning… there are also two kinds of fire-- physical fire below and that spiritual fire from above. Paul is warning us not to throw a wet blanket on the Spirit, that fire from above. Don’t let physical water (the cares and concerns of this life) extinguish that Spirit within us, even that Spirit that makes us thirsty for God.
A Pentecostal coworker once told me churches that prohibit speaking in tongues are quenching the spirit. I don’t believe it, but he was convinced -and he held holiness, none Pentecostal churches most guilty because “They are close enough to the spirit to know better”
I think he gave up on me since I am a Methodist 