In my last exegetical series, we covered 1 Corinthians 15, one of a handful of passages from Paul’s epistles that discuss the future resurrection of the dead. Now we’ll take a look at another passage that covers the same topic: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. This is much shorter, because unlike 1 Cor. 15, it wasn’t written to believers who explicitly denied the resurrection of the dead; it also reflects an earlier stage in Paul’s ministry, as it was written around AD 50, whereas 1 Corinthians was written around AD 55. Does it support the same conclusion we found in 1 Cor. 15 — that when Christ returns, all people will be raised and subjected to him, so that even God’s enemies who were punished to death will be restored?
“That you may not grieve”
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
Paul has just exhorted the Thessalonian believers to have more and more love, as they have been taught by God, “for all the brethren,” so that no one is needy and they act as an example for “the outsiders” (1 Thess. 4:9-12). However (Gk: de), even though he wants them to love one another, he doesn’t want them to grieve for “those who have fallen asleep” (Gk: tōn koimōmenōn; an idiom for death). They shouldn’t be ignorant like “those who don’t have hope” (Gk: hoi mē echontes elpida); instead, he’ll tell them the details of the resurrection of the dead, so they have no need to grieve.
Who are the Thessalonian believers worried about? Is it only the dead believers, or is it everyone who has died (“fallen asleep”)? In the immediately preceding context, the subject is limited to believers — even just the believers “in all Macedonia” (4:10)! On the other hand, in an earlier section of this letter, Paul prays that they would abound in love not just “for one another,” but “for all people” (3:12). Later in the letter, he exhorts them to pursue the good of both “one another” and “all people” (5:15). Based on this, it seems unlikely that Paul would expect them only to grieve for believers and not also unbelievers. Hoi koimōmenoi, “the fallen-asleep-ones,” refers to everyone who has died, not just believers.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.
Jesus’ resurrection acted as a precursor and confirmation of the future resurrection of the dead, which is something Paul repeats in his later letters (Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 6:14; 15:12-22; 2 Cor. 4:14; Phil. 3:20-21; cf. Rom. 6:4-11; Col. 2:12-13). “If we believe” (Gk: ei pisteuomen) that Jesus died and rose, then “in the same way” (Gk: houtōs) the dead will be raised; God will “bring [them] together with” Jesus, raising them like he did Jesus.
Some translate tous koimēthentas dia tou iēsou as “those who have fallen asleep in Jesus,” interpreting it as referring to dead believers specifically. However, in Paul’s view, it wasn’t because of Jesus that they died, but because of Adam! Jesus is the one who reverses death, not the one who brings it about (cf. Rom. 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15:21-22). Thus, “through Jesus” (Gk: dia tou iēsou) must modify the verb axei (“bring”), not the participle koimēthentas (“having fallen asleep”); it’s through Jesus that God raises the dead. If he’d intended to refer specifically to dead believers, he would have written tous koimēthentas (tous) en christō (cf. 1 Cor. 15:18).
“The dead will rise in Christ first”
For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.
Paul declares this next fact “in the word of the Lord” (Gk: en logō kyriou); this has been revealed to him directly by the Lord, not merely his own speculation (cf. 1 Cor. 7:25). Not only will “the fallen-asleep-ones” (Gk: tous koimēthentas) be raised, but “the living-ones” (Gk: hoi zōntes) who survive until Christ’s parousia won’t even precede them! There’s even less reason to grieve for the dead, then, because they’ll actually see the Lord before those who are still alive!
For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
The Lord’s parousia, his descent from heaven to earth, will be accompanied by three types of fanfare: “a shouted command” (Gk: keleusmati), “the voice of a chief angel” (Gk: phōnē archangelou), and “God’s trumpet” (Gk: salpingi theou). At that time, the dead will be raised “first” (Gk: prōton). Paul’s emphasis here is on the priority of the dead-ones, in line with what he said earlier about the living-ones not preceding the dead-ones. The dead are actually blessed, given priority over the living, so there’s no need to grieve for them.
Most commentators take hoi nekroi en christō anastēsontai to refer specifically to believers, interpreting en christō (“in Christ”) to modify hoi nekroi (“the dead-ones”). However, this is grammatically implausible, based on how en (tō) christō is used elsewhere in the New Testament. When en (tō) christō modifies a preceding substantive (such as “dead-ones”), the article is always repeated before it, unless the verb “to be” is implicit in the text, which isn’t the case at 1 Thess. 4:16 (Ramelli and Konstan 2007, pp. 581-4). In most cases, en (tō) christō modifies a verb or participle; this is true in the two cases that clearly refer specifically to dead believers (1 Cor. 15:18; Rev. 14:13). It’s best to read en christō in 1 Thess. 4:16 as modifying the verb anastēsontai: “the dead will rise in Christ” (cf. 1 Cor. 15:22).
This is supported by evidence from the early church. John Chrysostom takes en christō as modifying anastēsontai, which is clear from the way he quotes the verse; at that time all who have died since Adam will rise again, some to fearful judgment (Homily 8 on 1 Thess. [PG 62:440-1]). Cyril of Alexandria inverts the word order to make clear that en christō modifies anastēsontai (Comm. on Luke [PG 72:824A]), and holds that it refers to the resurrection of all (Cat. Lect. 15.21). Gregory of Nyssa, an early universalist, takes 1 Thess. 4:16 to refer to the resurrection and salvation of all people (De opif. hom. 25.11-13). Many other early church fathers simply quote 1 Thess. 4:16 without even including the phrase en christō (Ramelli and Konstan 2007, fn. 24). The few early writers who do limit the scope of “the dead in Christ” have to alter the word order to make it fit their view (Porphyry, frag. 35; Origen, Contra Celsum 5.17).
“We’ll always be with the Lord”
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever.
After the dead are raised in Christ, “the living-ones, the remaining-ones” (Gk: hoi zōntes hoi perileipomenoi) will be caught up “together with them,” that is, the dead. We will all be taken “into the air for the meeting of the Lord” (Gk: eis apantēsin tou kyriou eis aera). Many Christians take this to refer to ‘the Rapture,’ when it’s thought that believers will be taken to live in heaven. However, Paul says that we’ll be taken to the “air” (Gk: aera), that is, the place in between the earth and the heavens. Where will we go from there — away into heaven or back to earth?
To make sense of this, we have to look at the meaning of the phrase eis apantēsin (“to meet”). This word, especially when combined with the parousia (“coming”) of a royal dignitary, typically refers to people coming out to meet someone, in order to bring them back to their place. This is how eis apantēsin is used elsewhere in the New Testament itself (Matt. 25:6ff; Acts 28:15). Although eis apantēsin isn’t a technical term, as it was once thought to be (Cosby 1994, pp. 20-22), it’s still best understood in the context of a dignitary’s coming, and was explicitly interpreted that way by John Chrysostom (Homily on the Ascension; Homily 8 on 1 Thess.). Therefore, when we meet Jesus, we most likely return with him to earth — though we can’t totally discount the possibility that we’ll go to heaven from this passage alone.
After we meet the Lord, Paul says, “we will be together with the Lord [Gk: syn kyriō] at all times.” Later in this letter, he writes that Jesus died so that whether we’re alert or drowsing now (Gk: eite grēgorōmen eite katheudōmen) “we will live together with him” (Gk: hama syn autō zēsōmen; 1 Thess. 5:10). The alert-ones are believers, who are “sons of light” and “sons of day”; the drowsing-ones are “the others” (Gk: hoi loipoi; cf. 1 Thess. 4:13), unbelievers who won’t escape destruction in the day of the Lord (5:1-8). Yet, though they be destroyed, Jesus died for them too, and they’ll be resurrected and live together with him always!
Therefore encourage one another with these words.
For Paul, knowing the resurrection of the dead is more than a merely intellectual exercise; it’s the great hope of believers that keeps us from grieving! He exhorts the Thessalonians to “console one another” (Gk: parakaleite allēlous) with this knowledge. After this, he begins to introduce a new topic (using the Greek phrase peri de), the soon-coming day of the Lord which will destroy the drowsing unbelievers (5:1-4). Yet he later returns to the topic of the resurrection, in which both alert believers and now-drowsing unbelievers will live together with the Lord Jesus Christ (5:9-10).
Conclusion
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 is a brief summary of our great hope, the resurrection of the dead, which Paul later discusses in more depth in his letter to the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 15). The scope of the resurrection isn’t explicitly stated in 1 Thess. 4:13-18, although the phrases that Paul uses — “the fallen-asleep-ones,” “the dead-ones,” “the living-ones” — don’t imply any limitation. (“The dead in Christ” is a mistranslation, and actually refers to the fact that the dead-ones will rise “in Christ;” cf. 1 Cor. 15:22.) The wider context of the letter suggests that all people, not just believers, are in view here, even the unbelievers who are destroyed in the day of the Lord (1 Thess. 3:12; 5:10, 15). Thus, just as in 1 Cor. 15, the resurrection is associated with the ultimate restoration of all people, even those punished by God unto death!
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