B. The Time of the Parousia (5:1-3) 148
13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. is Therefore encourage each other with these words.
The Parousia (see on 2:19) is a difficult topic. Within the short space of the mission it would have been impossible for the apostolic band to have given anything like complete teaching about it. Clearly they had given it a good deal of attention, for the Thessalonian correspondence gives evidence of a lively interest in the whole subject.54 It is worth asking ourselves whether the comparative neglect of the doctrine in much modem Christianity has not resulted in great loss.
13 Paul introduces what he has to say on the topic with the formula we do not want you to be ignorant," a formula that he employs elsewhere56 and that usually seems to introduce something that is new to his readers. This is all the more noteworthy here in that so often in this letter Paul has written "as you know" or the like. The formula here is also generally used to indicate that Paul wants his readers to fasten their attention on what follows; it is important. It is invariably accompanied with the address "brothers," an affectionate touch that should not be overlooked.
He does not refer to the dead, but to "those who fall asleep."57 In many religions death is spoken of in this way (cf. the frequent Old Testament statement that such-and-such a person "slept with his fathers"), but it is a metaphor that is much more at home in a Christian context than elsewhere. For Christians death is no longer that adversary whom no person can resist, that tyrant who brings all worthwhile existence to a horribly final end. Death has been overcome by the risen Lord, and that has transformed the whole situation for those who are in him.
So Paul goes on to the thought that they should not sorrow58 like "the rest59 of men, who have no hope." Paul is not saying that Christians never grieve; they have their sorrows like other people (cf. Phil. 2:27). But they sorrow as those who have an abiding hope. The apostle is not contrasting a lesser grief with a greater one; he is contrasting those with hope and those without it. When the non-Christian world is characterized as lacking hope it is probably not the absence of the hope of an afterlife that is primarily in mind, but the absence of the knowledge of God, much like those whom Paul describes as "without hope and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). But this shows itself strikingly in their attitude toward death. Few things are more impressive in the contrast between early Christianity and the surrounding pagan systems than their attitudes in the face of death. Nowhere outside Christianity do we find at this period any widespread view of a worthwhile life beyond the grave. There are some statements on immortality in pagan literature. Undoubtedly some of the philosophers had an idea of a life beyond the grave. But they did not glory in it, and, in any case, theirs was the lofty view of the few. Nowhere did it penetrate to the beliefs of ordinary people. The same might be said about the mystery religions. Sometimes they speak of a life beyond the grave for the initiates. But they do not have the ringing certainty of the Christians, nor do such views influence very many. The typical attitude of the ancient world to death was one of utter hopelessness. Deissmann cites a letter of the second century, written to a friend who had been bereaved, that we may quote as typical.
Irene to Taonnophris and Philo, good comfort. I am as sorry and weep over the departed one as I wept for Didymas. And all things, whatsoever were fitting, I have done, and all mine, Epaphroditus and Thermuthion and Philion and Apollonius and Plantas. But, nevertheless, against such things one can do nothing. Therefore comfort ye one another.60
It is clear that Irene feels for her friends, but her "comfort ye one another" is a pathetic little conclusion to a letter that reveals all too clearly that she has no comfort to give. "Against such things one can do nothing."
Over against that we might set Paul's triumphant words: "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, 0 death, is your sting?" (1 Cor. 15:55). Or his calm contemplation of his own decease, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.... I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far" (Phil. 1:21-23).61 When the apostle counsels the Thessalonians not to sorrow as the pagans do, he is not urging them to endure with a deep Stoic calm the buffetings of fortune that they cannot avoid. Nor is he counseling a callous indifference. Rather, he is rejoicing in the complete victory that Christ has won. Those who have died have simply fallen asleep in Christ, and they will wake with him. Clearly, in the face of this prospect there is no reason for despair.62
Paul speaks of Christ not as sleeping, but as dying. In the New Testament there are two distinct strands of teaching about death. On the one hand it is the most natural of all things and is an inevitable part of the conditions of our earthly existence. On the other hand it is completely unnatural, a horror, the result of sin.64 Christ in his death bore the wages of sin. He endured the worst that death can possibly be. Thereby he transformed the whole position of those who are in him. It is because there was no mitigation of the horror of death for him that there is no horror in death for his people. For them it is but sleep.
Jesus not only died, but also "rose again."65 The resurrection was the great event that demonstrated that death really was conquered. Elsewhere Paul could say, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost" (1 Cor. 15:17-18). The resurrection is the great triumphant act wherein the divine quality of the Christian gospel is conclusively demonstrated. In the light of the resurrection there can be no doubt that God was in Christ, and if God was in Christ, then, just as he raised his Son, so in due time he will raise those who "have fallen asleep in" Jesus 66 The resurrection is the guarantee of the Christian hope.
Paul draws this conclusion, though the form in which he puts it leaves us in some doubt as to his exact meaning. The difficulty is that "in Jesus" (NIV has "in him") is literally "through Jesus," and it is not certain whether it should be taken with "fallen asleep" (as ARV) or with "will bring" (so NIV, RSV, Moffatt). Those who take this second view probably do so because of the difficulty they have in understanding what "falling asleep through Jesus" can mean. But it raises difficulties of its own. For example, the balance of the sentence is against it, and so is the fact that if we adopt it we are left with the thought that all the dead (and not simply the Christian dead) will be brought through Jesus (the Greek will then mean, "God will bring through Jesus with Jesus those who sleep"). Moreover, it is not easy to think that Paul means "God will bring through Jesus with Jesus...." This is tautology, and such a tame ending is not what we associate with Paul's vigorous mind. It is likely, then, that we should understand the passage as ARV, "them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him."67 The meaning is probably that it is through what Jesus has done,68 through Jesus, that Christians "sleep" only, and do not undergo the horrors of death.69 "Death `through Jesus' is but the prelude to resurrection `with Jesus' " (Bruce).
Outside this verse the designation of our Lord simply as "Jesus" is found in these epistles once only (1:10). It is the name that brings before us the Man of Nazareth, the human Jesus. In this context we are reminded of the historical facts of the death and resurrection. These things really happened, and they happened to Jesus. Moreover, the term reminds us that Jesus is "the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20). The firstfruits imply later fruits 70 As Jesus has risen, we are sure that one day we, too, will rise (cf. 1 Cor. 15:22-23; Col. 1:18).
One more point remains to be determined in this verse, and that is the meaning of "bring with Jesus." Some understand it to signify that Jesus will take these people with him into glory, but this does not seem to be justified. Paul is talking about the Parousia. It is their share in the events of that great day that is in view. It is best to understand the words to mean that Jesus will bring the faithful departed with him when he comes back. Their death does not mean that they will miss their share in the Parousia. Notice the definiteness of Paul's statement.
15 Paul does not speak of the resurrection of the faithful departed, and we are probably right in assuming that that was taken for granted. What worried the Thessalonians was not whether their friends would rise, but whether they would have any share in the great events associated with the Parousia. Now comes another expression indicating certainty, namely, a statement given on the authority of the Lord himself. "According to the Lord's own word" is literally "in the word of the Lord," 71 and it would be very natural to understand this of a saying of Jesus. The difficulty urged against this is that there is no saying anywhere in the Gospels that closely resembles this one, or from which we might think this saying to have been adapted (Matt. 24:31 seems to be the closest parallel). This makes it likely that Paul is referring to a saying of Jesus that is not mentioned by any of the four Evangelists. There must have been many such sayings;72 for example, one is recorded for us in Acts 20:35 (cf. John 20:30; 21:25). Moffatt's translation runs, "as the Lord has told us," which seems to point to a revelation made to Paul himself.73 This is not impossible, but there is no other evidence, and the Greek does not seem to mean so much. Some commentators have felt that we should understand the words to represent the apostle's thinking the problem through under the guidance of the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 2:16).74 Or that the Lord spoke the words through a prophet of the early church. Others hold that it represents some saying of Christ's that has been expanded with traditional Jewish imagery. But all such explanations seem needless when we have the simple one, that it is a saying of Jesus unrecorded in the Gospels. If we had reason for thinking that all he said is recorded, matters would be different. But as it is, we are expressly told that many things are not included in the Gospel record (John 21:25). We feel that this is one of them.75
The saying raises the question of whether, when he said "we who are still alive," Paul expected that he himself would still be alive when the Lord returned. Many exegetes think that he did, but the Greek here does not affirm this.76 The expression he uses may mean no more than "those Christians who will be alive at that day,"77 and since Paul in this very context speaks of the time as unknown (5:2, 3) and keeps open the possibilities of "waking" or "sleeping" for both his correspondents and himself (5:10), it would be unwise to read more into his words. While there is nothing improbable in the idea that Paul or any other first-century Christian thought that the Parousia would take place in his own lifetime (some people seem to have thought this in every age of the Christian church, and some think so now), yet it must be borne in mind that he does not say so. It must also be remembered that he can class himself with those who will be raised (1 Cor. 6:14; 2 Cor. 4:14). Those who survive to that day will have no advantage over the faithful departed, and Paul uses an emphatic expression, "will certainly not,"78 to underline his point. His concern is that there should be no doubt at all that believers who die will be at no disadvantage when the Parousia comes.
16 This verse makes us reflect on the very little that the New Testament has to say about the manner of the Parousia. Nowhere else do we have as full a description of what is to happen as here, but the details are few and do not paint a very full picture for us. The point of it all is that Scripture is intensely practical in this matter, as in others. There are many things that we would like to know, but the Bible was not written to gratify our curiosity. Rather, it is intended to help us in our Christian lives, and for that the important thing is that we should be ready when the Lord comes. Thus we are often warned to prepare, and told that the coming will be unexpected.
Paul makes three points here. The first is that the One who will come at the end of this age is no less than "the Lord himself." It will be no angel or other created being to whom will be committed the task of bringing this age to an end. The Thessalonians are assured that they look forward to nothing less than a divine intervention.
This is underlined by Paul's second point. The Lord's second coming will be one of majesty and honor. Paul lists various accompaniments that demonstrate this. It is not certain whether the "shout" (NIV has "loud command"), the "voice of the archangel," and the "trumpet call of God" are three ways of speaking about the same triumphant noise, or whether they are three different sounds 79 We read of "a loud voice like a trumpet" (Rev. 1:10; cf. 4:1; 5:2, etc.), and some commentators hold that something of that sort is meant here. This may be so, but the impression left is that there are three distinct sounds. The "shout" often denotes an authoritative utterance. The word is found often. It is the cry made by the ship's master to his rowers,80 or by a military officer to his soldiers, or by a hunter to his hounds, or by a charioteer to his horses. When used of military or naval personnel it was a battle cry. In most places, then, it denotes a loud, authoritative cry, often uttered in the thick of great excitement. All these associations make it an apt word for the great day to which Paul looked forward. It is not said by whom the shout will be uttered, but the probability is that it is the Lord (cf. John 5:28-29, "a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out"). It will not mean, as some interpreters suggest, a command of God to Christ. The whole situation demands a command of God or Christ to the dead. We should avoid understanding the passage in the sense of JB, "At the trumpet of God, the voice of the archangel will call out the command and the Lord himself will come down." If anything is certain, it is that the Lord will not be responding to the command of an archangel.
The alternative is that the shout is to be identified with "the voice of the archangel." Neither of these nouns has the article (the Greek reads "a voice of an archangel"), which makes it unlikely that Paul is thinking of any particular archangel.81 It is even possible that he does not mean that an archangel will actually say anything, but simply that the voice that will be uttered will be a very great voice, an archangel type of voice. But more probably the meaning is that some archangel will add his voice to the call that wakes the dead.
17 It is only after the faithful departed have been raised that the saints on earth will "be caught up with them" to meet the Lord. There is a minor problem in that the faithful departed will be coming with Jesus (v. 14), but the point made here is not so much the order of events as the truth that the Lord's people will be united at the Parousia. The reunion with those who have died is sometimes overlooked in the exposition of this passage, but to Paul it was clearly important. He stresses that they will be together,84 and mentions it before saying that they will be caught up. It is a very precious thought, especially to those who have been bereaved, as apparently had some of the Thessalonians.
The verb Paul uses for "caught up" is one that means "to seize, carry off by force" (GT). There is often the notion of a sudden swoop, and usually that of a force that cannot be resisted. The applicability of such a verb to the snatching away (the "rapture") of the saints is obvious. Some scholars have seen in this a secret action that will suddenly remove the saints from the world preparatory to the great tribulation (Rev. 7:14). To this two things must be said. One is that this is the only place in the New Testament that speaks unambiguously of the rapture (there are other places that may justly be held to refer to it when it is established by this passage, but none that is sufficient to establish it). Therefore we must not be unduly dogmatic about it. Had we an abundance of detail recorded we could say a great deal, but as it is we have no more than a few simple facts. We must not read our pet theories into them.
The other is that it is very hard to fit this passage into a secret rapture. Paul has said that the Lord will descend "with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God." It may be that from this he intends us to understand that the rapture will take place secretly, and that no one except the saints themselves will know what is going on. But one would scarcely gather this from his words; it is difficult to understand how he could more plainly describe something that is open and public.85 I do not doubt that, if he so chose, God could make the voice of the archangel, the shout, and the trumpet audible only to believers. But I very greatly doubt whether that is what Paul is saying.
There may be significance in the meeting place being "in the air." In the first century the air was often thought of as the abode of demons (Satan is described as "the ruler of the the kingdom of the air," Eph. 2:2).87 That the Lord chooses to meet his saints there, on the demons' home ground so to speak, shows his complete mastery over them. The expression rendered "to meet"88 may be used of commonplace meetings, but it has also a more formal use, and, for example, Milligan cites examples of its use for "the formal reception of a newly arriving magistrate." It implies the "welcome of a great person on his arrival" (Moffatt, EGT). It may well be that there is a touch of the formal here, with the thought of a royal reception. The saints are to be presented to the King.
Do the saints go on to heaven with the Lord? Or do they all proceed to earth? To a renewed earth? Paul does not satisfy our curiosity. He brings his account of these glorious happenings to a close with the assurance, "so we will be with the Lord forever." Everything leads up to this, and after this has been said there is nothing to add.89 Nothing could more adequately indicate the Christian's bliss.
18 In the light of this glorious prospect Paul calls on his readers to encourage one another (for "encourage" see on 3:2). It is interesting that he does not urge them simply not to faint. This information, he thinks, should impel them to be active in seeking one another out and strengthening one another. And well they might, for it is an inspiring thought that death makes no difference for our relationship to the Lord. All things and all people are in his hands. When it is his will to bring in the end of this age, those who have died in him and those who still survive will be united in his presence. The thought gives meaning to existence and suggests the certainty of ultimate triumph.
Neil asks whether Paul's words are any encouragement to us, and proceeds, "If we seek information as to the actual procedure to be gone through by believers after death, or the events that will accompany the end of time and history, our own guess is as good as Paul's or the apocalyptists."' He then argues that we can look beneath "the traditional superstructure of eschatological imagery" and reach the conviction that "those who die in Christ live in Christ." We can perhaps reach a more satisfactory position by another route. Phillips translates, "God has given me this message on the matter, so by all means use it to encourage one another." While we may feel that this is more of a paraphrase than a translation, yet it faithfully reproduces the thought of the apostle. He is not suggesting that he has made a guess, which he believes to be a good one, and of which they may care to make some use. He speaks "according to the Lord's own word" (v. 15; cf. Phillips, "Here we have a definite message from the Lord"). It is because God has been pleased to reveal this part of his purpose that the Thessalonians (and we) may comfort one another. It is not on Paul's guesses or our own that our strength rests. It is on what God has revealed.