1 Thessalonians 5:7

Contextual Overview

⁶So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. ⁶ So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. ⁶ so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. ⁶so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be awake and sober. ⁶Don't be like those who will be surprised by the Lord's return. Be ready, with both feet in the stirrups and ready to ride. ⁶ So then, let us not take our rest as the others do, but let us be self-controlled and awake. ⁶ So then do not let us sleep as the rest do, but let us watch and be sober; ⁶ So then, we must not sleep, like the rest, but we must stay awake and be serious. ⁶ so then let's not sleep, as the rest do, but let us watch and be sober. ⁶ Therefore let us not sleep as the others, but let us awake and keep awake.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they that sleep: Job 4:13, Job 33:15, Luke 21:34, Luke 21:35, Romans 13:13, 1 Corinthians 15:34, Ephesians 5:14

and they: 1 Samuel 25:36, 1 Samuel 25:37, Proverbs 23:29-35, Isaiah 21:4, Isaiah 21:5, Daniel 5:4, Daniel 5:5, Acts 2:15, 2 Peter 2:13

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 11:2 - arose from Isaiah 5:11 - rise Mark 13:36 - he find 1 Corinthians 5:11 - or a drunkard Galatians 5:21 - drunkenness Ephesians 5:11 - works Ephesians 5:18 - be not 1 Peter 1:13 - be sober

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For they that sleep, sleep in the night,.... The night is the usual season for sleep, and sleep is only for such who are in darkness, and are children of the night; and not proper to be indulged by such who are children of the day, and of the light:

and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night; drunkenness is a work of darkness, and therefore men given to excessive drinking love darkness rather than light, and choose the night for their purpose. To be drunk at noon is so shameful and scandalous, that men who love the sin, and indulge themselves in it, take the night season for it; and equally shameful it is, that enlightened persons should be inebriated, either with the cares of this life, or with an over weening opinion of themselves.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For they that sleep, sleep in the night - Night is the time for sleep. The day is the time for action, and in the light of day people should be employed. Night and sleep are made for each other, and so are the day and active employment. The meaning here is, that it is in accordance with the character of those who are of the night, that is, sinners, to be sunk in stupidity and carnal security, as if they were asleep; but for the children of the day, that is, for Christians, it is no more appropriate to be inactive than it is for people to sleep in the daytime. “It is not to be wondered at that wicked people are negligent and are given to vice, for they are ignorant of the will of God. Negligence in doing right, and corrupt morals, usually accompany ignorance.” Rosenmuller.

And they that be drunken, are drunken in the night - The night is devoted by them to revelry and dissipation. It is in accordance with the usual custom in all lands and times, that the night is the usual season for riot and revelry. The leisure, the darkness, the security from observation, and the freedom from the usual toils and cares of life, have caused those hours usually to be selected for indulgence in intemperate eating and drinking. This was probably more particularly the case among the ancients than with us, and much as drunkenness abounded, it was much more rare to see a man intoxicated in the day-time than it is now. To be drunk then in the day-time was regarded as the greatest disgrace. See Polyb. Exc. Leg. 8, and Apul. viii., as quoted by Wetstein; compare Acts 2:15 note; Isaiah 5:11 note. The object of the apostle here is, to exhort Christians to be sober and temperate, and the meaning is, that it is as disgraceful for them to indulge in habits of revelry, as for a man to be drunk in the day-time. The propriety of this exhortation, addressed to Christians, is based on the fact that intoxication was hardly regarded as a crime, and, surrounded as they were with those who freely indulged in drinking to excess, they were then, as they are now, exposed to the danger of disgracing their religion. The actions of Christians ought always to be such that they may be performed in open day and in the view of all the world. Other people seek the cover of the night to perform their deeds; the Christian should do nothing which may not be done under the full blaze of day.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 7. For they that sleep — Sleepers and drunkards seek the night season; so the careless and the profligate persons indulge their evil propensities, and avoid all means of instruction; they prefer their ignorance to the word of God's grace, and to the light of life. There seems to be here an allusion to the opinion mentioned under 1 Thessalonians 5:4, to which the reader is requested to refer. It may be remarked, also, that it was accounted doubly scandalous, even among the heathen, to be drunk in the day time. They who were drunken were drunken in the night.