Bible Commentaries
1 Thessalonians 4

Verses 1-18

IV 1-11 Exhortations to Purity (1-8), Love of the Brethren (9-10) and Honest Work (11)— St Paul here reaffirms certain precepts of the Christian moral code that he had already explained at Thessalonica.

3. The first principle of this code is that God expects all Christians to be holy, i.e. ’separated from sin’, and in the first place to preserve their holiness or sanctity by abstention from every form of sexual vice . But among the ancient heathen, as with the modern pagan, the commonest and greatest obstacle to a holy way of life was extramarital sexual indulgence, which was regarded as practically inevitable and was treated almost as a matter of course like eating and drinking. Hence the necessity of giving stringent charges against it to Gentile converts. 4. Commentators, both ancient and modern, are about equally divided between taking s?e???? ?ta?sTa? to mean either (1) to acquire or gain possession (control) of his own body, or (2) to acquire (i.e. marry) his own wife. The former explanation would lay emphasis on personal chastity, and the latter on chastity in marriage. 6a. ’And that no one should sin against or take advantage of his brother in this matter.’

6b-8. The reasons for these prohibitions. The appeal to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is his supreme argument in his exhortations to purity; cf.1 Corinthians 6:19.

11. Apparently certain weakerminded brethren, obsessed by a belief in a speedy return of Christ gave up earning their living, thus drawing the ridicule of non-Christians (’them that are without’) to whom they had not been ’behaving fittingly’, and becoming a charge upon the community (’and that you need nothing of any man’s’), cf.2 Thessalonians 3:10 f.

IV 12-V 11 The Second Coming— This passage is remarkable for the large number of reminiscences of the First Gospel, which indicate that St Paul was familiar with the Greek text of Mt 24. He here answers two questions conveyed to him through Timothy concerning—

(A) 12-18 The Lot of those who die before the Parousia— 12. cf.Matthew 27:52; John 11:11. The Thessalonians knew their dead would rise again but apparently feared that they would not find them in Christ’s retinue at the time of his glorious return.

13. St Paul assures them that their dead will indeed be there; ’slept through Jesus’, a unique phrase, equivalent to ’the dead who are in Christ’ of 15, cf.Romans 14:7-8.14. ’In (the) word of the Lord’ must either mean ’on the direct authority of a personal revelation of Christ to St Paul himself’, or it must refer to some saying or teaching of our Lord’s not recorded in the Bible, since nowhere in the Gospels did He touch on this precise point. ’we who are alive . . .’: this much discussed phrase is either (1) a quotation from the words of the question put by the Thessalonians, or (2) a literary device, common in St Paul, by which he puts himself into the place and state of mind of his correspondents, and ranks himself among those, whether now living or yet unborn, whom the Lord will find alive at his return. As it is clear from his answer to their second question (5:1-12) that neither he nor anyone else knows the time of the Second Coming, there can be no question here of his either teaching or hinting at the imminence of the Parousia, as many moderns have thought. His utilization of Mt 24 is conclusive of his conformity with Christ’s own teaching on the Parousia, cf. § 914i.

15. ’with a shout of command, [viz.] with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet’, cf.Matthew 24:31; 1 Corinthians 15:52. This act will re-establish the holy dead in full equality with those living at the last day. 16. Then will take place both for those newly raised from the dead and for those who are alive the mysterious transformation that will make their bodies incorruptible and immortal and enable them to enjoy the beatific vision and union. There is no indication here or elsewhere of an interval for a millenary terrestrial reign of Christ before his heavenly reign begins, as Schweitzer thought.

17. Since those who have already died in Christ will therefore be at no disadvantage in the Resurrection of the Just, there is no ground for anxiety, but only for consolation.