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Bible Dictionaries
Wake
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words
or translated "wake" in 1 Thessalonians 5:10 , is rendered "watch" in the RV marg., as in the text in 1 Thessalonians 5:6 , and the RV in the twenty-one other places in which it occurs in the NT (save 1 Peter 5:8 , "be watchful"). It is not used in the metaphorical sense of "to be alive;" here it is set in contrast with katheudo, "to sleep," which is never used by the Apostle with the meaning "to be dead" (it has this meaning only in the case of Jairus' daughter). Accordingly the meaning here is that of vigilance and expectancy as contrasted with laxity and indifference. All believers will live together with Christ from the time of the Rapture described in ch. 4; for all have spiritual life now, though their spiritual condition and attainment vary considerably. Those who are lax and fail to be watchful will suffer loss (1 Corinthians 3:15; 9:27; 2 Corinthians 5:10 , e.g.), but the Apostle is not here dealing with that aspect of the subject. What he does make clear is that the Rapture of believers at the second coming of Christ will depend solely on the death of Christ for them, and not upon their spiritual condition. The Rapture is not a matter of reward, but of salvation. See WATCH.
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Wake'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ved/w/wake.html. 1940.
