• We left off last week with Paul addressing the church at Thessalonica and their concerns for what is to come with the dead and themselves when Jesus returns.
• Now we get to the wrap up of his 1st letter to the Church at Thessalonica.

 
1 Thessalonians 5
EXHORTATIONS AND BLESSINGS

• A. L. Moore, in his 1969 commentary, says this: “There is no need to see behind each injunction a special situation supposedly requiring particular guidance; much of the advice and encouragement is of a general nature such as Paul would regard right and necessary for any church.”
• Howard Marshall, in his 1983 commentary said this: “The situation is the very natural one of a pastor who knows that a number of specific topics are usually important in exhortation and has a rough general pattern of teaching in his mind, but who presents it in such a way that he adapts it to the particular situation he has in mind.”[1]

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who 1) labor among you and 2) lead you in the Lord and 3) admonish you, 13 and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

• Paul “asks” – means that he has a good 2 way respectful relationship with the Church in Thessalonica.
• He is not commanding.
• 1) The first thing that congregational leaders do is they “work hard/labor.”
• What does that mean? Well, the rest of the text says that “They rule over and admonish parishioners.”
• 1 Timothy 5:17 says they preach and teach.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:11 says that they engage in individual discipleship training.
• 2 Thessalonians 3:13 [and] Acts 20:35 say that they support the poor.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:14–15, coming up in our passage in just a little bit, says that they practice pastoral care, although they don’t do it alone but the whole church does it.
• These are at least some of the things that church leaders do [and] ways in which they work hard.
• 2) We live in a kind of politically correct age in which people are sensitive about people who have authority and how they exercise authority, I think that many commentators and many translations are a little too reluctant to recognize what is emphasized here in this passage.
• In this context Paul has in mind that authoritative function.
• 3) Admonition for the apostle never stems from a judgmental or vindictive spirit, but rather, it’s always done out of genuine love and concern for others.
• We can see that in Paul’s words to the Corinthians (1 Cor 4:14). He says, “to admonish you as my dear children.”
• That was the perspective by which Paul admonished the Corinthians—from the perspective that they were his dear, or his beloved, children.
• There are certain members in the Thessalonian church who are not only idle but, even worse, they’re rejecting—they are rebellious because they’re rejecting the admonition of the church leaders about their need for self-sufficient work.[2]

 

• Leavener – Organic>Institutional
• We receive questions & judgment because we aren’t organized like “others”.
  • 5 recognized elders (board – IRS)
  • Many elders (including women)
  • Deacons
    • Serve the ministry
    • Serve individual people/families
  • Members – There are no members
  • No voting among members
  • No committees
  • Organic small groups

14 And we exhort you, brothers and sisters: 1) warn those who are idle (rebellious idlers), 2) comfort (encourage) the discouraged, 3) help the weak, 4) be patient with everyone (all).

• ‘brothers and sisters’ - stresses the fact that pastoral care is the responsibility not of just the church leaders but the whole congregation.
• And this is an important point because, in today’s church, there is a tendency to farm out this responsibility of pastoral care to paid staff people or to trained church leaders.
• Instead, we have to recognize that the whole church, the whole body, has a responsibility to its fellow members.
• And what’s more, this is perfectly in keeping with Paul’s commands elsewhere that church leaders are not to do the work alone but, rather, are [Ephesians 4:11–12] “to equip the saints for the work of ministry.”
• 1) ‘the rebellious idlers’—those who are not merely lazy but who also compound their sin by rebelliously refusing to obey the command of both their congregational leaders and even Paul himself.”
• 2) ‘comfort/encourage the discouraged’ - in this context [of] “encourage/comfort,” remember, also occurs typically in the context of death.
• 3) ‘help the weak’ - The adjective here could refer to physical ailments, but because the moral character has been stressed in the previous two groups, it more likely suggests that here too Paul is referring to those who are spiritually weak.[3]
• 4) ‘be patient with everyone/all’ – Not just the first 3 mentioned but to ALL.

15 See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.

• Paul knows that the natural reaction of humanity when someone does something wrong is to strike back in anger and in revenge.
• So here Paul is highlighting the principle of non-retaliation.
• The verb “pursue” is also a strong one. Some translations simply say something like “try to do what is good,” and that’s much too weak for what the verb conveys.
• In fact, this is a strong verb that is even used sometimes to describe persecution.
• So what Paul is saying is [that] we just don’t have to try to do what is good.
• Much more aggressively, we have to chase after—we have to pursue—what is good, and we have to do that toward all.[4]

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray constantly, 18 give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

• Congregational worship – What is that?
• Paul connects the Holy Spirit with each one of these three things, and so that’s what holds this paragraph together.
• So joy, for instance, is connected with the Holy Spirit in Paul’s writings in this letter, earlier in 1:6, [and] also in Rom 14:17 and Gal 5:22.
• Prayer is connected with the Holy Spirit in passages like Rom 8:26–27; 1 Cor 14:15; Eph 6:18; and Phil 1:19.
• Pagan prayer – was more transactional.
• If you do this, I will do this in return.
• Christian payer is more relational. Not necessarily what we learned in church either.
• Thanksgiving is connected with the Holy Spirit in 1 Cor 14:16.[5]
• This doesn’t say ‘when you gather’.
• Worship is not just a Sunday AM thing.
• We worship always, constantly and in everything.
• Every breath we take is worship.
• How do you do these things ‘always’?
• Chaplain call on Friday – 46 year old husband and father of 3 died.
• “Why?” – How do you do this?
• ‘God’s will for you in Christ Jesus’ – to walk by His Spirit.
• The Spirit of God is the only way you get through this fallen world.
• I can’t explain why – there is a bigger picture.

19 Don’t stifle (quench) the Spirit. 20 Don’t despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil.

• ‘stifle/quench’ – to walk by your flesh – selfishness.
• What I want… what I feel… What am I going to get out of this?... Flesh vs Spirit.
• Filter what you hear… when it comes to listening to teachers.
• Throw penalty flags and know why.
• Know the difference between good and evil.
• Spirit vs flesh
• Michael Martin, says, “Paul did not wish the church to become so cynical that they treated with contempt those who came with a word of prophecy. Neither was the church to be so gullible that they accepted whatever a so-called prophet said without carefully weighing it and determining that it was indeed a true word of God.”[6]

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Peace… real peace only comes from God… the Spirit inside of us.
• ‘sanctify you completely’ – Set apart
• Explain how a believer’s soul and spirit has already been redeemed at the cross. Out of this comes acts of the Spirit.
• Our body has not been redeemed. Out of this comes acts of the flesh.
• Not only in your soul and spirit, but also your body.
• May you not only be perfected in your true identity but your behavior as well.

24 He who calls you is faithful; he will do it. 25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us also. 26 Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss.

• The “holy kiss” was not a sensual thing. Usually the men kissed the men, and the women kissed the women[7]
• This is a command that Paul gives in only three of his letters, and always to congregations where, earlier in the letter, he has addressed some form of internal conflict or division.
• So the fact that Paul includes the kiss greeting in his letter closing to the Thessalonians is a strong suggestion that he has a particular internal division in the church in mind.
• And the kiss itself in the ancient world was a lot more than just saying hi or goodbye.
• It was a sign in the ancient world of, well, almost forgiveness, of reconciliation, of unity and togetherness.[8]
• I am good with saying, “I forgive you” and “I love you.”

27 I charge you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. [9]
‘Grace be with you’ – The ability of God in you to live your life for you.

[1] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[2] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[4] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[5] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 190). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[8] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Th 5:12–28). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

• We left off last week…
• In this passage, is primarily, as we’ve noted a number of times, not predicting but pastoring.

 
1 Thessalonians 4
THE COMFORT OF CHRIST’S COMING
13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming (parousia) will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

• Paul referred to the coming of the Lord as his parousia, a term that commonly meant the glorious “coming” of a deity or the official visit of a sovereign to a city, who himself was often honored as divine.
• An imperial visit was an event of great pomp and magnificent celebrations, with rich banquets, speeches that praised the imperial visitor, a visit to the local temple, rich donations, celebration of games, sacrifices, statues dedicated, and arches and other buildings constructed.
• Money was minted to commemorate the event, crowns of gold might be given, and at times a new era was inaugurated.[1]

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

• So it could be, for instance, a general to his soldiers, saying “Charge!” or it might be a captain to the rowers.
• So the first command has, again, the idea that it is spoken by somebody who has power and authority [at] a time of great importance or excitement.[2]
• “Trumpet of God” – I can’t find any historical record, Josephus included, where this is mentioned.
• In funeral processions the trumpets were sounded, and so common was this custom that when the emperor Claudius died the sound of the trumpets was so deafening that it was thought that the dead could hear them.
• But the idea of this verse is not simply that the dead will hear the great sound of the trumpet call of God, but that they will respond to the command to rise[3]

17 Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together (harpazō) with them in the clouds to meet the Lord (apentesis) in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

• The key verb harpazō, and that’s found here in verses 16 and 17.
• This is where, again, we get the word and the idea of the rapture because harpazō in Greek was translated into rapio in Latin and the Vulgate, and from that we get the noun “rapture.”[4]
• There’s pretty strong evidence that the word, the verb harpazō, was used rather widely in the ancient world to refer, in the context of death, to how people were snatched who were taken away from the advantages of life to death.
• Paul is using “harpazo”, unlike what the common world expects, [being] snatched from life to death, but meaning we’re going to be snatched from life to not death but life to life or from one kind of life to an eternal form of life.[5]
• To meet (apatensis) was almost a technical term that described the custom of sending a delegation outside the city to receive a dignitary who was on the way to town.[6]
• Read: Polybius spoke of the great pomp of such occasions (5.26.8), and author after author described how not only certain officials but also all the population would file out of the city to meet the emperor in his parousia.
• Josephus, for example, tells how the citizens of Rome went out to meet Vespasian as their new emperor (who, by the way, had just come from leading the Roman troops in the battles to quell the Jewish rebellion that began in a.d. 66):
• “Amidst such feelings of universal goodwill, those of higher rank, impatient of awaiting him, hastened to a great distance from Rome to be the first to greet [apentesis] him. Nor, indeed, could any of the rest endure the delay of meeting, but all poured forth in such crowds—for to all it seems simpler and easier to go than to remain—that the very city then for the first time experienced with satisfaction the paucity of inhabitants; for those who went outnumbered those who remained. But when he was reported to be approaching and those who had gone ahead were telling of the affability of his reception of each party, the whole remaining population, with wives and children, were by now waiting at the road-sides to receive him; and each group as he passed, in their delight at the spectacle and moved by the blandness of his appearance, gave vent to all manner of cries, hailing him as “benefactor,” “savior,” and “only worthy emperor of Rome.” The whole city, moreover, was filled, like a temple, with garlands and incense.[7]
• Matthew 25:6
• So one of its other occurrences is in Matt 25:6, the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.
• We read how the virgins, all of them, went out to apantēsis, to meet, the bridegroom; and then, once the bridegroom comes, what happens? Do they take off with him on the honeymoon? Well, of course not. The wedding hasn’t even happened yet. They escort him to the place he was always going—the wedding banquet, the wedding feast.
• Acts 28:15
• The second occurrence takes place in Acts 28:15, and the context is Paul has appealed to Caesar, and so he is on this perilous journey to appear before Nero himself. And there are Christians in Rome who hear that Paul is coming, and so they, somewhat naturally, say [that] Paul, an important person from their point of view, is coming. And so what they do? They send a delegation party out to—here comes that same word in our text from Thessalonians—to apantēsis, to meet the apostle.
• Well, what happens when they meet Paul? Do they escape with Paul and go into hiding? Well, the answer, of course, is no; they escort Paul to the place he was always going, Rome, the place from which they, the members of the delegation party, came.[8]

18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.[9]

• But the concern of the teachers was not to explain all the details of Christian eschatology but rather to console members of the church in their moment of agony, as the final verse once again clarifies.[10]

 

• I don’t believe the Bible, here or elsewhere, talks about the rapture in terms of a sudden disappearance of Christians—where they just vanish, they’re gone, and this happens for seven years;
• and then, while the bad stuff happens after seven years, these Christians who have enjoyed, well, perfection in heaven and fellowship with God and Christ, somehow come back, and [that] begins the thousand-year reign of Christ.
• That teaching, I’m afraid, is not supported in the clearest text anywhere, potentially, in the Bible, on the rapture—the one found in our passage, 1 Thess 4:17.[11]

 

• Now, we have these two passages which both deal with the second coming of Jesus, and both of them, we’ll see, are primarily speaking a word of comfort.
• But there is an important difference between the two of them; that is, 4:13–18 and 5:1–11.
• [Thessalonians] 4:13–18 speaks about comfort with regard to deceased Christians at Christ’s return, whereas 5:1–11 speaks about comfort with regard to Christians who are alive at Jesus’s return.[12]

 
1 Thessalonians 5
THE DAY OF THE LORD

• People are way more interested in the last days on earth than they are with the abundant life here on earth with Jesus.
• 1970- Hal Lindsey’s book – The Late Great Planet Earth. – Sold over 1 million copies!
• Edgar Whisenant - 88 Reasons Why the Rapture will Happen in 1988 – Sold 4.5 million copies!
• Left Behind Series by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins – 16 novels (’95-’07) – Teenage Series – 3 movies with Kirk Cameron... 65 million copies
• Probably one of the few things I have in common with John Calvin… he wrote a commentary on every book of the Bible except Revelation.
• The real question is, “Are you ready for that day?”
• Similar to Y2K… are you ready?
• They worried whether they were worthy enough to avoid the judgment connected with that end-time day and whether they would indeed experience salvation and eternal life with Christ at His return.
• That this is the specific trouble—namely, not just a general concern about the timing of the event but, rather, their status at that event.[13]
• The problem doesn’t seem to be one of knowledge but, rather, one of anxiety and apprehension and fear about their status on the Day of the Lord.

5 About the times and the seasons: Brothers and sisters, you do not need anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

• So, up to this point in the letter, three times Paul has used that first term “coming,” the Greek word parousia. He used it in 2:19 [and] 3:13, and he used it in the immediately preceding paragraph as well.
• The Day of the Lord concept is different; it has its roots in the Old Testament, where it refers to a future time when God would come to do what? Well, on the one hand, He’s going to punish the wicked; and on the other hand, He’s going to vindicate the righteous, His people, although, when we look at the text, there’s almost a stronger emphasis on the notion of judgment associated with the Day of the Lord than there is with the vindication of God’s people.[14]
• Listen to a number of these selected verses from various Old Testament prophets, all of them describing the judgment connected with the Day of the Lord.
• Joel 2:31 says, “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”
• Zephaniah 3:8, where God says that He will “pour out my wrath on them—all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.”
• Jeremiah 46:10 - “But that day belongs to the Lord, the Lord Almighty—a day of vengeance for vengeance on his foes. The sword will devour till it is satisfied, till it has quenched its thirst with blood.” Obadiah 15 - “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.”
• Amos 5:18–20 - “Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on a wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?”[15]

3 When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

• Paul is comforting them by saying that you have no reason to fear the Day of the Lord.
• Paul, in this reference, is making a clear allusion—not a very subtle one at all—to the propaganda and the sloganeering of the Roman state and its rather boastful claim of providing for its citizens these two benefits.
• But Paul has a stern warning for all who face the Day of the Lord by looking to Rome and its political power to save them on that day instead of God.
• As he says in the rest of the verse, he says all those who proclaim peace and security—what’s going to happen to them? Then “sudden destruction comes upon them … and they will certainly not escape.”[16]

4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness.

• Paul says the same thing twice for the purpose of emphasis but just says it in reverse/opposite.

6 So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation.

• Contrasting metaphors.

9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

• They were worried [about] whether or not they would avoid the judgment connected with that end-time day and [would] instead experience salvation and eternal life with Christ.[17]

11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.[18]

• Once again, Paul is being pastoral.
• Stay focused. You are good for the final day.

You have been made holy, righteous, redeemed and justified.

[1] Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (p. 223). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
[2] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3] Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (p. 225). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
[4] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[5] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (p. 226). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
[7] Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (p. 227). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
[8] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Th 4:13–18). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[10] Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (p. 228). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
[11] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[12] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[13] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[14] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[15] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[16] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[17] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[18] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Th 5:1–11). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

• We left off 2 weeks ago with Paul encouraging the Church to live in holiness (learning to live out of their new heart).

 
LOVING AND WORKING
1 Thessalonians 4
9 About brotherly love: You don’t need me to write you because you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.

• Paul makes the jump from holiness to love pretty quick.
• The only way to live in holiness is being empowered by the Holy Spirit in us. Allowing Him to do it.
• If the Holy Spirit is working in and through us, then love is not a difficult jump from holiness.
• In the Greek language we have 4 common usages of the word “love”
• Eros (erotic) – Can be sinful or sensual. Not used in the New Testament. Eros the word was reduced in quality
• Storge (pronounced STOR-jay), refers to family love, the love of parents for their children. This word is also absent from our New Testament.[1]
• Philia – Brotherly love; deep affection such as in friendship or even a marriage.
• Christians share this love because we have the same Father. Our Father teaches us to “love another”
• Agape - the love God shows toward us. It is not simply a love based on feeling; it is expressed in our wills.
• It is a self-sacrificing love
• Agape love treats others as God would treat them, regardless of feelings or personal preferences.[2]
• When one is given a “new heart”, it is natural for them to love. It is a believer’s distinctive character to love. Just as a fish swims and a bird flies.
• How does God cause our love to “increase more and more”? By living… our circumstances force us to practice Christian love.
• Love is the “circulatory system” of the body of Christ, but if our spiritual muscles are not exercised, the circulation is impaired.
• The difficulties that we believers have with one another are opportunities for us to grow in our love.
• This explains why Christians who have had the most problems with each other often end up loving one another deeply, much to the amazement of the world.[3]

10 In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers and sisters in the entire region of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more, 11 to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 so that you may behave properly (honestly, decently) in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.

• Unfortunately, some of the new believers in the church misunderstood the doctrine of Christ’s return and gave up their jobs in order to wait for His coming.
• This meant that they were supported by other Christians, some of whom may not have had sufficient funds for their own families.
• It also meant that these fanatical people could not pay their bills, and therefore they lost their testimony with the unsaved merchants.[4]
• Jesus is coming back so I am going to run up all my credit cards!
• I’m gonna win the lottery can I borrow some $$$
• I’m filing bankruptcy, I might as well spend as much as I can.
• The church was to live in this manner in order to “win the respect of outsiders” and “not be dependent on anybody” (v. 12).
• Thus a series of commands that begins with a concern for growing, mutual Christian love concludes with a concern for the church’s relationship to the non-Christian community.
• R. F. Hock presents another alternative to an eschatological understanding of these verses.
• He argues that the commands “to lead a quiet life” and to “mind your own business” were encouragements to political quietism.
• By avoiding political activism and working at respectable occupations, the church would gain the approval of their non-Christian neighbors.
• Some of the terms Paul used in these verses were indeed used by various Greco-Roman philosophers to encourage withdrawal from public life.
• Such encouragements would make sense in light of the apostle’s past experience in Thessalonica.
• After all, Paul was charged with causing social and political unrest in the city (Acts 17:6–7) and might have responded by advising the church to avoid political entanglements.[5]
• It should be clear from Paul’s own history, however, that living quietly did not mean the church should tone down its proclamation of the gospel.
• On the contrary, Paul consistently encouraged boldness in this regard.
• The church was not to live so quietly that they failed to function as witnesses of Christ both in word and deed. [6]
  
  

THE COMFORT OF CHRIST’S COMING
13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

• the verb koimaō literally means “to sleep,”
• this is a euphemism for death. (an agreeable or inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that might offend or suggest unpleasantness[7])
• So when Paul uses the word “sleep,” he’s using it in this figurative sense and referring to Christians who have already died.[8]
• Paul’s focus on what Timothy has reported is that they are grieving over the return of Christ.
• Self-focused – “What happens to us?”
• The ancient Greek writer Theocritus, lived about three hundred years before Paul, but he wrote a saying which is very helpful for our question here.
• He said simply this: He said, “Hopes are for the living; without hope are the dead.”
• This is a great quote because he uses the word “hope,” and he talks about it in the context of death.
• And Theocritus is clear that living people are the only people who can have hope, and [for] anybody who’s dead, well, hope is nowhere on the scene.
• That seems to echo, exactly, Paul’s claim in his opening assertion.[9]

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

• Paul is presenting his readers with something that he assumes—and they assume—is true.
• It’s going to be a foundation for an argument that Paul makes, and that’s why some translations render this verse not as “if we believe” but “since we believe”; or sometimes they just make it into a statement: We believe that such and such is the case.[10]

15 For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

• This is a specific text that theologians associate with the “rapture”.
• I can break that down for you but we will miss the pastoral intent of Paul’s letter.
• So let me stay with the intent and I will briefly revisit this passage next week in light of the “rapture”.
• The Thessalonians are grieving over fellow Christians who have fallen asleep, who have died.
• And this is an easy trouble for us to understand because all of us, young or old, have experienced, also, the grief that comes from the death of a loved one.
• We have funerals and now they are called “Celebration of Life”.
• We can grieve and have hope at the same time.
• For instance, in Philippians 2:27 Paul refers to this helper that was sent to him from Philippi; his name was Epaphroditus. And Paul says that if Epaphroditus had died from his illness, Paul would have had “sorrow upon sorrow.” So Paul wouldn’t have felt guilty, and he expected to grieve if, indeed, Epaphroditus would die.
• In Romans 12:15 Paul has an important command; it’s simple but important. He says, “Weep with those who weep.” So Paul recognizes that some of the Christians in Rome are going to be suffering a number of trials, and that will lead to weeping.

 

• Would these family members and friends miss out on the return of Jesus?
• Paul is truly taking their focus back to the teaching of Jesus.
• The Gospels weren’t yet written but remember that Paul had the download of Jesus’ teachings back at his conversion.
• Matthew records some of Jesus teachings on His return in Matthew 24.
• Ask – “How many of you believe Jesus raised from the dead?”
• Paul is saying, “Well, as real as you believe Jesus rose from the dead, that’s how real you can believe your deceased loved ones will rise from the dead.”[11]
• Paul is reminding them to get their focus off yourself and back on Jesus.
• You will still experience grief because of death but grieve with hope. (unlike the others)

18 Therefore encourage (comfort) one another with these words.[12]

• Paul ends the passage by commanding the Christians to parakaleite;
• that is to, well, literally, to be called alongside of one another.
• And this word is the same word that the Gospel writer John uses in his Gospel to describe the Holy Spirit.
• Some older translations actually just take the noun form of the verb and they just render it “the Paraclete,” but the word and the verb refer to someone who is called to your side.
• And, what’s more, when we take seriously the notion of comfort in this closing verb, it’s yet a reminder of the point, and we’ll have to keep making it because it’s a temptation that many who fall into—and that is, to turn this into an end-time, prophecy-type discussion.
• I say to you, the primary purpose of Paul in this passage is not to predict but to pastor.
• In fact, [it’s] not just in this passage of the end times, [and] not just in the next passage, 5:1–11, but even in 2 Thessalonians.
• All three of these extended end-time discussions end with the same concern of Paul, [to comfort] his readers.
• So I know that these words of hope can be words of hope for you.
• And so as you perhaps have already been thinking, in the midst of our study of this passage, about someone you love who has already died, my prayer is that the Holy Spirit will work together with His Word in such a way that, through your tears, you’re not grieving like the rest of men, but you’re a person who grieves with hope.

May God comfort you with this hope of the gospel.[13]

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 177). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 177). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 177). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 177). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, pp. 136–137). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[6] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 137). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[7] Merriam-Webster, I. (1996). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate thesaurus. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.
[8] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[10] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[11] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[12] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Th 4:9–18). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[13] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.