1 THessalonians 4:15 and 5:2
Introduction
Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians to respond to many issues and challenging that Thessalonians are facing. Both the coming of the Lord and the day of the Lord were part of Paul’s encouragement message to reaffirm believes’ faith in Jesus. There are two types of people in both chapters such as believers and unbelievers; those who have fallen asleep in Jesus and those who still alive. The addressee of the letter are those who still alive. The message of the coming of the Lord associated with the message of hope and comfort to those who believe in Jesus. Whereas, the message of the day of the Lord associated with the sudden destruction and punishment of those do not believe in Jesus and the call for believers to wait the day of the lord with appropriately. In this paper I examined the original message of the text and the possible application for today’s Christianity.
Background
There are at least two good reasons why Paul need to delivers eschatological message to the Thessalonians. Both reasons reflect Paul’s pastoral concern for the believers. First, it is because believers are grieving for those who have fallen asleep in Jesus (4:13, 18). Secondly, to reaffirm Paul’s previous teaching about the day of the Lord concerning times and dates (5:1). The speculations of what will happen to those who have fallen asleep in Jesus and the timing of the day of the Lord seem to be disturbing Thessalonians. Though some believers have died but the sense of imminent return of Christ seem to be so strong even to Paul (4:15). Perhaps, the sudden dead of many believers cause some Christian to think themselves as people who will receive the return of Jesus prior to the dead.[1] Despite of many possible backgrounds the key message is for those who still alive to live with the right eschatological understanding. There are two reasons first is to inform and second is to remind; Paul informed about what will happen to those who have died before the Lord’s return and reminded them about his former teaching concerning times and dates (the day of the Lord).
Chapter 4:13-18: The Return of the Lord
The message of the return of the Lord is part of the package of Paul’s message to encourage Thessalonians (v18). Chapter 4:15 could be best understand by studying from verse 13-18 as the passages deal with the return of the Lord.[2] Paul opens verse 13 by addressing to the Thessalonians believers by providing his purpose (not to be ignorant) for writing the letter. The case of ignorance can be simply understood as grieving over death like people who have no hope. In following verses, Paul firmly encourages that Christians unlike hopeless people, should look forward to the day of uniting with the Lord. In another word, Paul affirms that there is a resurrection day for those who have fallen asleep in the Lord. It seems like when those who are ignorant think death as separation; Paul is stating that death is also just part of the picture to be together with the Lord in the future especially when the Lord return. Therefore, the return of the Lord plays a key major role in Paul’s message of comfort to bring hope to the faith of believers. The purpose of the return of the Lord is for believers to be with him forever (v17b). The message of “we will be with Christ forever” puts all the grieve into perspective, and give courage to live for God (4:1)[3]. Paul quotes the word of Jesus in verse 15 perhaps to make his statement more authoritative and trustworthy. Paul sounds to believe that he will live until the coming of the Lord. However, Paul makes it clear that people who live until the Lord’s return will not have more privilege over people who die. On the other hand, Paul did not clarify whether the death will rise from grave on earth or they will come with Christ from heaven when the Lord himself comes down from heaven with a loud command (v16). Another question will be “Is those who fallen asleep will arise only when the Lord return and where will they be in between the time when they die and the time when Christ return?”
The return of the Lord and the resurrection of the death was followed by the meeting with those who still alive in the clouds. Paul did not specify how and where the Lord and his people will meet. Paul just ends his message by saying “so we shall be with the Lord forever.” Paul is not interested to tell his audience where the Lord will bring his people after the meeting in the air. Therefore, Paul’s concern in the coming of the Lord is to be with the Lord. Paul only emphasis the coming of the Lord “parousia of the Lord.” The word Parousia was also used for the arrival of a king in a city.[4] Whenever kings visited, there was a lot of spectacle ceremony to welcome him. The city officials will form a procession to greet the King as he approached and they would escort him into the city. Therefore, Paul’s usage of “meeting in the air” seems to link with the “parousia” idea of welcoming the king. The majestic return of the Lord is also link to the return of the death to those who are alive. Paul emphasis that those who still alive will meet both the Parousia of the Lord and the resurrection of the death. The end result of Paul’s eschatological message was for those who still alive to encourage each other with Paul’s message. The message serves as element of encouragement among those who are still alive perhaps those who lost their love one and those who lost confident in the return of the Lord.
Chapter 5:1-11
Chapter 4:13-18 deal with Christians in two categories such as people who have fallen asleep in Jesus and people who are still alive. Whereas in Chapter 5:1-11 the passage dealing with two different groups the sons of day and sons of night. Chapter 5:2 the day of the Lord is part of the message sudden destructions and punishment of the sons of night. In verse 2 Paul reaffirm that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. The day of the Lord in chapter five is for those who live with false confident. In the Old Testament the day of the Lord frequently used as the day that God bring punishment over the unrighteous. Generally, the day of the Lord refers to the day in which God reveal his mighty power to his enemies. The day of the Lord was described as like the thief that comes at night. While the people are saying, “peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly. Therefore, the coming of the thief equal to unexpected destructions likewise labor pains on a pregnant women. Paul intensifies the condition of punishment by saying “they will not escape.” The unexpected or unpredictable occurrences of destructions on the people (not the sons of days) explained the unpredictable coming of the day of the Lord (v1). Paul did not explain further about how the destruction will affect the people. Only at verse 9 Paul used the word “wrath.” Therefore, Paul did not concern about the details about how the destructions will be carry out. Again in Chapter 5:1-11 the key concern of Paul is to encourage the sons of day that they will not experience the destruction. Paul clarifies his statement by saying “you are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.” Paul called believers as the sons of day or children of light. Therefore, they do not belong to night and darkness. By saying that they belong to the light, Paul introduces his key message to the Thessalonians which is to be prepare and to be sober.
Chapter 5:1-11 can be divided into three parts such as (a) verses 1-3 Paul discusses the unexpected arrival of the Day of the Lord for the unprepared and its consequences; (b) verses 4-7 he discusses the need for wakefulness in light of this coming day; (C) verses 8-11 Paul again exhorts the Thessalonians to comfort one another with this information.[5] In summary chapter 5:1-11 deal with the question of when the day of the Lord will come. However, Paul declined to explain the “When” question rather he answered the “What” questions such as what will happen and what they need to prepare. What matter more to Paul is not the times and the seasons but to give way to sobriety and faithfulness. Paul urges his Thessalonians audience to comprehend the enduring efficacy of Jesus’ salvific death so as to embrace, first, the hope of salvation that differentiates them from the rest of humanity and, second, the behaviors appropriate to those called to cruciform existence (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 3:1-5).” [6] On the other hand, Paul continue to urge the Thessalonians that they must constantly watch and be prepared for the day of the Lord as both believers and unbelievers can be surprised by the day’s sudden arrival. From verses 1-Paul characterize believers in two ways. First, they will be like watchman of old who is always alert to the approach of any, whether by friend or enemies. They need to be prepared to meet any threats or unexpected coming forces. Preparedness for the return of the Lord is the first character of the Sons of day. Sobriety is the second character that the believer to maintain as they expect for the return of the Lord. This is contrast to those who are drunk in verse 7. The one who is drunk has decided that how he behaves is not important; he won’t be caught. Nothing is going to happen! The one who remains sober is determined to be prepared for any and all eventualities, whether they are good or bad. His mind is set on service to God.
The parallelism between 4:13-18 and 5:1-11
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 | Verse | 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 | Verse |
| But we do not want you to be ignorant. | 13 | You have no need of anything to be written to you. | 1 |
| Those who are asleep. | 13 | Let us not sleep as the others do. | 6 |
| The others. | 13 | The others. | 6 |
| The rest who have no hope. | 13 | The hope of salvation. | 8 |
| If we believe that Jesus died and rose again. | 14 | Our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us | 9-10 |
| We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord. | 15 | Whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him | 10 |
| For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven. | 16 | The day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. | 2 |
| Then we will be caught up together with them in the cloud. | 17 | Then destruction will come upon them and they will not escape. | 3 |
| Caught up together with them. | 17 | We may live together with Him. | 10 |
| Therefore comfort one another. | 18 | Therefore comfort one another. | 11 |
Conclusion and Application
Both the message of “the coming of the Lord” and “the day of the Lord” uniquely presents their own messages. However, the two has sturdily link in terms of parallelism and the overview idea of Paul’s pastoral concern for the Thessalonian Church. It is clear that 4:13-18 provide new teaching on what will happen to those who have fallen asleep in the Lord. Whereas 5:1-11 deal with the qualities that those who are still alive to be embrace. Therefore, the coming of the Lord and the day of Lord are not the same in some sense and the same in another sense.[7] The two messages are given to the same group of people with one purpose which is for them to comfort one another.
In today’s world many Christians still facing uncertainty about those who die. The subject of dead not only bring grieve but also bring discouragement even to believers. Dead separate not only separate believers from their love ones but also it bring uncertainty to those who still alive. It is always challenging that after believing in Jesus no one directly goes to be with him. Although Christians are taught that they will be with Jesus after they die but the issue seems to be more complex than our simple assumption. Paul himself was looking forwards to live until the coming of the Lord. He do not seem to understand comprehensively about the coming back of the Lord as he just quote from the words of Jesus (possibly Jesus did not reveal the whole picture of his return to Paul). One thing that Paul very sure about is the Lord will come back again to unite the death and alive together. The coming back of the Lord is the hope and the reason for believers to live a godly life. Paul does not know when Jesus will come back but he does understand that how he needs to wait for his return. The responsibility of believers is to comfort and encourage each other as they wait for the coming of the Lord and the day of the Lord.
REF:
[1] Earl J. Richard, First and Second Thessalonians (Minnesota: Michael Glazier Books, 2007), 226-67.
[2] Gene L. Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians (Leicester, England: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002), 212-35.
[3] Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, Ephesians - Philemon (Expositor's Bible Commentary, The), Revised ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 414-23
[4] Abraham J. Malherbe, The Letters to the Thessalonians: a New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: Anchor Bible, 2000), 260-301
[5] G.K. Beale, 1-2 Thessalonians (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), p. 143
[6] John T. Carroll & Joel B. Green, The Death of Jesus in Early Christianity (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995), p. 117.
[7] Victor Paul Furnish, Abingdon New Testament Commentary - 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries) (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007), 102-9.
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