13 4:13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 4:14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 4:15For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 4:16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 4:17Then we who are 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. 18 4:18Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Section Overview
While many approach this passage desiring to know the exact sequence of Christ’s return, such knowledge is not Paul’s principal concern. Rather, he encourages the Thessalonians that Christians who have died will be raised when Christ returns. They shall again see their loved ones in Christ on that day. Thus they ought not grieve in the same manner as their pagan neighbors do.
In the process of assuring the church that the Christian dead will be raised, Paul does provide a brief outline of future events (1 Thess. 4:15–17), following the eschatological teaching of Jesus. When the Lord descends from heaven, everyone will know what is happening, for voices and instruments shall loudly declare his arrival. The Christian dead will be raised first, and the living will join the risen saints in meeting the Lord.
As one approaches these end-time sections in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, it is helpful to keep at least four observations in mind: (1) Often Paul is answering different questions than modern interpreters ask, and thus we should be aware that, in the providence of God, we may not be able from Paul’s words to reach satisfactory answers to all of our modern theological ponderings. (2) Paul has lived previously in Thessalonica, and he has taught the church about eschatology, so in this epistle he often omits full discussion of concepts the Thessalonians already know; this makes interpretation challenging, requiring humility from modern exegetes (cf. comments on 2 Thess. 2:5–6). (3) Paul repeatedly displays dependence on Jesus’ teaching, and this should influence our approach to interpreting his words. (4) Paul is concerned primarily with encouraging the church in his day (rather than with informing their eschatological speculation); in particular, he seeks to reassure Christians in the midst of grief (1 Thess. 4:13–18) and to remind them always to be prepared for Christ’s return (1 Thess. 5:1–11).
Sleep serves as a common NT metaphor for death (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:6, 18, 20; also Matt. 27:52; Acts 7:60; 13:36). This sleep metaphor often appears in contexts in which the future resurrection of believers is discussed. Sleep is thus a particularly apt symbol. The dead in Christ have merely fallen asleep, awaiting their awakening in the coming resurrection (e.g., John 11:11; Eph. 5:14). This need not imply a lack of conscious awareness in the intermediate state between death and resurrection (e.g., Luke 16:19–31; 23:43; Phil. 1:21–23; Rev. 4:4; 7:1–17).
Paul discusses this issue in order that “you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” Some assume mistakenly that this verse implies that Christians should never grieve at all. However, even our Lord grieved the death of his friend Lazarus and wept for the pain of separation that Lazarus’s death caused his family and friends (John 11:33–36; cf. Acts 9:37–39). Paul elsewhere encourages believers to weep together amid the travails of life (Rom. 12:15; 1 Cor. 12:26). For believers, death does not have the final word, but it does cause a separation between us and those we love, which naturally produces grief.
Nevertheless, Paul encourages believers to have a different kind of grief from unbelievers—“not . . . as others do who have no hope” (cf. Eph. 2:12). Christians grieve while still living hopeful of the future regathering of believers at the resurrection (John 11:25–26).
Key to the next few verses is Paul’s division between those Christians who die prior to Christ’s return (“those who have fallen asleep” or “the dead in Christ”) and those who are still living on earth when Jesus appears (“we who are alive” or those “left until the coming of the Lord”). Paul demonstrates that the dead in Christ are indeed raised at the Lord’s return, even prior to the still-living believers’ welcoming Christ.
Indeed, the dead in Christ are raised “first” (1 Thess. 4:16). Or, as Paul puts it in verse 15, “We who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.” The “coming [Gk. parousia] of the Lord” is a common NT phrase designating Christ’s return in order to establish his eternal kingdom and rule (cf. comment on 2 Thess. 2:1).
First, the Lord “will descend from heaven.” As Jesus mentions (quoting Dan. 7:13), the Son of Man will come “on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30; cf. Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27). Many images in Revelation overlap here, but especially the coming from heaven of Jesus as the rider on the white horse, escorted by angelic armies, while an angel cries out in a loud voice (Rev. 19:11–21).
This appearance is accompanied by three sounds: “a cry of command,” “the voice of the archangel,” and “the sound of the trumpet of God.” Paul elsewhere describes Jesus’ being “revealed from heaven with his mighty angels” (2 Thess. 1:7; for angels, cf. Matt. 13:41, 49; 16:27; 24:31; 25:31). The sounding of a “loud trumpet” is also mentioned explicitly in Matthew 24:31 (cf. 1 Cor. 15:52). The blowing of trumpets during the eschatological return of the people of God is known in the OT (e.g., Isa. 27:13), and trumpets are featured in the book of Revelation as well (esp. chs. 8–11).
Central to Paul’s argument are the words, “the dead in Christ will rise first.” Although the resurrection of the believing dead receives frequent mention in the NT (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:23, 52; also Luke 14:14; Rev. 20:4–5), Jesus’ own eschatological teaching in the Gospels does not directly state that the resurrection of the dead occurs “first” (before the living go to meet the Lord). Perhaps Paul was meditating on Jesus’ statement that the angels “will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:31; cf. Mark 13:27). Or perhaps Paul knew more from oral apostolic tradition or direct revelation.
Many also suggest an analogy with those “taken” in the time of Noah (cf. Matt. 24:40–41). Yet this analogy is problematic, since those “taken” in the time of Noah were taken by drowning unto death and judgment, while those who were left behind (namely Noah and his family) experienced the salvation of God.
There are difficulties in 1 Thessalonians for the rapture theory. This interpretation would imply that Jesus’ glorious descent is only partial, stopping in the clouds/air briefly in order to meet the raptured Christians before returning to heaven with them. It seems more likely that Paul expects Jesus’ descent to continue from the heavens to the earth. Thus many have argued that the verb for “meet” in the phrase “meet the Lord in the air” is key to understanding these anticipated events. This Greek word for “meet” (apantēsis) appears in only two other NT texts. In the eschatological parable of Matthew 25:6, the virgins wait for the bridegroom, whom they “meet” and welcome back to the wedding feast. In Acts 28:15, Roman believers travel out to the Forum of Appius in order to welcome Paul and bring him back to Rome with them. In both Matthew 25 and Acts 28, the action of meeting involves going forth to greet an honored person, then promptly returning with the honored guest. Many instances of apantēsis in the Septuagint Greek OT follow a comparable pattern (e.g., Judg. 4:18; 11:31, 34; 19:3; 1 Sam. 13:10), and secular Greek writings use the word to speak of civic delegations going out to welcome a dignitary before returning in celebration to the city.
This would imply that, at Christ’s appearance, Paul expects the dead in Christ to be raised, followed by the lifting up of the living believers to welcome Jesus in the air, before Jesus descends to earth with his people in order to judge the world and establish fully his kingdom on earth. For Jesus’ arriving “on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” again see Matthew 24:30 (quoting Dan. 7:13; also Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27). Some have suggested that “in the air” metaphorically implies something like “out in the open,” perhaps in the midst of the clouds that have descended all the way to earth with Jesus. However, it is more probable that Paul intends the “air” and “clouds” to be used to designate a physical space between the earth and the heavens.
In addition to emphasizing the resurrection of the dead, it is important to stress Paul’s final clause in this verse. There, Paul expresses confidence in the eternal life of believers in the age to come: “and so we will always be with the Lord.”