1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11

1 Thess. 4:13-18 Christians, dead and living, will join Christ when he returns

This passage has been a distraction for many, due to poor theology.  Some Christians have woven whole books and movies out of inventive interpretations of Paul’s language and the Book of Revelation.  Let’s examine what Paul actually says.

Paul uses the term “fallen asleep,” a term the early Christians frequently used by for the dead.  In what sense are they only “sleeping”?

Looking at verses 13-14, what is the concern that has troubled the Thessalonian community?

They are troubled that members of the church have died before Jesus has returned.

Why does Paul say they can have hope?  In verse 14, what is the connection he makes between Jesus and Christians who die?

How does Jesus’s resurrection affect your view of death?

When we lose a loved one, grief is natural and to be expected.  But how does our faith affect our grief?

Paul now turns to a brief discussion of Second Coming of Christ.  In verse 15, he says that what he is going to tell us in verses 16-17 is a “word of the Lord.”  We do not have this in any of the Gospels.  It might have been received as a prophetic utterance in the early church or as a prophetic revelation to Paul himself.

What is Paul’s main point in verse 15?

Why might it matter to Christians that, when Christ returns, those who have already died will not be left behind?

The Nicene Creed, which is accepted by most Christian denominations, professes belief in the Second Coming of Christ when it says, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.”  Although the Nicene Creed had not yet bee formulated, this is what Paul is talking about in this passage.

In verses 16-17, Paul describes the return or Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  In verse 16, what words or sounds signal that the time has come?

The Lord gives the command, and then two things happen, or one thing happens that is described in two ways: the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God.

When that signal is given, what happens first (still in verse 16)?

Christians who are dead rise.

What Paul says here seems to be consistent with what Jesus says in Matthew 24:31.  Let’s look at it:

Read Matthew 24:29-31

What elements of Jesus’s words are matched in what Paul says?

1. Jesus will return.

2. Jesus will come in the clouds.

3. A trumpet will sound.

4. Jesus will gather his followers.

5. He will gather the dead as well as the living.  He says he will gather them from the four winds and from one end of “the heavens” to the other – this is poetic language, but “the heavens” means not just the people living on the Earth.

A trumpet sound could be literal, but it could be symbolic.  What does the sounding of a trumpet signal?  What kinds of people get heralded by the sound of trumpets?

What difference does it make to you that Jesus will return with power and glory?

What difference does it make to you that those who have died will rise again – that we will have a resurrection?

What difference does it make to you that your loved ones who have gone before you will be part of the resurrection?

Return to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

In verse 16, Paul says that the dead will rise to life.  In verse 17, he says that the people who are alive at that time will be “caught up” with the dead who have risen, to meet the Lord in the air.  The Greek word for “caught up” is used in other places in the Bible to mean “snatched” or “taken by force” (e.g., Matt. 11:12; 13:19; John 6:15; 10:12, 28, 29; Acts 8:39).  When the Scriptures were translated into Latin, this word was translated to a Latin word that begins with the letters rapt.  When the Latin was translated into English, it became our word “rapture.”

This passage later became one of the primary passages used by people such as Tim LaHaye of the Left Behind series, and Hal Lindsey in The Late Great Planet Earth and other books, to teach a particular theory about the end times in which Christians are “raptured,” or taken to heaven, before the tribulation that everyone else must face.  People who subscribe to that theory are described as pre-tribulation pre-millennialists.

What Paul teaches does not support the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial view popularized with the modern use of the term “rapture.”  That “rapture” teaching is actually not consistent with the Scriptures, which is why it was rejected throughout much of Christian history until the 19th century.

Almost all Christians agree on certain truths:

• Christ will return.

• The dead will be raised.

• Christians who are dead and Christians who are still alive will be united with Christ and live with him forever.

That’s what Paul says.

But Christians don’t get to escape tribulation by being snatched up to God while everyone else is left behind to suffer.  The Catholic Church does not accept that claim.  The Orthodox Churches do not accept it.  The Episcopal, Lutheran, and Methodist Churches to not accept it.  Many other Christian churches do not accept it.  It goes against established Christian teaching that reaches all the way back to St. Augustine. This new interpretation of the “rapture” did not become a popular belief until isolated groups of Christians proposed it starting in the 19th century.

There are at least two key flaws in the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture theory.

First, nothing in Scripture supports the idea that Christians will be protected from tribulation.  On the contrary, the Bible tells us over and over again to expect serious suffering.

Second, the theory is intertwined with the idea that after Christ comes to take Christians to heaven, there will be a 1000-year gap before the final judgment.  Jesus and St. Paul are clear that when Christ comes in his Second Coming, three things will happen immediately: the dead will be raised, those who are still alive will be caught up to Christ, and Christ will carry out the final judgment.  There is no 1000-year gap in the middle.

Revelation 20:2-3 mentions a 1000-year period known as the “millennium” without explanation as to whether it is symbolic or literal.  The mainstream understanding of the millennium is that it is a symbolic “1000” years that began when Jesus ascended into heaven and will end when he returns in glory.  During this time, God is restraining evil so that the Word of God can be spread throughout the whole Earth.  However, as Jesusa and Paul taught, a time of severe persecution (the “tribulation”) will come before the end, and Christians will not be exempt from that persecution and suffering.

See The Rapture? It’s Not a Pre-Millennial Escape from Tribulation for a fuller exploration of how the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture theory contradicts what Jesus and St. Paul clearly teach.

Is it a disappointment or a relief to you that Paul, here in 1 Thessalonians, does not teach what has been popularized in books and movies such as the Left Behind series?  Why?

In verse 17, Paul says that we will be with the Lord forever.  What difference does it make to you that we will be with the Lord forever?

In verse 18, Paul tells the Thessalonians to use these teachings to “console” (NABRE) or “encourage” (NRSV) each other.  How might these teachings about the end times be consoling or encouraging?  How are these teachings a source of consolation or encouragement to you?

1 Thess. 5:1-11 Always live in the light, ready for the Lord

As Paul continues to discuss the return of Christ, he refers to “the day of the Lord,” which is a term used in Old Testament prophecies in the books of Daniel, Isaiah, Joel, and other prophets.  For the Jews of Jesus’s and Paul’s time, that was when God would bring victory for the Jews.  Christians re-interpreted it as the day when Christ would return in power and glory.

Considering verses 1-3, what can we know about when Christ will return in his Second Coming?

What do you think of Paul’s analogy comparing Jesus’s coming to the coming of a “thief in the night”?  (FYI- 2 Peter 3:10 uses the same analogy of a thief.)  What does it suggest to you as to how you should be prepared?

In verses 4-5, what does Paul say about darkness and light?

What does it mean to be “children of light”?

In verses 6-7, Paul talks again about people “sleeping,” but this time it is not a metaphor for death.  What does the metaphor of “sleeping’ mean this time, and what is Paul calling us to do, to avoid “sleeping” like others do?

What does it look like to be the kind of Christian who lives in the light?

How can you be a child of the light more fully or consistently?

In verse 8, Paul tells us to put on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.  He is again talking about the three theological virtues: faith, love, and hope (first mentioned in 1 Thess. 1:3).  In this metaphor, they are defensive gear, to protect our head and heart.  How do faith, love, and hope protect our head and heart?

How do you “put on” faith, love, and hope?

In verse 10, Paul uses the word sleep again, but now he is using it as he did in 4:13-18 to refer to death, not as he used it in 5:6-7 regarding lax living.  What does he call us to do in verse 10?

Since Christ died for us, we are called to respond by living with him, in this life and after we die.

How can we live with Christ while we are alive?

Paul ends this section by again urging us to encourage each other (verse 11).  How can we do that?

Paul also urges us to build each other up.  What does that mean, and how can we do it?

Looking back over 1 Thessalonians 4:13 through 5:11:

• Which of Paul’s teachings in these passages is most comforting or encouraging to you right now, and why?

   

• Which of Paul’s teachings here challenges you to take a new step, and what can you do specifically to respond?

Take a step back and consider this:

Paul talks about faith, love, and hope twice in this letter.  In 1:3, he says the Thessalonians are actively exhibiting all three of these virtues.  In 5:8, he urges them to put on the protection of faith, love, and hope.

In some ways, faith, love, and hope sum up the whole gospel: if we are actively living our lives in accordance with these three virtues, we will be living the kind of life to which we are called in Christ Jesus.  Genuine faith puts God first in all things.  Genuine love treats others with the same love God has for us.  Genuine hope helps us endure suffering and hold fast to the God who loves us.

Which of these virtues would be good for you to focus on this week?  Why?

We are not alone.  God is working to help us respond to these virtues, which he has placed in us.  What can you do, or stop doing, to allow the virtues of faith, love, and hope to guide every aspect of your life?