1 Thessalonians 4:13

But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not as the rest, who have no hope.

SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST

We would not have you ignorant ... This was one of Paul's favorite ways of introducing a new and important subject. It is also found in Romans 1:13; Romans 11:25; 1 Corinthians 10:1; 1 Corinthians 12:1, and 2 Corinthians 1:8, in all of which, as here, the term "brethren" is used with it for the sake of conveying the idea of tenderness and affection in what he was about to say.

Concerning them that fall asleep ... This should not be understood in the limited sense of "have fallen asleep" (KJV), because it purposely included those already dead and others yet to die before the coming of Christ. Paul had not departed from Thessalonica a very long time before these lines were written, but already the death angel had descended upon the homes of some of the Thessalonians, accompanied by the inevitable grief precipitated by such an event.

THE SLEEP OF DEATH

This beloved metaphor was frequently used by our Lord himself, as in the instances of Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:39) and of Lazarus (John 11:11), and quickly adopted wherever Christianity was known. The very word "cemetery," "[@Koimeterion], is derived from the word used here, [@koimao], and means `a place of sleep.' "[21]

To what extent, then, may solid doctrinal postulations be founded upon such a metaphor, which is obviously founded upon the superficial resemblance between a dead person and one who is merely asleep? Mason warned that no doctrine "may be deduced with precision, from such a metaphor";[22] and full agreement is felt with this. However, Christ used this metaphor just prior to performing two resurrections, and the apostle Paul would not have used it here, except for the purpose of suggesting "a continued (even if partly unconscious) existence, and the possibility of a reawakening."[23] In this light, therefore, it seems safe enough to construe this metaphor as teaching: (1) that death is not annihilation; (2) that the manner of existence is changed; (3) that there will be an awakening from death in a resurrection; and (4) that there will be a rejuvenation of bodily strength in the resurrection.

That ye sorrow not ... Taken alone, these words do not convey Paul's thought. It is not "sorrow not," but "sorrow not as those who have no hope." Concerning the hopeless state of the Gentile world, it must be admitted that, here and there, a few lonely figures seem to have clung to thin threads of hope; but the darkness and despair which had fallen upon the Gentile nations due to their rejection of God and the consequent debauchery that followed was in every practical sense total. "The belief held generally by the Greeks was that there was no resurrection, that death was the end of all things."[24]

Paul was about to make an argument for the encouragement of the Thessalonians; but in doing so, he did not introduce the doctrine of the resurrection as anything new, but as something they already knew and believed in. "Paul assumes their faith and argues from it. Their vivid and naive belief in Christ's advent within their own lifetime was the very source of their distress."[25] Thus it is certain that faith in the resurrection existed from the very first in Christianity.

[21] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 84.

[22] A. J. Mason, Ellicott's Commentary on the Holy Bible, Vol. VIII (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 140.

[23] Ibid.

[24] James William Russell, Compact Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1964), p. 510.

[25] James Moffatt, op. cit., p. 36.