1 Thessalonians 4:13

3. Exhortation to composure in regard to lately deceased brethren since they will not be overlooked at Christ’s coming, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

13. But This is the earliest written part of St. Paul’s apocalypse. See notes on 1 Corinthians 15:0. The commentator needs search for no occult connexion between this and the previous paragraph, for St. Paul here introduces an entirely new topic. It was suggested, we suppose, by information derived from Timothy, or some other comer from Thessalonica, of the state of feeling among some mourning Christians there who feared that their lately deceased Christian friends would lose their blessed share in the glorious advent of Christ.

One is tempted to ask in surprise, Could it he that the apostle preached there more than three weeks, and gave glowing descriptions of the coming of Christ, (Acts 17:2-4, and notes,) and never described the resurrection? Were those Thessalonians really ignorant of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead? Olshausen vainly supposes that they understood the final resurrection of all mankind, but feared that none but living Christians would share the glorious first resurrection one thousand years earlier than the final. But, first, There is no mention ever made by St.

Paul of two bodily resurrections, or of any intervening thousand-year period, nor any indication that he ever held any such doctrine. Second, It is difficult to conceive how they could have imagined any such first resurrection without including, what is held to be its very purpose and essence, the glory of all believers therein.

But it is not so easy to fix in the mind and memory of a series of miscellaneous audiences of pagan hearers an entire new system of Christian doctrine in a brief time. Some will hear a particular doctrine explained, others not. Some will remember; others not. So that important blanks will remain. And St. Paul preached to the living; and many would forget that the dead were concerned. And it is remarkable that some of the most vivid and extended descriptions of the last day in the New Testament omit the resurrection. Such is the case in our Lord’s great discourse in Matthew 24:25. Such in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10. The resurrection, as Auberlen remarks, was a difficult thought for the Greek mind to take in. It is possible, also, that these doubting mourners were but a small part of the Church, and many of them even new converts from heathendom who had never heard St. Paul. We can easily conceive, therefore, that there should be those who feared that a scene like 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10, might concern the living only, and not the dead.

Have… ignorant Paul’s habitual formula in negative or positive shape of starting a new topic. “I would that ye knew.” Colossians 2:1. “I would not that ye should be ignorant.” 1 Corinthians 10:1. So 1 Corinthians 11:3, and Philippians 1:12.

Are asleep More literally, “have fallen asleep,” as if alluding to the lately deceased. The idea of sleep is vividly impressed upon the imaginations of all persons who gaze upon the face and form of one lying in the stillness of death. This impression, however pertains properly only to the body, and the word in Scripture, authorizes no belief of “the sleep of the soul.” In fact, even in our natural sleep, the soul may be in one sense unsleeping. While the body is lying in perfect stillness, the mind may be roaming the world in dreams. And that striking fact has served to keep alive among barbarous tribes the belief in the separateness and immortality of spirit.

Sorrow not… as He does not forbid sorrow, but would prevent that sorrow of despair rising from no hope of immortality.

No hope In the most primitive ages the Egyptians retained, probably from original tradition, a vivid belief in a resurrection of the body. It was this belief that largely inspired the practice of embalming the body, as if thereby the resurrection would be facilitated. The mission of Moses seemed to be to draw out the doctrine of God and reconciliation with him by atonement for sin, and even the doctrine of immortality was left in the background. The earlier classic ages believed in Elysium and Tartarus. But as speculation grew powerful, tradition grew dim, and faith declined and left no hope. See notes, 1 Corinthians 15:0. Nothing in all poetry is more pathetic than the lines of the Greek Moschus, ending with “we shall sleep the long, limitless, unawakable slumber.” Theocritus says, “There are hopes in the living, but hopeless are the dead.” AEschylus, “Of the once dead there is no resurrection.” And the pagan epitaphs are often sentences of everlasting extinction. Says Mr. Withrow in his work on the Catacombs:

“Domus aeterna, an eternal home, and Somno aeternali, in eternal sleep, are written on their tombs, frequently accompanied by an inverted torch, the emblem of despair.” So also “Infanti dulcissimo quem Dii irati aeterno somno dederunt To a very sweet child, whom the angry gods gave to eternal sleep.” And so, with a sad gayety, “While I lived, I lived well. My play is now ended, soon yours will be. Farewell and applaud me.” Catacombs, pp. 435, 438.