Paul on Christian Hope in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
The Question Put to Paul by the Thessalonians
In light of the broad background of the New Testament’s teaching regarding the second advent of our Lord, we consider Paul’s teaching regarding Christian hope in verses 13-14 of 1 Thessalonians 4. Paul is addressing the question brought to him from the Thessalonians by Timothy regarding the fate of those who die before Christ returns. Since Paul had been gone from Thessalonica for but a short period of time, many have wondered about how it is that this question would arise, since it is not likely that many people in the congregation would have died during the short time span between Paul’s departure and Timothy’s return trip to the city. Perhaps some were martyred due to persecution, but this is improbable. Although many proposals have been put forth as an explanation, Gene Green wisely cautions us,
The reconstruction of greatest merit argues that at the moment of confronting the reality of death, the Thessalonians did not allow their confession to inform their reaction to this human tragedy. Alternately, they may simply have not understood fully the reality of the resurrection from the dead, especially in light of the general Gentile consensus that such things simply do not happen.[1]
Those Who Are Asleep
In verse 13, Paul tells the Thessalonians, “we do not want you to uninformed, brothers.” In the prior section of this chapter, Paul speaks of the Thessalonians as knowing certain details (i.e., 1 Thessalonians 4:1-2; 6, 9) but since he speaks here of the need to inform them (of what follows) it is likely that this matter was not fully dealt with when he had been among them previously.[2] Paul had been forced to leave after three sabbaths due to rioting because of his message. What Paul says in his response to the question is important. Specifically, Paul does not want the Thessalonians to be ignorant about “those who are asleep,” i.e., those who have died before the Lord’s return. As Greco-Roman pagans and new converts to Christianity, the very idea of the resurrection of the dead was difficult for the Thessalonians to grasp. It was common in the first century to believe in the immortality of the soul–often seen as an underworld journey, such as crossing the river Styx–but the very idea of the dead coming back to life in redeemed/resurrected bodies was completely foreign.[3]
It was also common for the ancients to speak of death as “sleep”–especially the Greeks (i.e., Homer, Sophocles). The Old Testament repeatedly speaks of people who have fallen asleep with the fathers (Genesis 47:30; Deuteronomy 31:16; 1 Kings 2:10; Job 14:12 ff.; Psalm 13:3; Jeremiah 51:39 ff.).[4] Christians could use the metaphor of sleep when discussing death because of belief in the resurrection at the end of the age, while pagans, sadly, viewed this sort of sleep as having no end–i.e., no redemption of the body.[5]
We Die “In Christ”
Unlike the Greco-Roman pagans of Paul’s day, Christians need not “grieve like people who have no hope.” There is an intermediate state, described by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:8– “we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” Those who die in Christ immediately enter into the Lord’s presence at death. Yet, this intermediate state is temporary. Christ’s bodily resurrection guarantees the bodily resurrection of his people–the first fruits of a great harvest at the end of the age (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20). In Ephesians 2:12, Paul reminds Christians to “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” All eschatological (future) hope is grounded in Christ’s resurrection–his victory over death and the grave. For Paul, to deny the resurrection of the believer is to deny the resurrection of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:12-18).
Our Hope Is the Resurrection of the Body
Paul is not saying that Christians should not grieve when their loved ones die–anyone who has ever buried a loved one knows such grief is real and heartbreaking. But Paul is confident that Christians grieve with hope. Calvin puts it this way: “the grief of the pious is to be mixed with consolation, which will train them in patience. The hope of a blessed resurrection will bring this about.”[6] Because of this sure and certain hope of the resurrection, like Paul, the Christian grieves with hope that the dead will be raised. In fact, along with Paul, a Christian can even mock death despite its seeming finality. “Death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).
Christian hope shows itself most vividly in death, which is entrance into the presence of the Lord, until the day of resurrection. The apostle tells the Philippians, “for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). It is here where the gulf between Christianity and paganism is the greatest, and certainly the most visible. Grounded in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, the hope of the resurrection of the body is the fundamental confession of the Christian faith. Paul preached the resurrection to the Greeks in Athens, “explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, `This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ’” (Acts 17:3). According to 1 Corinthians 15:3-9, Paul taught them . . .
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
In verse 14 of 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul directs his hearers/readers back to the facts of what Christ has accomplished in history. He puts this in the form of a conditional sentence grounded in the assumption that the outcome will be true.[7] “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”[8] The probability of a positive outcome is so great that it cannot be doubted (as beyond a “moral certainty”). “We believe” is a creedal formula. Paul confesses that Jesus died for our sins, and that he was raised bodily from the dead. When our Lord returns, Paul says, God will bring with him all those who have died in Christ, who have been in his presence awaiting the resurrection of their bodies (cf. Revelation 6:10).
Jesus Will Return With Those Who Have Died in Union with Him
This is Paul’s initial answer to the Thessalonian’s question about the fate of those who die before Christ returns. At death, believers immediately enter God’s presence and are never separate from him. When Jesus returns, those with him in heaven will return with him, they will be raised immortal and receive their heavenly inheritance. Paul offers no explanation of how this will occur, only that it will.[9]
It is worth noting that Paul does not speak of Jesus as “sleeping,” as he does of Christians who have died in Christ. Paul speaks of Jesus as “dying and rising again from the dead.” Fee points out that “Paul is not stating that he expects to be alive at the Parousia. Rather, he was simply currently among `the living’ who are set out in contrast to `the sleeping.’[10] Christ truly died, his soul was with the Lord, and his body lay buried in the tomb. This was not because Jesus sinned, but because he bore the guilt of our sins imputed to him (Romans 5:8, 12, 18-19). Jesus bore the Father’s wrath so that we will be delivered from it. Then God raised Jesus from the dead in triumph–the absolute defeat of Satan (as promised in Genesis 3:15 which was understood by Paul to have been fulfilled by Jesus Christ. He tells the Colossians,
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath (Colossians 2:13-16).
Our Lord’s resurrection is also the proof that his sacrifice had been sufficient to undo the penalty for sin, which is death. Christ’s death and resurrection are the central events in redemptive history. Because Jesus has risen and then ascended to the Father’s right hand, so too, we will rise at his return to earth. Christ’s resurrection is the basis for our future hope. When our Lord returns to earth, so too, will those “who sleep in him,” and on that day, we shall be raised imperishable.
What happens to those who die before Christ returns? As he tells the Thessalonians, “But 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. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).
Note: Taken from my forthcoming exposition of Paul’s Thessalonian Letters, “When the Lord Jesus Is Revealed from Heaven”
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[1] Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians, 215.
[2] Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians, 216-217. It is an expression used by Paul in several other places, i.e., Romans 1:13; 11:25; 1 Corinthians 10:1; 12:1, 2 Corinthians 1:8 to explain why he is covering the ground that he does.
[3] Witherington, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 126-127.
[4] Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians, 167.
[5] Bruce, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 96.
[6] Calvin, 1, 2 Thessalonians, 48.
[7] Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians, 219-220.
[8] Morris, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 138, n. 63.
[9] Fee, The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians, 170.
[10] Fee, The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians, 175.