1 Thessalonians 4:14

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. FOR IF (not doubt: the indicative follows) - confirmation of , that the removal of ignorance as to sleeping believers would remove undue grief respecting them (cf. . "hope"). Our hope rests on our faith ("if we believe"). 'As surely as we believe that Christ died and rose again (the very doctrine taught at Thessalonica, ), so also will God bring (not only raise, but bring) those laid to sleep through Jesus with Him' (Jesus. The order and balance of the members of the Greek sentence require this translation). Believers are laid in sleep by Jesus (through Him death to them is sleep), and so...

14_For if we believe_. He assumes this axiom of our faith, that Christ was raised up from the dead, that we might be partakers of the same resurrection: from this he infers, that we shall live with him eternally. This doctrine, however, as has been stated in 1 Corinthians 15:13, depends on another principle — that it was not for himself, but for us that Christ died and rose again. Hence those who have doubts as to the resurrection, do great injury to Christ: nay more, they do in a manner draw him down from heaven, as is said in Romans 10:6 To _sleep in Christ_, is to retain in death the connection that we have with Christ, for those that are by faith ingrafted into Christ, have death in common with him, that they may be partakers with him of life. It is asked, however, whether unbelievers will not also rise again

13-18 Here is comfort for the relations and friends of those who die in the Lord. Grief for the death of friends is lawful; we may weep for our own loss, though it may be their gain. Christianity does not forbid, and grace does not do away, our natural affections. Yet we must not be excessive in our sorrows; this is too much like those who have no hope of a better life. Death is an unknown thing, and we know little about the state after death; yet the doctrines of the resurrection and the second coming of Christ, are a remedy against the fear of death, and undue sorrow for the death of our Christian friends; and of these doctrines we have full assurance. It will be some happiness that all the saints shall meet, and remain together for ever; but the principal happiness of heaven is to be with the Lord, to see him, live with him, and enjoy him for ever. We should support one another in ti...

Verse 14. _FOR IF WE BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN_] ει γαρ. _Seeing that we believe_; knowing that the _resurrection_ of Christ is as fully authenticated as his death. _EVEN SO THEM_] It necessarily follows that them who _sleep_-die, _in him_-in the faith of the Gospel, _will God bring with him_-he will raise them up as Jesus was raised from the dead, in the same manner, i.e. by his own eternal power and energy; and he will bring them _with him_-with Christ, for he is the _head_ of the Church, which is his _body_....

FOR IF WE BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN - That is, if we believe this, we ought also to believe that those who have died in. the faith of Jesus will be raised from the dead. The meaning is not that the fact of the resurrection depends on our believing that Jesus rose, but that the death and resurrection of the Saviour were connected with the resurrection of the saints; that the one followed from the other, and that the one was as certain as the other. The doctrine of the resurrection of the saints so certainly follows from that of the resurrection of Christ, that, if the one is believed, the other ought to be also; see the notes on 1 Corinthians 15:12. WHICH SLEEP IN JESUS - A most beautiful expression. It is not merely that they have calm repose - like a gentle slumber - in the hope of awakin

EXPOSITION CONTENTS.—With this chapter the second portion of the Epistle—its practical application-commences. The apostle exhorts and entreats the Thessalonians to make progress in the Christian life, and to practice those commandments which, when he was with them, he gave them by the authority of Jesus Christ. God had called them to holiness and to the renunciation of their heathen practices. They must especially be on their guard against impurity, to which as Gentiles they were formerly so prone. He who rejected his injunctions rejected, not man, but God, whose commands they were. As they were already taught of God in the active practice of Christian love, so they must abound therein. They must not allow themselves to be led away by excitement, as if the day of Christ were at hand, but with quietness and honesty perform the duties of their earthly calling, and so commend the gospel to...

FOR IF WE BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED, AND ROSE AGAIN,.... As every Christian does, for both the death and resurrection of Christ are fundamental articles of faith; nothing is more certain or more comfortable, and more firmly to be believed, than that Christ died for the sins of his people, and rose again for their justification; on these depend the present peace, joy, and comfort of the saints, and their everlasting salvation and happiness: and no less certain and comfortable, and as surely to be believed, is what follows, EVEN SO THEM ALSO WHICH SLEEP IN JESUS WILL GOD BRING WITH HIM. The saints that are dead are not only represented as asleep, as before, but as "asleep in Jesus"; to distinguish them from the other dead, the wicked; for the phrase of sleeping in death is promiscuously used of good and bad, though most commonly applied to good men: and so say the Jews c, "we used to speak...

1 Thessalonians 4:13. _But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope._ You cannot help sorrowing, for you miss your dear ones so much; but you do not sorrow like the heathen who believe their departed friends to be extinct and annihilated. You have a glorious hope concerning those who have fallen asleep in Christ, you believe that they are still live, and that, by-and-by, their bodies will rise again. 1 Thessalonians 4:14. _For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him._ There is such a union between Christ and his people that they never can be divided from him. In life, they li

IV. THE SEPARATED WALK AND THE BLESSED HOPE CHAPTER 4 _ 1. The separated walk 1 Thessalonians 4:1)_ 2. The coming of the Lord for His saints 1 Thessalonians 4:13) 1 Thessalonians 4:1 “Furthermore, then, brethren, we beg you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, even as ye received from us, how ye ought to walk and please God, even as ye also do walk, that ye would abound still more. For ye know what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor (not in passionate desire, eve

THE CONDITION OF THE DEAD. This paragraph is written to allay a misgiving which had arisen among the Thessalonian Christians that certain of their friends who had died would be deprived of their share in the glory of the promised Parousia. Paul dispels the doubt by asserting that the dead would be raised at the Parousia, and so would be at no disadvantage compared with the living. _Cf._ 1 Corinthians 1:5 *. 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13. NO HOPE: the hopelessness of the ancient world in the presence of death is indicated by the characteristic inscription on the graves in pagan cemeteries, Farewell. ASLEEP IN JESUS: the original reads, through Jesus, and we must either translate those who have been put to sleep by Jesus, or connect the phrase with the following clause: