1 Thessalonians 5:10

(through our Lord Jesus Christ,) who died for us It has been said that the gospel which Paul preached at Thessalonica was "not the gospel of the Cross of Christ, but of the Coming of Christ." But these two are not exclusive or conflicting doctrines; they are complementary parts of one and the same Gospel. This clause is enough to show how far the apostles were from ignoring the Cross of Christ in their ministry at Thessalonica. When St Paul writes, "Christ died for us … that we should live together with Him," his words involve the entire doctrine of Redemption by the death and resurrection of Jesus, as it is set forth at length in the next group of Epistles in Romans 3:21-26; Romans 4:25 to Romans 5:2; Romans 6:1-11; Romans 8:1-4; Galatians 2:10-21; Galatians 3:9-14; 2 Corinthians 5:14 to 2 Corinthians 6:2; &c. They imply the Atonement and Salvation by Faith, the receiving of Christ's Spirit of sonship, and abiding union with Him in His risen and heavenly life. The whole theology of the Cross is in this sentence, which indeed could only be interpreted and understood by the Thessalonians in the light of such teaching as we find in the later Epistles. The message of salvation through the death of Christ had been the staple and centre of the Apostle's testimony all along. In writing to the Corinthians, and referring to his preaching in Corinth at the very time when he wrote the letters before us, he calls his message simply "the word of the cross" (1 Corinthians 1:17-18; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 2:2); comp., for an earlier period, Acts 13:38-39; Galatians 3:1, also Galatians 6:14. See Introd.pp. 16, 17.

that, whether we wake or sleep More exactly, whether we be awake or asleep, i.e. living or deadwith allusion to the use of the same terms to denote spiritual wakefulness or slumber in 1 Thessalonians 5:6 (see notes).

At the same time these words carry us back, with a sudden change of metaphor, to ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. There it was shewn that believers living at the Lord's return, and those who "fall asleep" before He comes, alike belong to Him, and will share alike in the glory of His advent. And now it appears that this deep and sure relationship of the saints to Christ, unbroken by the sleep of bodily death, is grounded upon His death for them. That death He underwent for the very purpose of giving them a deathless life: in order that … together with Him we should live (comp. Romans 14:8-9: "Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.… Christ died and came to life, that He might be Lord of both dead and living"). The stress lies upon the last word: Christ diedfor us, that we might livewith Him a life consisting in spiritual union with Him, and continuing undestroyed whether the man wakes or sleeps to this world. "I came," said Jesus, "that men might have life … I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If any one eat of this bread, he shall live for ever. Yea, and the bread which I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world" (John 10:10; John 6:51). Risen from the grave, our Saviour "lives" evermore "to God; death no longer lords it over Him" (Romans 6:9-10). And those who are Christ's, "joined to the Lord" as "one spirit" with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17), share His life, which flows from the heavenly Head to all the earthly members of His Body. This is the life "that is life indeed" (1 Timothy 6:19); it is superior to the accidents of time, since in its spring and essence "hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1-4). Such is St Paul's conception of the nature of the Christian's life.

The "with Him" of ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:14; 1 Thessalonians 4:17 is echoed and unfolded in the "together with Him" of this verse, as it formed the basis of the "together with them" of ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:17. All joy and strength for the present life and hope for that to come, for ourselves and for those dear to us, are centred in the words "together with Him." So the Apostle resumes the strain of consolation, from which he had turned aside in 1 Thessalonians 5:1 to utter words of caution; and he concludes, almost in the language of ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:18