Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 – Meeting the Lord in the Air

It is unfortunate that teaching on the Rapture has something of a joke in contemporary media. Too many people have made silly predictions of when it will happen. Parodies of the Left Behind series are common, so much so that most people who think about “the rapture” are not thinking in biblical categories, but rather goofy cartoon images replayed in the Media. When Homer Simpson tries to predict the rapture, then something is intensely wrong.

But the “catching away” which Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (and 1 Corinthians 15) is nothing like pop-media or apocalyptic Christians think it is. Paul did not predict the end of the world, nor did he use the doctrine of the Rapture to scare people into salvation, or to fleece the church of a few more dollars. Paul’s point in this text is to explain what would happen to those who had died in Christ before the coming of the Lord.

This event is described as the Lord’s coming. You might hear the word “parousia” (παρουσία) used (usually by someone trying to be pretentious).  The word is used to refer to the presence of a god in a cultic ceremony or to a king or dignitary visiting a city. In the Jewish world, the word was used for the coming of the Messiah. This is probably the most useful for understanding 1 Thessalonians.

 

When Jesus comes, he will gather his people to himself “in the air.”   Paul uses several short descriptions here, all of which concern gathering people together.  First, there will be a loud command, a military term for a shouted order. It is sometimes used for a charioteer calling to his horses, a hunter to his hounds, or a shipmaster to his rowers. Second, the voice of the archangel will cry out, and third, there will be a trumpet call of God. Loud trumpets are also associated with the coming of a great king, “…when the emperor Claudius died, the sound of the trumpets was so deafening that it was thought that the dead could hear them” (Green, Letters to the Thessalonians, 224).

After the Lord has descended and the dead have been raised, the Lord will catch the living believers up into the clouds, consummating their hope in this life.

The purpose of this catching away is to “meet with the Lord.” The word translated “to meet” (ἀπάντησις) is often used of a delegation sent from a city to greet a dignitary or king, usually to escort that important person into the city.  The phrase appears 36 times in the LXX, most often to meet a king or military leader; sometimes it is used to go out to meet an army. For example, in 1 Kings 13:10, the LXX uses the exact same phrase for Saul going out “to meet” Samuel and greet him after the king had defeated the Amalekites. In 2 Chronicles 15:2 and 19:2, it is used to describe someone going out to meet a king.

In non-biblical Greek, the phrase is used by Polybius (Hist. 28:19.7) to describe two envoys sent out from Alexandria to meet Antiochus Epiphanes, who was at that time occupying Egypt. In 5.26.8, young men are sent out to meet Apelles, who desires to have an audience with Philip, the king of Macedon. In this text, the young men go out, meet Apelles, and escort him back to Corinth “with great pomp.”

Polybius Hist. 5.26.8 On his arrival at Corinth, Leontius, Ptolemy and Megaleas, being commanders of the peltasts and the other chief divisions of the army, took great pains to incite the young men to go to meet him. He entered the town, therefore, with great pomp, owing to the number of officers and soldiers who went to meet him, and proceeded straight to the royal quarters.

Paul chose this word to describe the Rapture, highlighting the glory of Jesus as he returns as the Messiah.  Paul is intentionally describing the return of Jesus as the glorious return of the ultimate Sovereign Lord in a way that Greeks and Romans would understand.  When the great king comes, his followers will be gathered to him in order to be a part of his great entourage escorting him back to the world he created.

 

It's the Rapture

1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 – Brotherly Love

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In the final section of 1 Thessalonians, Paul begins to deal with a few ethical issues which need improvement in the church. He also clarifying his teaching on the return of the Lord. Perhaps Timothy reported this as problems he observed, perhaps the church sent questions to Paul via Timothy.  Beginning in verse 9, Paul develops a family metaphor to describe how church members ought to behave towards one another.  Because we are used to hearing the term “brotherly love” we may miss the rhetorical punch of Paul’s use of the word in 1 Thessalonians.

What is brotherly love? The noun used in 1 Thess 4:9 (φιλαδελφία) was only used for literal family relationships before the Christian community began to use it as a metaphor for members of their community. The Greeks considered the relationship between brothers to be of primary importance, Plutarch used the term “brotherly love” to describe the proper relationship between brothers.

Plutarch, De fraterno amore 2 …where there is an unanimous accordance amongst brothers, the family thrives and flourishes, and friends and acquaintance, like a well furnished choir, in all their actions, words, and thoughts maintain a delightful harmony. “But jarring feuds advance the worst of men.”

Plutarch, De fraterno amore 15 Brothers should not be like the scales of a balance, the one rising upon the other’s sinking; but rather like numbers in arithmetic, the lesser and greater mutually helping and improving each other.

Plutarch, De fraterno amore 21 Again, it is highly commendable in him to have the highest esteem and honor for his brother’s wife, reputing and honoring her as the most sacred of all his brother’s sacred treasures, and thus to do honor to him

Based on the teaching of Jesus, the earliest believers referred to themselves as “brothers and sisters.” In Mark 3:3 Jesus indicates that his “brothers and sisters” are those who hear and obey his words. If those who followed Jesus faced rejection from their families, it is possible that Jesus intended his followers to be a new “family.” On the other hand, the family of Jesus may be an allusion to the larger theme of a New Israel among the followers of Jesus. In Acts 2:29 Peter addresses a Jewish crowd as “brothers,” meaning “fellow Jews.” So too Paul in Acts 22:1; 23:1 when he addresses large crowds of Jews.

Paul’s use of the term “brother” and “brotherly love” bears additional theological weight. By accepting Christ, we are adopted into the family of God, God is our father. This makes each person that has accepted Christ as their savior a brother or sister in Christ.

This new family in Christ is the foundation for many of Paul’s commands (cf., Rom 12:10; other Christian ethical instruction begins the same way: Heb 13:1; 1 Pet 1:22; 2 Pet 1:7; 1 Clem 48:1). He urges his readers to please God by treating each other like brothers and sisters.

If the church lives in brotherly love, then the father is pleased and honored. For the Greek world, nothing dishonors the parent more that children who do not display proper affection for one another and feud.  As Plutarch said, “jarring feuds advance the worst of men.”

1 Thessalonians 4:1-2 – “Excel in Living to Please God”

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In the final section of 1 Thessalonians, Paul begins to deal with a few ethical issues which need improvement in the church. He also clarifying his teaching on the return of the Lord. Perhaps Timothy reported this as problems he observed, perhaps the church sent questions to Paul via Timothy.

In either case, Paul want to“ask” and “urge” to live a life that pleases God. These verbs (ἐρωτάω and παρακαλέω) are commonly used to encourage a reader to a particular action. They appear in personal letters between people of the same social status rather than a “superior” giving orders to his underlings. Paul’s view that the church is a family and that he is a “brother” within that family is implied by the use of these verbs (Green, Letters to the Thessalonians, 183). Potentially Paul could have “pulled rank” and told the church what needs to change – but he offers these commands a social equal.

But Paul includes a prepositional phrase, he asks them “in the Lord Jesus.” The commands in this section are not from Paul, but rather from the true authority, Jesus. Verse 8 will make this point again, if you reject this command you are rejecting the Holy Spirit!

Living a life which “pleases” may simply mean making another person happy or proud. But the word was used for citizens who had preformed some civic duty and had “pleased” the government enough to inscribe their names on monuments. In the context of the “ask in the Lord Jesus,” Paul is saying that these moral guidelines are ways to please the Lord, who is Jesus. Any citizen of Thessalonica would like to please their government and be honored with an inscription, therefore Paul says you ought to live your life the way the ultimate authority wants you to!

The church is already living to please God, but they can improve, they can do this “all the more.” Anyone that thinks they cannot improve is in trouble, not only have they ceased to grow, but they are probably moving backwards. Paul says keep moving ahead! Keep on pleasing God all the more.

How one “pleases God” as a Christian stands in contrast with the Greco-Roman world. Paul draws a contrast with the Roman world throughout the rest of the book. In 4:3-8 the church is not to tolerate sexual immorality like the world. Nor are they to defraud their brothers. The Christian ought to live an industrious quiet life, working with their hands. The Christian does not need to mourn or grieve like the pagan world concerning the death of brothers because we have the hope of resurrection (4:13-18).

It is this contrast with the world which is the radical element in Paul’s ethic. There ought to be something “different” about the Christian – that difference is what is pleasing to the Heavenly Father.

1 Thessalonians 3:8 – “For Now We Live”

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In 1 Thess 3:6-10, Paul is encouraged in a time of distress. This refers to actual persecution Paul faced rather than the emotional distress he suffered as a result of being separated from the church. It is possible that Paul is continuing his metaphor, he was “orphaned” from his children and had no idea if they were safe, or if they were continuing to grow in their new faith.

Paul was physically in danger in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9), and that trouble followed him to Berea (Acts 17:10-15). While there is no evidence of suffering in Athens (Acts 17:16-34), but he is alone during that period and he seems to have come to Corinth with low spirits.

Soon after Timothy and Silas join Paul in Corinth, Acts 18:6 indicates that Jews from the synagogue opposed Paul’s message. After Paul leaves the synagogue and forms a church (next door!), the Lord comforts him in a vision, telling him not to be afraid because no one will attack or harm him (Acts 18:9-11). The very next story is an attack by the Jews in which Paul is arrested and charged with worshiping God contrary to Roman Law (Acts 18:12-17). The proconsul Gallio throws the case out of court and Paul is not harmed in any way. In 1 Cor 2:3 Paul describes himself as coming to Corinth in “fear and much trembling.” In 2 Cor 6:3-10 and 11:16-29 he lists a number of times that he has suffered already. The letter to the Thessalonians was written in the midst of this suffering, just before Paul is given a vision comforting him (Acts 18:9-10).

But in the midst of this distress, Paul says that he “really lives” as a result of the news that the church is standing firm in the Lord. This is an odd expression, that “we really live knowing that you are standing firm.” The “we” would be Paul, Silas, and Timothy; the ministry team that founded he church.

What does he mean “live” (ζάω)? It is not that Paul would die if they had rejected the faith. What he probably means is that his life work is to plant churches and see them develop, it is what makes his life satisfying and gives him the encouragement to continue in the ministry. The image is that before the good news of Timothy’s report came, he felt dead, he was depressed about the situation he left in the church. But now that he has heard the good news of the report, he can live.

Paul was encouraged because the church was “standing firm in the Lord.” The syntax here is important: the KJV and the ESV translates the end of the verse as “if you stand” but the NIV (TNIV, NIV2011) has “since you stand.” The NIV attempts to reflect the grammar: the use of ἐάν with the present indicates that Paul understands the condition (standing firm) as a certainty. Grammatically it is a condition, but the first part of the sentence is so certain that it can be translated as “since.” (Use this as an example: “If it is Thanksgiving, we are going to eat pumpkin pie.” The condition is so certain, that we can say, “since it is Thanksgiving, we are going to eat pumpkin pie.”)

To “stand firm” (στήκω) means “to be firmly committed in conviction” (BDAG). The verb is formed from a perfect form of ἵστημι and is used by Paul standing in faith (1 Cor 16:13), in the Lord (Phil 4:1), or in the Holy Spirit (Phil 1:27). In Gal 5:1 and 2 Thess 2:15 is refers to holding on to the gospel as it was taught to the church by Paul in the past. There is a past event (their belief, their acceptance of the Gospel) which has some present effect (standing in their Lord).

The church is standing firm in the Lord. Paul does not praise them for believing the right things, or for doing the right things, but for clinging tenaciously to their Lord, perhaps against the attacks from outside the church which proclaimed another Lord (Caesar) or from inside the church which questioned the power of the Lord. Romans 14:4 uses the same verb for a judgment – one can only stand before the Lord because the Lord makes him stand.

Paul is therefore “revived” by the news that the church has not failed, in fact they have exceeded his expectations. The church is far from perfect, but they understand that they have not “arrived” and Paul praises them for wanting to grow even more.

1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 – Paul’s Heart for His Children

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When Paul started the church at Thessalonica he was opposed by the Jewish community as well as the secular authorities (Acts 17:1-8). The Jews were reacting to Paul’s message that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies, and the Roman city of Thessalonica reacted against Paul’s rejection of Caesar as Lord.  As a result, he was forced to leave the city before he had fully prepared the church, and certainly before he wanted to leave.

He describes his sudden departure from the church as being “torn” from them. The verb ἀπορφανίζω has the sense of a child that is orphaned, but also a parent who has lost a child. It is to be separated under great emotional distress. Paul did not want to leave, he was forced to leave under threat from the local officials. Notice the verb is aorist passive:  Paul did not cause his own departure, he was the victim of circumstances beyond his control.

It has only been a short time since he has been gone, but he things of the church often. The introduction to the book indicates that Paul prayed for the church each day, here he says that he thinks of the church often.  Even though Paul’s desire was to return it is possible his enemies were slandering him by saying he never intended to revisit the church. Paul had taken all he could from the church and left them on their own to face a persecution Paul caused!

Paul says that he had a strong desire to return. The word for this desire is one of the strongest words for desire available to Paul, it means to “crave” something, usually in an especially inordinate way. In other places the word ἐπιθυμία is translated “lust.” This strong desire makes him make an effort to return. The verb σπουδάζω is not a light or a token effort, but rather doing “something with intense effort and motivation. Elsewhere the word is translated as “be eager to….” (Gal 2:10, Eph 4:3).

He made every effort to return, but Satan stopped him. The word“hinder” (ἐγκόπτω) has the sense of“tearing up the road.” If an army wanted to hinder another army from pursuing them they would tear up the road, burn the bridges, etc. Paul sees Satan’s operation as making any progress Paul might make very difficult.  We are not told in Acts what Satan did to hinder him, it is possible that this was the threat of further persecution at the hands of the Jews and civil authorities in Thessalonica. On the other hand, Paul does not usually avoid ministry because of the threat of persecution.

This hindrance may have been more subtle, Paul’s efforts to travel back to the city were slowed by what might have seemed coincidental problems (travel plans fell through, etc.) The important thing to see here is that the source of Paul inability to return is Satan.  The church is not suffering because of the civil authorities in Thessalonica, nor are they suffering because of jealousy from the synagogue, they suffer because they are engaged in spiritual warfare.  As he says in Ephesians 6:10, the struggle is not against  flesh and blood, but against the spiritual powers of darkness.