What Does 1 Thessalonians 4:13 Mean?

(13) **But.**—We pass to the *third* clearly marked point: the share of the Christian dead in the Coming of Christ. Possibly an association of ideas may have caused St. Paul to join these two subjects, of quietude and the Advent, so closely (see Note on 1Thessalonians 4:11). “You need have no distress about your dead: when Christ comes, they will be there too; they will come with Him, and we shall be caught up to meet them.” **I would not have you to be ignorant.**—The right reading is *we.* St. Paul is still speaking in the name of his companions as well as his own. The phrase is very weighty, and marks how lamentable such a piece of ignorance would be. (See references in the margin.) **Which are asleep.**—The best reading is rather, *which fall asleep; *the grief renewed itself over each successive death-bed. The image of *sleep* is a mere metaphor, drawn from the outward *phenomena* of death, and is used as an *euphemism* for death; therefore no *doctrine* can be deduced with precision from it. It cannot be said (for instance; on the strength of such passages alone, that only the *body* sleeps, and not the soul; or, again, that the soul sleeps while the body remains in the grave. That the soul, or at any rate the *spirit, *still retains consciousness after dissolution is clear from other places; but when the metaphor of sleep is used, it is used of the *whole* man (*e.g., *John 11:11, “*Lazarus*”—not” Lazarus’ body”—“sleepeth”), the explanation being either that stated above—*i.e., *that the word is simply *picturesque, *describing the peaceful *appearance* of the dead—or that the reference is to *rest* from labour (Revelation 14:13). At the same time, the metaphor suggests (otherwise it would be misleading, and St. Paul would not have used it) a continued (even if partly unconscious) existence, and the possibility of a reawakening: Again, for the same reason—*i.e., *because the word is metaphorical, not doctrinal—it cannot be limited to the *Christian* dead: when the writers need to mark specially the departed Christians they annex qualifying words, as in 1Thessalonians 4:14. Of course, on the mention of “the dead,” the Thessalonians will at once think of their own brethren departed, so that there is no ambiguity. **That ye** **sorrow not.**—The words express St. Paul’s *object* in wishing them to know the truth. He wants them *not to sorrow at all* over the dead; sorrow is only fit for Gentiles who have no hope. He does not mean that they are not to sorrow *to the same degree* as those outside the Church, but that to Christians, who *have* a hope, and such a hope, death ought to have no sorrows. The Office of Burial in the Prayer-book is as joyous as the Eucharistic Office itself. **Others.**—The Greek word is “the others, those who have no hope,” and includes *all* who were *not* members of the Church: “That ye mourn not like the rest, which have no hope.” The having no hope does not mean that there is no hope *for* them, but that *they* are not cheered by hope.