1 Thessalonians 4 is the fourth chapter of the

First Epistle to the Thessalonians The First Epistle to the Thessalonians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle, and is addressed to the church in Thessalonica, in modern-day Greece. It is likely among t ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. It is authored by Paul the Apostle, likely written in

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government refor ...

in about 50-51 CE for the church in

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

. This chapter contains an exhortation about a life pleasing to God and describes the circumstances of the

Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messian ...

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is divided into 18 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: * Papyrus 30 (3rd century) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325–350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(330–360) * Uncial 0226 (5th century; extant verses: 16–18) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(400–440) *

Codex Freerianus Codex Freerianus, designated by I or 016 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1041 ( von Soden), also called the ''Washington Manuscript of the Pauline Epistles'', is a 5th-century manuscript in an uncial hand on vellum in Greek. It is named afte ...

(c. 450; extant verses 7–10, 16–18) * Codex Claromontanus (c. 550)

Keeping the traditions (4:1–2)

Paul wants the believers to 'walk' (Greek: ; cf. ) and to please God according to the commandments or instructions they received () from him previously (when he founded the church). Theologian

Philip Esler Philip Francis Esler (born 27 August 1952) is the Portland Chair in New Testament Studies at the University of Gloucestershire. He is an Australian-born higher education administrator and academic who became the inaugural Chief Executive of th ...

refers to these instructions as "the traditions" and argues that they are distinctive norms of behaviour to be adopted by those who follow Christ.

Purity (4:3–8)

This section deals with the sanctification (Greek: ) of the people as the will of God.

Brotherly love (4:9–12)

Paul brought up the subject of 'brotherly love' (Greek: ), which he says he does not need to write because the Thessalonians have been 'God-taught' (Greek: ) to love () one another.

The circumstances of Christ's second coming (4:13–18)

Verse 16

: ''For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.''

Verse 17

: ''Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.'' NKJV * "Then we who are alive and remain": See Gill on 1 Thessalonians 4:15.''John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible'', – 1 Thessalonians 4:15
/ref> * "Shall be caught up": This has a sense of happening suddenly, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
/ref> * "Together with them": that is, everyone is present at the same time, as "the dead in Christ" being raised and the other still alive being changed, and gathered in one general assembly together. * "In the clouds": refers to the same cloud which received Jesus at his ascension. * "To meet the Lord in the air": while

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

will descend, and then clear the regions of the air of Satan and his followers, because Jesus will not descend on earth yet,as it is not fit yet to receive him until the earth is purged and purified by fire to become a new earth. Another reason why Jesus will stay in the air, and his believers will meet him there, is that he will take them up with him into the third heaven and preserve them there until the burning of the world is over, and then all the elect of God will descend from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband, and he with them, also when the tabernacle of God will be with men ().

References

Sources

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{First Epistle to the Thessalonians 04