1 Thessalonians 5 is the fifth (and the last) 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 th ...

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 Christ ...

of the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

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 of a ...

. It is authored by

Paul the Apostle Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

, likely written in

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

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 a message about Christ's

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 messi ...

, and various final exhortations and

greeting Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship (usually cordial) or social status (formal or informal) between indivi ...

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 28 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: *

Papyrus 46 Papyrus 46 (''P. Chester Beatty II''), designated by siglum (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), is an early Greek New Testament manuscript written on papyrus, and is one of the manuscripts comprising the Chester Beatty Papyri. Manuscripts among ...

(~200; extant verses 5, 23–28) * Papyrus 30 (3rd century; extant verses: 1–18, 25–28) *

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 manuscripts) ...

(330–360) * Uncial 0226 (5th century; extant verses: 1–3) *

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 ...

(~450; extant verses 1, 9–12, 23–27) *

Codex Claromontanus Codex Claromontanus, symbolized by Dp, D2 or 06 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1026 ( von Soden), is a Greek-Latin diglot uncial manuscript of the New Testament, written in an uncial hand on vellum. The Greek and Latin texts are on facing p ...

(~550)

The need for wkefulness (5:1–11)

Paul reminds the Thessalonians that "

the day of the Lord "The Day of the Lord" is a biblical term and theme used in both the Hebrew Bible ( ''Yom Yahweh'') and the New Testament (, ''hēmera Kyriou''), as in ''"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the t ...

will come like a thief in the night" (

verse 2 ''Verse 2'' is the first extended play by South Korean male duo JJ Project. It was released on July 31, 2017 under JYP Entertainment and incorporates a variety of genres like pop, hip-hop and rock. The album contains eight tracks, with two only ...

), that is, quite unexpectedly, so they should be sober and put on "the breastplate of faith and love" and "the helmet of hope of salvation". According to the

Jerusalem Bible ''The Jerusalem Bible'' (JB or TJB) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd. As a Catholic Bible, it includes 73 books: the 39 books shared with the Hebrew Bible, along with the seven deuterocanonical ...

, Paul asserts here that "he has no idea when the Last Day will come, and he merely repeats what the Lord said ... about having to stay awake until it comes".Jerusalem Bible (1966), Footnote a at 1 Thessalonians 5

Verse 2

: ''For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.'' *"Know perfectly": as it was made plain and evident with high certainty to them either from the words of

Jesus Christ 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 religious ...

(), or from Paul's and his co-workers' teaching. * "The day of the Lord": refers to the day when Jesus will reveal himself to be "King of kings, and Lord of lords, and the Judge of the whole earth", as he will appear in his glory. This is sometimes referred to as "the day of the Son of man" or "the day of God", also "the day of redemption" of the body from the grave from mortality, and "the last day" when resurrection of the dead will happen, as well as "the day of judgment", when Jesus Christ will come to judge "the quick (the living) and the dead". * "Comes as a thief in the night": when people are unaware that the Lord himself in that day will come (; ), not to the character of the thief, nor to the goal of his coming; but the sudden manner of it, when not thought of and looked for and least expected. Since the Thessalonians knew this full well, it was needless for the apostle to write about the time and season of it that it could no more be known and fixed, than the coming of a thief into any of their houses.''John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible'' – 1 Thessalonians 5:2
/ref>

Verse 8

: ''But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.'' In this verse, Paul exposes the triad of faith, love and hope (in this specific order), which he introduced in 1 Thessalonians 1:3. * "Putting on (Greek: 1 Thessalonians 5:8 Greek text analysis
at Biblehub.com) the breastplate of faith and love ( ), and as a helmet the hope of salvation ( )": alluding to Isaiah 59:17: ::"He put on (

LXX The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

: ''enedusato'') righteousness as a breastplate (''dikaiosunēn thōraka''), and a helmet of salvation (''perikephalaian sōtēriou'') on His head" :where Paul changes "the breastplate of righteousness" to "the breastplate of faith and love", and adds "hope" to "the helmet of salvation".

Verse 9

:''For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,'' *"Appointed us to wrath": or "destine us for wrath", referring to 'the outpouring of God's wrath on the earth in the day of the Lord' (). *"To obtain salvation": translated from the Greek phrase , ''eis peripoiēsin sōtērias'', "to the acquisition of salvation", in which , ''peripoiein'', means "to cause something to remain, to save, to acquire", so , ''peripoiēsis'', denotes "the acquisition", particularly "the possession of a people" (cf. Ephesians 1:14; 1 Peter 2:9; Acts 20:28), corresponding to the Hebrew , ' ("property", "jewels", "possession", "treasure"), by which 'the people of Israel were denominated God's holy property' (cf. ; , etc.) or as in 2 Thessalonians 2:14 , ''peripoiēsis'', has the general meaning of "acquisition".Meyer, Heinrich August Wilhelm (1880)
''Commentary on the New Testament.'' 1 Thessalonians 5
Translation by Peter Christie from Meyer's sixth edition. Accessed February 14, 2019.

Final Exhortations and Greetings (5:12–28)

This final section contains various pieces of advice, greetings, prayers, Paul's own handwriting and a closing benediction.

Verse 17

:''pray without ceasing'' This verse is the basis of ''unceasing prayer'' as used in the Eastern Orthodox tradition of

Hesychasm Hesychasm (; Greek: Ησυχασμός) is a contemplative monastic tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church in which stillness (''hēsychia'') is sought through uninterrupted Jesus prayer. While rooted in early Christian monasticism, it took it ...

for practicing the

Jesus Prayer The Jesus Prayer,; syr, ܨܠܘܬܐ ܕܝܫܘܥ, translit=slotho d-yeshu'; syr, label=Amharic, Geez and Tigrinya, እግዚኦ መሐረነ ክርስቶስ, translit=igizi'o meḥarene kirisitosi. "Note: We are still searching the Fathers for t ...

. The original Greek verse is ().

Verse 27

:''I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.'' 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 the ...

suggests that Paul "has taken the stylus in his own hand to write the last few words (as at and )". The audience is referred to as "the brethren" or "the brothers" (τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, ''tois adelphois'') in critical texts; the word "holy" also appears in the

Textus Receptus ''Textus Receptus'' (Latin: "received text") refers to all printed editions of the Greek New Testament from Erasmus's ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' (1516) to the 1633 Elzevir edition. It was the most commonly used text type for Protestant denomi ...

, and as "all the holy brethren" (''omnibus sanctis fratribus'') in the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

.Jerusalem Bible (1966), Footnote f at 1 Thessalonians 5:27

Notes

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 05