United With Fellow Believers at the Resurrection
A study on 1 Th 4 and 5
Jesus once responded to a man who came to him saying, “I will follow you, but first let me go and bury my father.” And Jesus replied, “Let the dead, bury their own dead.” Mat 8:22.
In Chapter 4 of 1Th, Paul begins with a discussion of the resurrection of physically dead believers. Near the end of chapter 5 he closes with that exact same format. Sandwiched in between these is a passage outlining the distinction between those who “belong to the day” and are “awake” (i.e. spiritually alive) and those who belong to the night and are “asleep” (i.e. spiritually dead, as Jesus himself pointed out in the verse above). If we are SPIRITUALLY awake, then we are alive and can never die (we have partaken of the “living water” that Jesus introduced to the woman at the well - John 4:14. A concept that he reminded Mary of at the death of Lazarous - John 11:25). In contrast, if we are SPIRITUALLY asleep, then we are dead and our physical body will soon match the state of our spirit when we take our last breath. He addresses only the former (spiritually awake audience) by saying, “God has not destined YOU for wrath.” The “YOU” refers to those who belong to the day. Thus, the spiritually alive will continue to live with Christ in eternity whether they are physically “awake/alive” or “asleep/dead.” Now, note the exact framework Paul uses to sandwich these two concepts:
* Chp 4:14, and part of 17 and 18, “14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep… 17 [we who are physically awake/alive] will be caught up together with them [those believers who were physically asleep/dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
* And then near the end of chapter 5:9-10 “…Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up.”
So, although the word for “asleep” is different in chapter 4 (koimaō) than the word he used in chapter 5 (katheudō), the concept of spiritual death is consistent. When you view the exact repetition of the original thought above, it becomes clear that Paul is teaching that death, for the believer is nothing but a temporary separation, for our spirit is alive in Christ and our bodies will soon join our spirit in that state. Similarly, as stated above, those who are spiritually “asleep” are already dead, and their bodies will soon join the state of their spirits in death. Those in that state (asleep in the spiritual sense) will be surprised by his return and will be destroyed (1 Th 5:2-3), while those who are alive will NOT be taken unaware, and will be given resurrection bodies and will instantly enter into eternal life with there deceased fellow believers and Jesus - 1 Th 4:17 and 5:4,9). What a comfort!
But, he is certainly NOT teaching that those who are “out of fellowship with God” when Christ returns can have confidence that they too will be raptured since they are not “destined” for destruction, and that it doesn’t matter whether they are awake and alert, or asleep and indifferent when he comes back. Although I am sure he will have grace for the coincidental state of holiness any individual believer finds themselves in at the moment he returns, that is not at all what Paul is teaching here. To read that into the text would be ignoring the contrast Paul is making between believers and non-believers. Yes, he does admonish his audience of believers not to behave like children of darkness, but he is NOT contrasting active believers with backslidden believers here. To see it that way, you would have to read the text as though he were saying, “the Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are SPIRITUALLY ALIVE AND WALKING IN LOVE AND HOPE or SPIRITUALLY DEAD AND WALKING IN DRUNKEN DEBAUCHERY, either way, rest assured, we will still live with him.” That is a DISTURBING distortion of this text. It would change the meaning entirely from deriving comfort that believers who have died will be reunited with us, to instead deriving comfort from the fact that we will be raptured even if we have turned our back on Christ and are living in darkness like demons. And in essence that is what some would teach about this verse. I echo what Paul said: May it never be!!!! (Romans 6:2). This is a wicked and vile twisting of scripture.
On the contrary, the implication in his admonishment is for believers NOT to behave like the children of darkness. We are not destined for wrath, so we should not act like those who are. Instead, we are to steadfastly hope in the resurrection and be comforted that we will be reunited with our fellow believers who have died. If anything, the implication here is that we must make some conscious effort to walk in love and hope lest our hearts be turned away from God to complete apostasy before he returns.
Again, although I’m sure there would be grace for a true believer who is a repentant, yet repeat sinner (as we all are), we should not view this passage as a comfort to sin all you want. It is a comfort that true believers who walk in the light (and are still physically alive at Christ’s return) will be resurrected with other true believers who walked in the light but physically died before his return.