1 Thessalonians Chapter 5.

1 THESSALONIANS CHAPTER 5.

5:1-11.  In view of the coming of the Lord,  imminent and unforeseen, let us watch and remain calm. 

5:1. "You have no need to have anything written to you." He has used a similar formula in 4:9.  It is then possible that in beginning a new subject, Paul answers a question raised by a letter from the Thessalonians.  Some desired to know the times or moment of the Day of the Lord.  They wished to be precise as to the moment that they may wait all their days.  The imminence of the event caused some disquietness or unrest among them.  Some may have become afraid.  They had no reason for the fear of the disaster Paul writes about in 5:4.

           

5:2.  With fidelity to the teaching of Christ himself (Mk.13:32; Acts 1:6), Paul declares that the Thessalonians  had enough knowledge, at any rate, all that was possible to know, His coming shall be sudden and totally unforeseen.  It is not possible to be precise as to the moment.

           

The Day of the Lord, or the Day of Christ (Phil.1:6,10; 2:16), was foreseen in the Old Testament.  The Day of Yahweh was announced by the prophets, the day when Yahweh shall judge His people and the nations, (Amos.5:18,20; Joel 2:1; 3:14; 4:14 (LXX).  For the apostle the Day of the Lord is before all of His Coming, of His Parousia (4:16; 3:13), of the manifestation of His glory; day of judgment, without doubt, but for believers a day of deliverance and salvation.

           

"Like a thief in the night."  The thief comes during the night when we cannot see at all, when all the world sleeps without nothing to make known his coming, and it is thus, wholly unexpected and unforeseen, that the Day of the Lord shall unexpectedly arrive.

           

5:3.  "When they say."  It is a question of the people of this world, the unbelievers, as the following indicates, "Peace and safety."  These words are the language of a false security, of which the generation of the deluge had given an example according to Jesus, (Matt.24:37).  It is when they think themselves, safe from every evil surprise, that sudden ruin comes upon them.

Destruction (olethros), occurs also in 2.Thess.1:9; 1.Cor.5:5; 1.Tim.6:9.  The term designates the disastrous effects of the coming of the Lord on those who shall not be ready and who, suddenly (subitement) find themselves judged by it.  The suddenness of the event is compared to the pangs (throes) which astonish the pregnant woman.  The imagery of birthpangs was current in the apocalyptic literature, and was applied to the tribulations that would commence the Messianic times. (Mk.13:8; Matt.24:8).  Such pangs evoke (call up, conjure) not only the suddeness of the ruin, but its inevitable character.

           

5:4.  The Day of the Lord is dreadful (terrible) among or to all for whom that it shall surprise.  But the Christians are not such.  "But you are not in darkness, brethren, for the day shall not surprise you as a thief."  The day will not find Christians unprepared, surprised, taken at a disadvantage.  It is interesting to compare the words in 1.Thess.5:3 and Luke 24:34-36.

            The darkness is a symbol of the condition or state of the people of this world who do not know God, neither His will, nor His salvation.  Paul plays on the double sense of the word `day', in saying, "for that day to surprise you like a thief."  It is a question certainly of the Day of the Lord (5:2), but, by opposition to the darkness, that day is also light, dazzling with the presence of God, unbearable to those who are in the darkness.

           

5:5.  "For you all are sons of light."  The word `all' is strongly accented by its position, aimed to reassure particularly the members of the community who feel the effects of the uneasiness at the idea of destiny or fate, which shall be theirs when the Lord shall come.  Paul may have had in mind the `fainthearted' referred to in 5:14.  All are `sons of the light', `and sons of the day'.  In its form, this expression is Semitic and ought (or would) express the greater unity of the believing community, the oneness, bond of unity, and the reality of that in which they participate, this bond and reality is the light and day.

The term `Day' joins light to oppose with it, of night and darkness, which defines the spiritual state of the men of this world.  The Christians have nothing in common with the night and darkness, they have broken with this state of ignorance of God, and the lack of conscience as to sin which was so characteristic of the unbelieving.   Christians have been taken up and raised - morally rescued - by the light and by the day which determines their behaviour.  The knowledge of the living and true God, a clear conscience of the imminence of the Day of the Lord, the object of their hope, has put them in a wholly different spiritual situation.  The apostle now invites the Thessalonians to draw the moral consequences for themselves.

           

5:6.  "So then, let us not sleep as others do."  The verb `katheudo', "to sleep" has here a metaphorical sense.  It defines the behaviour of "the others," that is, the unbelievers act in harmony with their spiritual state, of which the night is an image, "they sleep."  They are not aware of the imminence of the event that shall be their destiny.  They apply themselves to their works and their pleasure with complete unconcern and in a security quite illusory.  (Sleep is a striking image of such unconcern, careless and heedless of their peril, trusting in an illusory security).  The attitude of believers shall be quite different, they continue watchful.   They remain always fully aware, conscious of the imminence of the Coming of the Lord - in a state of alertness, living in a manner worthy of God, as His call, 2:12, - ready to receive Him who is coming.

           

"And be sober."  The verb `nepho', "be sober," like the other verbs in this passage, is used in a metaphorical sense: "remain cool, calm.  The exhortation explains itself easily.  It was not easy to live in expectation of the coming of the Lord without experiencing some fever, some exaltation, without risk of losing contact with the real, whether in words or in acts.  The exhortation of 4:11 would signify that in the bosom of the Thessalonian Church, there were some symptoms of the eschatological fever, of moral disorders that it provoked: the abandoning of work, the restlessness, the indiscreet zeal.  Perhaps "the idle," of 5:14 were representatives of this false state of spirit.  Paul seems to have regarded this exhortation, "to be sober," (vepho) as more necessary than the exhortation to "keep awake" (grerormen), because in the following verses he develops the need to be sober.

           

5:7.  Paul recalls a fact of which each shall fall into place: the night is the time of sleep (sommeil) and the time of drinking producing drunkenness, a double  image of their behaviour of those that the Day of the Lord shall consume in ruin.

           

5:8.  Quite otherwise shall be the behaviour of the believers, those who belong to the day and their character ought to be different, "they shall be sober," they shall keep cool, to be on their guard against excitement which might obscure their judgment (moral judgment), and they be swept away by unreasonable excitement.  And in spite of the imminence of the final day they can maintain (conserve) a same spirit and restful heart, because they are armed to face without fear.  They are to put on a breastplate that constitutes for them the faith and love, and they have for a helmet the hope of salvation.  Love and faith are inseparable, and together constitute a most vital piece of armour.  The apostle hitches the three terms of the Christian triad to the military image of Isaiah 59:7, but we must guard against pressing the imagery.

           

For the apostle, they are the distinctive dispositions of the Christian life that would enable them to maintain a sane calmness and serene face to the imminent coming of the Lord :  it is by faith of Jesus Christ that we have been justified and are confident that God is for us, Rom.8:31., the Christian lives a life that pleases God when he walks in love, Rom.13:8-10), and by faith he awaits the coming of the Lord and the completion of the salvation that he already knows by faith.  The Christian need not be agitated or disturbed since he knows that the Day of the Lord shall bring salvation and not ruin.

           

5:9.  It is in view of the Cross of Christ that Paul can assure that God has not destined believers to wrath that shall ruin the sinners surprised in their false security (5:3), but to acquire salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ in participating in His reign (4:17).  Christians are destined to acquire salvation.  Anterior to their faith, the love, the hope of Christians and the foundation, he has the sovereign decision of God concerning them and which has been accomplished in Jesus and His death for us.  By this redemptive death of which Paul shall explain the sense and efficacy in his later Epistles, God has accomplished His purpose in regard to believers.  The goal of this purpose is defined in terms that link up with the theme of the preceding passage - "in order that whether we awake or sleep, we might live with him (5:10).

           

The verbs `gregoreo' and `katheudo' are not used here in the literal sense of 5:7, nor in the metaphorical sense of 5:6, but in a new metaphorical sense: `gregoreo' - "to wake, to live. `Katheudo' - to be asleep, to be dead, i.e. - 4:13,  `koimaomai'.  By these two verbs, Paul designates the two conditions in which believers shall be found at the Coming of the Lord: some shall be alive and others dead.  But these two conditions or states are not of any importance, because the goal of the redemptive death of Christ is that His own, dead or living, by resurrection or by transformation, shall reach or attain together in the life with Him.

           

5:10.  `Zesomen'.  Some give this aorist subjunctive only a future sense, but others emphasize the true aorist subjunctive sense.  We have here a text of great interest, because with its reference to 4:15-17, it makes known the reason for which the delay of the parousia, if ardently awaited by the earthly church does not appear to have provoked a grave crisis in the hearts of Christians.  The moment of the parousia ceased to have decisive importance, as to the moment, where believers by the death and resurrection of Christ have the certitude, that of dead or surviving, they shall have part in the last event and shall then be always with the Lord.

           

5:11.  To draw the practical conclusion of his teaching Paul uses similar language to 4:18, "Encourage one another."  This leads one to think that in 5:1-10, he endeavours to appease an anxiety that was closely connected with that which he appeased in 4:13-18.  In the first passage it is a question of a sore anxiety experienced by the Thessalonians in regard to their deceased brothers, but in the second passage of an anxiety they experienced or that some among them experienced, for they faced the imminent coming of the Lord.  The anxiety of the two passages are not unrelated.

           

The apostle has added, "build yourselves up the one for the other."  The injunction, "build one another up," has its origin in the Old Testament concept of Israel as the house of God, and of the Christian Community as the Temple of God.  The Salvation of the individual is inseparable from that of the Community, and belongs to the total work of the Lord.  The exhortation to build one another up strongly expresses the responsibility of each believer towards his brother.  They were to build one another up in the truth expressed in 5:1-10.

           

5:12-22.  Final instructions. 

5:12.  `De' has here an adversative sense - `mais'.  This is contrary to Frame who holds `de' to be a simple particle of connecting or joining. Paul has shown that each brother should have a conscience towards his brethren, but it is also true that some in the Church are distinguished for their sense of responsibility, for love and desire to serve the Lord and show themselves more active.

           

Paul designates such in general terms `oi kipiontes en umin', "who labour among you." - Those who work in the community and for the community.  Paul characterises their activity by adding "and over you in the Lord and admonish you."  It is a question then of brothers who are soon distinguished from the others gifts, and their personal ascendency, by their devotedness, and who find themselves the head of the community, not through ambition, but in the Lord, in faith and obedience to the Lord of the Church, they serve Him on behalf of their brothers.

           

The tense of `proistamai' has been discussed.  Does it mean to exercise a concern or care, and applies to every kind of activity in favour of the community?  Frame sees it to be a question of the leaders who have a heart for the well-being of the community and charge themselves to minister its funds.  Hering does not think this view accords with the context.  It is preferable to take its sense as "to be in the headship or leadership of."  It is not to be understood of a precise function, but an activity freely assumed by someone in the Lord.  After the sudden departure of the missionaries, they have provided of their best in the progress of the community.  [A community must have a leader - even a basketball team.]

           

They have borne the anxiety for the conduct of their brethren - a care arising from love, - and warning them of the consequences of their faults, in their indicating the way to follow.  It is natural that they should meet resistance, and their warnings do not always please, and they had no official authority, so the apostle requests the Thessalonians to recognize and to consent to their activity among them, and accept their directions, counsels and admonitions.  But to obtain their recognition, the end of all opposition, the disappearance of all evil, he would their esteem may continue in the Church.

           

5:13.  Paul requests yet more, they were to have such leaders in great esteem through love on account of their work. (Not only esteem, but to love their leaders).  The apostle is fully conscious of both the necessity and value of the activity of the leaders of their community, and he wished that the Thessalonians also may be convinced of their value.  He demands then, that they have for those who are their head a greater esteem, an esteem agreeing not only with bad grace (surly, sullen), but with love.  From which it appears, that the Christian ministry under all its forms cannot exercise efficaciously except that it is accepted in good heart by all the members of the Church.  Their ministers are the object of their particular esteem on account of their work.  This work is that which has been described in verse 12, the consideration and the love of those who are their beneficiaries, and the mandate they have received, or that they would receive now from the apostle.

           

5:12-13.  Is an interesting document for the study of ministers in the Church of the apostolic age.  The case of the Church of the Thessalonians has special features, because Paul had been obliged to leave unexpectedly, without having taken any measure to assume or prepare for the future.  At the moment in which he wrote, after a long period of separation, there was not yet a regular ministry constituted.  The words, `eireneuete en eautois' -"to live in peace with one another."  The context suggests it is an exhortation to the brothers to live in peace with the leaders of the community.

           

A certain tension existed between a section of the Church, and those who had taken the leadership.  Both sides were in measure responsible for this tension.  So after having asked the brothers (12-13.a) to recognize the good work of those who had taken the lead in the assembly, and recommends that the leaders (v.15) exercise their ministry with tact; without discouragement or irritation by the resistances encountered.  It was natural that the apostle formulate this general exhortation - "live in peace with one another."

            5:14.  All were to have a pastoral care.  Not only were the brethren to have a regard for the leaders in the Christian life, but he adds, they must share in their pastoral care, or probably he is addressing the leaders especially in verse 15.  They must fulfil their task in spite of the opposition encountered.  This they can do more efficiently if the Church recognizes their mission, and if they know they fulfil the request of the apostle.  Warning the undisciplined. 

The sense of `ataktous' is controversial.  See Bauer, "that which is not in order," a disorderly, deranged, undisciplined order.  Some think Paul refers to the idle (4:1,) and which are strongly reproached (2.Thess.3:6).  According to others, it is a question of the undisciplined persons, which abandon work for a form of life restless and frivolous, that was a manifestation of pride of which they are the prey.

           

"Encourage the fainthearted," i.e. those who have little courage, whether in persecution or generally in the personal life, yet badly lacking assurance, - in spirit too quickly paralysed by fear, by scruples and doubts.

           

"Help the weak."  Support, maintain, sustain (soutenez).  It refers not to the feeble, physically or economically, but of those who are not capable of marching unaided, and always in need of help.  Left to themselves, they always fall again into sin.

            "Use patience towards all."  This exhortation is very general, because the members of the Church are not all found in the one or the other of the three categories mentioned, and yet, it is probable that the three categories of brethren might put constantly to proof :"the patience," of those who acknowledge a burden of heart.  Such may lack patience, and through inexperience act too quickly and arouse the resistance of others.

            5:15.  It is quite possible to take (with most exegetes) this verse as addressed to the entire church, responsible for the Christian behaviour of its members, but if the imperatives of verse 14 concern the leaders, it then should be the same for those of verse 15.  It is not sufficient that those holding responsibility use patience towards all.  It is necessary that they win a more great victory in response to the resistance, to the defiance, to the evil deeds proceeding from the opposition by love.  [Love overcomes evil with good.]  Paul it is true, has not said, "watch that none of you render evil for evil" - whether by discretion, or, for to maintain in the exhortation a more general term, which suits in an epistle to be read to all (v.27).  The next member of the sentence does not leave us in doubt, - "on the contrary, always pursue good to one another and to all."

           

The "good' here is visibly all that which is inspired by love, for it is love alone that demands that good be given for evil.  If the exhortation is valuable for all, the spiritual guides of the community are requested by it to always seek after these responses, the solutions, the steps, the actions inspired by love, whether in their relations among them, giving an example or in their relations with all those for whom they are responsible.

           

5:16-18.  These three verses comprise a whole or complete group, and it is an error to separate the three imperatives by the full-stops, as do Second Bible of Jerusalem, etc.  All three find their justification (gar - indeed), in the will of God in Christ Jesus (v.18.b).  This will has been revealed in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.  It is in the Redemptive Act that Paul discerned that this, God has desired and desires of believers.  Also this will is for them a demand that they ought to realise under punishment for disobedience and to miss the call of God, but it is at first a gift, a grace, because in Christ Jesus, in the wholly new condition who made them is a fact in Him. 

           

God has given to them the possibility to be always joyful, to pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in every circumstances.  The believers do not find in themselves, nor in the world the motives to be always joyful, on the contrary!  But in Christ Jesus, in the act of reconciliation of which the world has been the object (2.Cor.5:19), in the grace given to them, have made for the present and for the future, they have a subject of joy continually, permanent, which nothing can put in question, (Phil.3:1; 4:4), because their prayers brings them always to Jesus Christ, since it is by Him they have access to the Father, and that they give thanks to Him.  Of themselves they are not always disposed to pray.

           

5:19-22.  Five exhortations relative to the attitude to take in regard to the manifestations of the Spirit in the life of the Church of Thessalonica .  The Corinthians Church made a great thing of the striking manifestations of the Spirit, prophecy and tongues.  The Thessalonian Church may have been tempted to smother the manifestations of the Spirit.  On the other hand (en revanche) it is possible that the manifestations were sometimes disorderly, and had been restrained by the leaders in the Church.  Those interested in such inspired persons, and have sought apostolic instruction as to whether such rigorous restrictions should be placed on the inspired in the life of the Church.  Paul does not enter into their views, and it is significant that in his answer, he speaks of the Spirit and not of inspired persons.  To restrain in one way or another, the sovereign liberty of the Spirit shall gravely impoverish (appauurir) the Church. 

           

"Do not quench the Spirit."  He uses the image which likens the Spirit to fire.

"Despise not prophecies." 

"Examine all."  The church must distinguish true prophecies from the words of men.  "To the good hold fast."  "Abstain from every form of evil."  These are the rules to follow in the examination or proving.

           

5:23.  Final prayer.