“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13 (ESV)
Today’s text begins an extended section concerning the return of Jesus Christ. The return of Christ dominates interest and discussion among believers in Christ; regardless of denominational affiliation or theological persuasion.
The extended biblical context has two subdivisions. First, Jesus will come with impartiality toward all believers. Therefore, those who are alive when Christ returns will have no advantage over those who have physically died (4:13–18). Second, Jesus’ arrival will be sudden, taking people by surprise (5:1–11).
I Thessalonians 4:13 begins Paul’s extended narrative about Christ’s future return by acknowledging a present condition among the believers to whom he was writing. They were grieving the death of loved ones. Certainly, we can relate and understand in the 21st century what these believers were feeling in the 1st century.
Paul, Silas and Timothy did not want the Thessalonian believers to be uninformed. To be uninformed (ἀγνοεῖν; agnoein) means to be presently, actively and infinitely ignorant or unaware of the importance of something.
What these believers were ignorant of was the future of their deceased loved ones. Paul referred to these dead Christians as those who were sleeping. The word asleep (κοιμωμένων; koimomenon) is a euphemism for death.
“The introductory clause, ‘now we do not wish you to be in ignorance,’ has its analogies in many letters that have come down to us from the ancient world. Paul often uses this formula (Rom. 1:13; 11:25; 1 Cor. 10:1; 12:1; 2 Cor. 1:8; cf. Phil. 1:12; Col. 2:1),” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.
“But in Paul’s epistles words are never mere empty forms. They are divinely inspired. There is a special reason for them. So also in the present case. Ignorance concerning spiritual realities is always bad for the believer. It leads to lack of comfort. That was particularly true in this case. The brothers (note affectionate form of address; see on 1:4) are worrying about those who fall (an inferior reading has had fallen) asleep.”
“The death of believers is often compared to sleep (Matt. 27:52; John 11:11–13; Acts 7:60; 1 Cor. 7:39; 15:6, 18; cf. “rest from their labors,” Rev. 14:13). The expression is based on Old Testament terminology with reference to death (Gen. 47:30; 2 Sam. 7:12),” continues Dr. Hendriksen.
“The comparison of death to sleep is particularly appropriate in implying not only rest from labor but also the glorious awakening which believers expect on the other side. This falling asleep does not indicate an intermediate state of unconscious repose (soul-sleep). Though the soul is asleep to the world which it has left (Job 7:9, 10; Is. 63:16; Eccl. 9:6), it is awake with respect to its own world (Luke 16:19–31; 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:21–23; Rev. 7:15–17; 20:4).”
The elimination of ignorance would assist the Thessalonians in their grief. To grieve (λυπῆσθε; lypesthe) is a present, passive condition of sorrow and sadness. It is a deep distress.
“People talk as if grief were just a feeling — as if it weren’t the continually renewed shock of setting out again and again on familiar roads and being brought up short by the grim frontier post that now blocks them. The pain now is part of the happiness then. That’s the deal.” — C. S. Lewis
“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.” — Washington Irving
“The darker the night, the brighter the stars, The deeper the grief, the closer is God!” — Fyodor Dostoevsky
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” — Dr. Seuss
Everyone grieves. Everyone experiences the pain in the death of a loved one. The question is whether the individual grieving does so either in despair or hope? As a pastor, I have witnessed families gather in a funeral home in despair when the deceased was not a believer. It is not pleasant. There is an overwhelming sense of the absence of the presence and joy of God.
Contrast this previous scene with a funeral viewing room filled with believers in Christ who are present to remember a fellow deceased believer in Christ. While there will be tears, the is a sense of hope. Hope (ἐλπίδα; elpida) is the confident expectation of heaven based upon the promises of and from God. For the believer, hope is not a wish but rather a certainty.
“The Greek and Roman world of Paul’s day was, indeed, a hopeless world (Eph. 2:12). According to the Greek (and afterward also the Roman) conception, there was no future for the body, which came to be regarded as the soul’s “prison-house,” states Dr. Henriksen.
“In the second century A.D. a certain Irene, an Egyptian, writes a letter to a family in mourning. She writes that she is sorry and that she weeps over her friend’s departed one just as she had previously wept over the loss of her own dear one. She concludes her letter by saying:”
“But, nevertheless, against such things one can do nothing. Therefore, comfort one another. Farewell.”
“It is clear that such an expression “Comfort one another,” when every ground for comfort was lacking, is, to put it mildly, very insufficient!Indeed, apart from Christianity there was no solid basis for hope in connection with the after-life,” concludes Dr. Hendriksen.
Paul would write to the church at Colossae, “To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27 (ESV)
The only confidence anyone has for life after death is in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone, by grace alone through faith alone. Through Christ alone, Christians may grieve but they do so with confidence in the heavenly home God promised (John 14:1-6).
In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease;
my Comforter, my All in All;
here in the love of Christ I stand.
No guilt in life, no fear in death;
this is the pow’r of Christ in me.
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man
can ever pluck me from His hand;
’til He returns or calls me home,
here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand!
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed and hope filled day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
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