Fathers

1 Thessalonians 4

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Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit. But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

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What the Fathers say

1 Thessalonians 4:15

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in nowise precede them that are fallen asleep." Speaking concerning the faithful, and them "which are fallen asleep in Christ" (1 Cor. xv. …

Homily on 1 Thessalonians 7 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Intending to say something extraordinary, he confirms it with the word of God: for I do not speak of myself, but what I learned from Christ. This, as well as what follows: "it is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35), he clearly heard from his Teacher. The rest he spoke by the inspiration of the Spirit. What he said in the Epistle to the Corinthians: "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15:52), he says now as well. …

Commentary on 1 Thessalonians ↗

Western Saints

Thomas Aquinas

Then when he says, for this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, he rules out a delay in regard to the resurrection, as if saying: We know that they shall rise and shall come with Christ; therefore, we ought not to grieve so much. For those who shall be found alive will not achieve the glory of resurrection before those who are dead. And for this reason he says: for this we declare to you, not as the conjecture of a man, but by the word of the Lord, whose words do not fail. …

Commentary on 1 Thessalonians ↗