Chapter 6

1 Thessalonians 5:1–11

Literary Context

Paul moves from fresh teaching about Christ’s return (4:13–18) to teaching that he is confident the Thessalonians have already absorbed: how to be ready for Christ’s coming. Negatively, one does not prepare by calculating the date of his return; positively, true readiness is spiritual and involves walking in God’s ways. It is not clear why the apostle rehearses doctrine that is not at immediate risk. One explanation is that the Thessalonians were starting to show signs that they misunderstood the question of end-time chronology (2 Thess 2:1–2). A better explanation is that the early church commonly combined the truth of the Lord’s return with exhortation to vigilence and holiness; since Paul has spoken about the parousia, he goes on naturally to talk about readiness.

In 5:4–11, the apostle speaks in general terms about walking in the light. In the following section (5:12–22) he delves into specific behaviors that should characterize the Christian. Finally, Paul will end the letter praying that God will make the Thessalonians fully holy, ready to meet Christ at the parousia (5:23).

  1. VI. Paraenesis: The Gospel Ethic in a Gentile Environment (4:1–12)
  2. VII. Instruction about the Return of Christ (4:13–5:11)
    1. A. Dead Christians will be raised to be with Jesus ahead of the living (4:13–18)
    2. B. Christians should live in holiness, even without knowing the timing of the end (5:1–11)
  3. VIII. Final Exhortations (5:12–22)

Main Idea

Paul now examines the coming of Christ from the angle of daily living. First, no one knows the time of his return; it cannot be anticipated by mathematical calculation. Second, to prepare for this surprise means living in anticipation of the eschatological kingdom, in holy alertness.

Translation

Structure

Although Paul has been speaking of eschatology in the previous section, he now signals a change of direction with “now about” (περὶ δέ, 5:1; see the same construction in 4:9). In contrast to what has gone before, the Thessalonians are not confused or ill-informed about the ethical implications of their eschatology: they “have no need” of more information (5:1b), “because” (causal use of γάρ) they know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night (5:2). Here Paul associates that Day with the parousia of Jesus in 4:15—when Jesus comes, he initiates the day of Yahweh.

The apostle now describes two contrasting groups of people, the world (5:3) and the people of God (5:4–5). The destructive power of that Day is expressed with three traditional metaphors: it will be “like a thief in the night” (5:2c), like a military invasion from out of nowhere, and “as birth pains.” Paul uses emphatic negation: “in no way” (οὐ μὴ) will they escape (cf. Amos 2:14–15).

Paul draws a clear line between “them” and “you/we” (5:3–5): “they” will be taken unaware by the parousia, “but you” (ὑμεῖς δέ) Thessalonians will not (5:4). Yet how will the believers not be surprised, given that for them too the Day is like a thief? This tension is resolved by focusing on the nature of the surprise: Christians do not know when Christ will return (5:1), but they will be prepared because (γάρ; 5:5a) they are walking according to their new nature, as children of the day and of the light.

In 5:6 Paul now marks a change in direction from “indicative” to “hortatory subunctive” with “so then” (ἄρα οὖν). He begins this section, as he does so often in this letter, with an antithesis: “let us not let ourselves fall asleep … but let us keep alert.” Another antithesis follows as he provides the reason (marked by γάρ) for his preceding exhortation: people of the night are wicked (5:7), but because “we belong to the day,” we should behave as such (5:8a). The believers should be vigilant and put on the divine armor that protects those who are in Christ (5:8b-d). Here Paul alludes to the “armor of God” language from Isa 59:17; it is a favorite motif that he will use in other letters.

In 5:9–10 the apostle summarizes this section but also reaches back to earlier sections of the letter. He is leaving the Thessalonians on a high note about putting on God’s armor “because” they are people who will receive not wrath but salvation (5:9a-b); this alludes back to his gospel outline in 1:9–10. In 5:10, this future salvation is through the death of Christ (cf. 5:9c with 4:14a) “so that” (ἵνα) it will be enjoyed by all believers, living or dead.

As in 4:18, Paul ends the section stating that on the basis of these gospel truths, the Thessalonians must therefore (διό) continue to encourage and build up one another (5:11).

Exegetical Outline

  1. I. The Apostles Begin with Known Eschatological Teaching (5:1–5).
    1. A. They remind the Thessalonians that they already possess this teaching (5:1).
    2. B. The day of the Lord will come as sudden destruction (5:2–3).
    3. C. The Thessalonian Christians, being who they are, will not be taken by surprise (5:4–5).
  2. II. The Apostles Turn to Ethical Exhortation Based on This Teaching (5:6–11).
    1. A. They should be alert and self-controlled (5:6–8a).
    2. B. They should put on the eschatological “armor of God” (5:8b).
    3. C. They should have the confidence that they will live with Christ at the resurrection (5:9–10).
    4. D. They should encourage each other with these eschatological truths (5:11).

Explanation of the Text

5:1 Now, concerning times and dates, brothers and sisters, you have no need [for us] to write you (Περὶ δὲ τῶν χρόνων καὶ τῶν καιρῶν, ἀδελφοί, οὐ χρείαν ἔχετε ὑμῖν γράφεσθαι). The destiny of the Christian dead has now been settled. Thus, Paul turns to the related issue of when Christ will return. Once again, his teaching has firm roots in the oral teaching of Jesus. The Olivet Discourse itself was a response to the disciples’ inquiry, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?” (Mark 13:4). Acts 1:6–7 also begins with the question of eschatological timing when the disciples asked, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” There Jesus corrected them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” Thomas Aquinas commented on Acts 1:7, “Whereby, as Augustine says ‘He scatters the figures of all calculators and bids them be still.’ For what He refused to tell the apostles, He will not reveal to others.”1

The pattern, then, is that whenever the disciples seek knowledge about when the parousia will occur, Jesus responds with his own agenda. He tells them to defend themselves against deceivers (Matt 24:4–5), to beware of interpreting wars, famines, and earthquakes as irrefutable signs that the end is near (24:6–8), to remain watchful (24:42), to not be violent or drunk (24:49–50), and to be witnesses to all nations (Acts 1:8).

Paul pairs together “times and dates” (τῶν χρόνων καὶ τῶν καιρῶν), the same words used in Acts 1:7. It is not fruitful to look for subtle distinctions between these synonyms. In the LXX and the NT, “over a large area of the usage … the two words mean the same thing…. In particular, in those theologically important cases which speak of the ‘time’ or ‘times’ which God has appointed or promised, the two words are most probably of like meaning.”2 They speak of general chronological information; the translation of “times and dates” is fitting. Paul is in line with the gospel tradition that the time of the parousia is unknowable until after “all signs have been fulfilled” (Matt 24:32–34).

Paul tells the Thessalonians (lit.) that “you have no need to be written to you.” Some versions render it that way, while others more helpfully offer a free translation such as “we/I have no need to write.” The Thessalonians had already received this teaching from the apostolic team, probably in a package resembling the Matthean tradition: “about that day and hour no one knows” (Matt 24:36). While it is true that Paul may be using the rhetorical device “I don’t need to tell you” only as a set-up to tell them anyway, there is no evidence here that the Thessalonians have begun to be preoccupied with dates as they would be in 2 Thess 2:1–2.3

5:2 Because you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night (αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἀκριβῶς οἴδατε ὅτι ἡμέρα κυρίου ὡς κλέπτης ἐν νυκτὶ οὕτως ἔρχεται). The Thessalonians are already aware of the terrible suddenness with which the day of the Lord will come. Paul underscores that they have previous knowledge by adding the pronoun “you yourselves [αὐτοί] know” this. In so doing he also distinguishes “you” from “they,” establishing their group identity and the knowledge that their group possesses. In fact, the Thessalonians know this information “perfectly well” (ἀκριβῶς), that is, with precision and accuracy; it is the same term Luke used to describe his own careful research into the gospel tradition (Luke 1:3).

Paul taps into a long tradition concerning the day of the Lord. The OT prophets portrayed it as the coming of Yahweh in judgment and destruction: “See, the day of the Lord is coming—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it” (Isa 13:9). The term might apply to any divine intervention against sin, no matter at what point in history it might occur (Lam 2:22; Joel 1:15). But beyond that usage, especially as the term is developed in Joel, divine judgment in this age is a foreshadowing of the horrific final day of Yahweh: “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Joel 2:31; see Mal 4:5).

Jesus spoke in terms of that Day in his Olivet Discourse (see his use of Joel in Matt 24:29), as did Peter on Pentecost (Acts 2:17–21). Paul too spoke of a future Day (1 Cor 3:13), as also Peter in 2 Pet 3:10. Revelation 6:12–17 foresaw cosmic and terrestrial disasters: “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (6:17). In 1 Thessalonians, the Day is portrayed as a day of judgment, from which the believers will be spared (1 Thess 5:9; cf. 5:4).

With regard to this eschatological Day, some students split words beyond what is warranted by the biblical texts. They assume that a literal exegesis must lead to the conclusion that, for example, the day of Christ is to be distinguished from the day of the Lord. In fact, Paul uses such terms as day of the Lord, day of Christ, day of the Lord Jesus Christ, or simply Day more or less interchangeably, without intending to lend fine shades of meaning to each one.4 His readers did not need a decoder, since all these “day” references are variations of the Hebrew “day of Yahweh.”

What is remarkable from the standpoint of Paul’s Christology is that the day of Yahweh predictions find their fulfillment in the coming of the Lord Jesus; all of the “day” references are therefore indirect but unmistakable affirmations of Christ’s deity. Compare, for example, “That day belongs to the Lord, the Lord Almighty—a day of vengeance, for vengeance on his foes” (Jer 46:10) with 2 Thess 1:7c–8b, “at the revealing of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels, with blazing fire … [to] dispense retaliation” on that Day. To be sure, some scholars have suggested that when early Gentile Christians used the LXX, they mistakenly applied Yahweh passages to the Lord Jesus, since the LXX used “Lord” (κύριος) to translate Yahweh and Adonai. But the apostle Paul cannot have been confused on that score. He had a firm grasp both on the Hebrew text and the LXX; when he refers to Yahweh passages as predictions of the Lord Jesus, he was assuming that Jesus is Yahweh.

As this apostolic use of the Old Testament implies, one cannot gain a proper definition of the day of the Lord without thinking of the coming of Jesus in his parousia. Above all, the day of Yahweh was a day of revelation of God in his righteousness; the coming of Jesus too is his “coming” (4:15) or “revealing” (2 Thess 1:7) or “appearance” (2:8). Jesus already laid the foundation for this identification when he connected the end of the age with the “day” of the Son of Man (Luke 17:24, 30); as noted above, this day should not be distinguished from, for example, Paul’s “day of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

With regard to Pauline terminology, parousia and “day of the Lord” are identical or nearly so. In 4:15, Paul speaks of the “coming” (παρουσία) and immediately follows it up with “the day of the Lord” (5:2, 4), which will come as a thief. This matches the rest of the NT: Jesus said that the Son of Man would come as a thief (Matt 24:43–44; see also Rev 3:3, 16:15); in 2 Peter it is the day of the Lord that is the thief (2 Pet 3:10); in Rev 16:14–15 “the great day of God the Almighty” is linked with Jesus’ coming “like a thief.” The connection between day of the Lord and parousia is just as close in 2 Thessalonians. In 2:1–2, Paul states that he will speak about the parousia, but then goes on to discuss the day of the Lord. In 1:10, Jesus will come “on that Day” to judge the wicked; at his parousia in 2:8 he comes and destroys the Man of Lawlessness. At most, one might state that in some passages the day of the Lord looks like it takes place over a period of eschatological time, and that the parousia is instantaneous. Paul himself does not make that fine distinction; in practical terms, to speak about the day of the Lord is to speak of Christ’s parousia.

Paul reaches into the biblical tradition for three metaphors of what the wicked will experience: (1) a thief who comes by night to steal; (2) a land that clings to the illusion of peace that is then brutally invaded; (3) a pregnant woman who feels her first contraction.

First, the day “will come like a thief in the night” (ὡς κλέπτης ἐν νυκτὶ οὕτως ἔρχεται), the present tense of the verb pointing to the future event that “will come.” The Synoptic apocalypse in Matt 24 has the fullest version of this metaphor: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into” (24:42–43; see Luke 12:39; also 2 Pet 3:10; Rev 3:3; 16:15). Today the “thief in the night” has become for many readers a dead metaphor. Moreover, in suburban North America, “thief” does not strike the same emotional chord or immediacy as does, for example, ladrón in the Spanish versions.

In Latin America the thief who forces his way into the house is a daily anxiety. There are men in our seminary’s neighborhood who spend night after night in a chair with a club or machete, awaiting a possible break-in. How they would appreciate knowing what night and what hour the thief would come!5 Perhaps “burglar” (Matt 24:43 NLT) or to use the current favorite “home invader” captures the feel of that term in English.

5:3a-b When they will be saying, “Peace and security,” then unexpected destruction will befall them (ὅταν λέγωσιν, εἰρήνη καὶ ἀσφάλεια, τότε αἰφνίδιος αὐτοῖς ἐφίσταται ὄλεθρος). Paul now moves to his second metaphor, comparing the parousia with a devastating military invasion. It is better to translate them as saying “security” rather than “safety” (ἀσφάλεια), since the former is the more commonly used term today to denote protection against military invasion. The language has its roots in Jeremiah’s complaint against Judah: “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace” (Jer 6:14); and in Jesus’ teaching about the end, with its comparison with a sudden flood (Matt 24:37–39).6

It seems more than coincidence that Paul echoes a well-known slogan of the Roman Empire, Pax et securitas (“Peace and security”), which comes from living under the Pax romana. Seyoon Kim states that Paul “apparently was critical of the imperial propaganda of pax et securitas for its hubris and inadequacy.”7 Not even the Roman Empire, with its Caesar who proclaimed himself the divine savior, would protect them from God’s judgment. Paul foresees the sudden destruction of the wicked, employing terms that are as terse as they are catastrophic. As Zephaniah said, “the great day of the Lord is near—near and coming quickly” (Zeph 1:14). Again, as with “will come” (ἔρχεται) in 5:2, Paul uses a present tense “befalls them” (ἐφίσταται) to describe an assured future event. The fact that the word order is disjointed (adjective–indirect object–verb–noun) underscores the unexpectedness of the event (“then suddenly will fall on them … destruction”). The eschatological destruction is “eternal” according to 2 Thess 1:9 (see comments). “Unexpected” or “sudden” (αἰφνίδιος) is familiar military term from late Judaism.8

5:3c-d [Sudden] as birth pains on a pregnant woman, and they will in no way escape (ὥσπερ ἡ ὠδὶν τῇ ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσῃ, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐκφύγωσιν). The final metaphor has to do with the suddenness of labor pains. In today’s terms, we are conditioned to think not of birth pains but of “contractions”; yet it is the traditional rendering that captures the original, since labor is presented as a painful and grievous experience. Childbirth in the age of Paul was risky in the extreme, and the large number of women who died while giving birth lowered the life expectancy of women to somewhere in their twenties or thirties.9

The woman’s first contraction might therefore be the harbinger of death. The onset of labor is thought to “catch” her, leaving her helpless and immobile; this is the basis for the woe concerning pregnant women in Matt 24:19, who will be unable to run away. Isaiah 13:6–9 contains several of the points found in Paul: “Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty … [all] will writhe like a woman in labor…. See, the day of the Lord is coming.”

The pain of childbirth is a common trope in Judaism, as in this description of the final judgment carried out by the Son of Man (1 En. 62.4, ed. Charlesworth):

Then pain shall come upon them

as on a woman in travail with birth pangs—

when she is giving birth (the child) enters the mouth of the womb,

and she suffers from childbearing.

Jesus said that some signs are the “beginning of birth pains” (Matt 24:8; Mark 13:8); that is, they foreshadow the end but do not prove that the end is immediate. Yet these early pains will come more rapidly and strongly. Some Jews taught that the messianic “birth pangs” were the struggle to bring forth a new world—that is, the pains were a means to a good end (see also Rom 8:19, 22–23; cf. Isa 66:7). There is nothing of this nature in 1 Thess 5; “it is unlikely that there is any thought of the ‘they’ having these birth pangs because they are bearing some child, figuratively speaking. The anguish of the pangs is all they have.”10

While today’s readers might think of that first contraction as something relatively predictable—since due dates can now be rather accurately predicted—even in our times it seems to come as a surprise. Paul is speaking about people who are not only taken by surprise by their first birth pain, but also—if we extend the metaphor further, as Isaiah certainly did—did not know they were pregnant nor even perceive that pregnancy was an option. For birth pains are also for the strong men who are caught in (perceived) womanly weakness. As in Isa 13, those who war against God are emasculated and thus humiliated, writhing like a woman in labor.

Paul uses again an emphatic negative “in no way” (οὐ μή), followed by “escape” (ἐκφύγωσιν). The inability of the wicked to flee from their doom is a common Jewish theme. Paul seems to be making a definite allusion to Amos 2:14–15 LXX:

… flight shall perish from the runner, the strong shall by no means (οὐ μή) retain his strength and the fighter shall by no means save his soul; and the archer shall by no means stand, and he who is swift on his feet shall by no means escape, and by no means shall the horseman save his soul. (NETS, slightly paraphrased by author)

Paul may also have been thinking of the judgment pronounced by Jesus in Matt 23:33, a tradition already echoed in 1 Thess 2:14–16: “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape [or ‘flee’] being condemned to hell?”

5:4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, so that the day would surprise you like a thief (ὑμεῖς δέ, ἀδελφοί, οὐκ ἐστὲ ἐν σκότει, ἵνα ἡ ἡμέρα ὑμᾶς ὡς κλέπτης καταλάβῃ). The world will be surprised by sudden destruction. But not these Christians brothers and sisters! Paul uses “but” (δέ) to begin this contrast and describes the believers in 5:4–6. They are not “in darkness”; later he will say that they are “of the day” and “not of the night nor of the darkness.” The believers live on a different plane of existence than people of the world. Light has its biblical sense of entry into the realm of salvation: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isa 9:2). People of the light are those who have a relationship with the saving God, who has broken into the world’s darkness. Beyond that basic meaning, Paul brings forth some related metaphors: people who walk in the light of day can see, those in darkness are ignorant and surprised by a thief; people of the day are awake, while people of the night are drunk or have dozed off. (See “In Depth: Light and Darkness, Day and Night”)

One point of difficulty in this section is whether Paul means to say that the parousia will come as a surprise to Christians. On the one hand, the “thief in the night” metaphor seems strictly to apply to the world of darkness. Yet throughout the tradition on which he bases his teaching, all people will be taken by surprise: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matt 24:42, italics added). It is the church that Jesus warns about his return: “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed” (Rev 16:15).

The solution to this tension lies in recognizing the various levels of preparedness. The Christians will not be taken by surprise, but not because they possess an esoteric method of calculating the date of the parousia. The most that can be said is that the Christian has negative information, that the day of the Lord is not yet at hand (2 Thess 2:3). Positively, the believer is said to be “ready” if he or she is always walking in God’s light, even though the event itself will come as a surprise.

5:5 For you are all children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness (πάντες γὰρ ὑμεῖς υἱοὶ φωτός ἐστε καὶ υἱοὶ ἡμέρας. οὐκ ἐσμὲν νυκτὸς οὐδὲ σκότους). Paul now speaks positively of the nature of the believers. Strikingly, he again turns to the language of “all” (πάντες). Unlike the more generic “child” (τέκνον), Paul chooses to designate every believer as a “son” (υἱός). The term normally refers to male offspring or descendants. The NT uses both terms to refer to people of either sex who share a spiritual commonality.16 While it is possible to identify a brief chiastic structure in 5:5 (light-day, night-dark), one should not make too much of it; in fact, in Greek the rhythm is less striking than in English. Paul does not develop those four terms but rather emphasizes day versus night as his main motif in 5:6–8. Night is for sleep and drunkenness; day implies self-control and preparedness.

5:6 So then, let us not let ourselves fall asleep, as do other people, but let us keep alert and exercise self-control (ἄρα οὖν μὴ καθεύδωμεν ὡς οἱ λοιποί, ἀλλὰ γρηγορῶμεν καὶ νήφωμεν). Paul has spoken the truth about believers in 5:4–5; he now issues an exhortation based on that truth. “So then” (ἄρα οὖν) shows that the “indicative” of the previous two verses provides the foundation for the “hortatory subjunctives” of 5:6–10. Paul gives a contrast: “Let us not do that, but do this.” Apart from Eph 5:14, which may have been a pre-Pauline tradition, Paul uses “to sleep” (καθεύδω) only in 1 Thess 5 (verses 6, 7 [2x], 10). In 5:6–7 it clearly refers to a way of life. By contrast, he uses “to sleep/die” (κοιμάω) exclusively to refer to the death of believers.17 This does not mean that the reverse is true, that he never used “to sleep” (καθεύδω) as a metaphor of death, only that his preferred term is κοιμάω. This will make a difference in the exegesis of 5:10, where there is controversy over whether “sleep” refers to death or to the lack of alertness.

“Sleep” imagery is used in several ways. Sleep in some of Jesus’ parables does not seem to be a moral fault but a natural fact of real life (Matt 13:25; 25:5). Nevertheless, it may be sinful: sleep in Prov 6:10 refers to the napping of people who should be more industrious. “Falling asleep” may be a sign of spiritual carelessness, particularly in the face of God’s impending judgment (Isa 56:10; Rom 13:11–14). In 1 Thess 5:6, sleep is what “other people” do; the comparative clause (ὡς οἱ λοιποί) refers to “outsiders” (as in 4:13).

The positive side is “let us keep alert and exercise self-control” (γρηγορῶμεν καὶ νήφωμεν), where Paul uses two more hortatory subjunctives. Again, this language is traditional. “To keep alert” (γρηγορέω) is used in a number of eschatological passages to warn Christians to stay vigilant, particularly because they do not know when Jesus will return.18 “To exercise self-control” (νήφω) is less frequent.19 Daniel 5:1–31 provides good background for Paul’s warning: Belshazzar feasted, drunk and unwary, until a hand spelled out his imminent judgment.

5:7 [I say this because] those who fall asleep do so at night and those who get drunk do so at night (οἱ γὰρ καθεύδοντες νυκτὸς καθεύδουσιν, καὶ οἱ μεθυσκόμενοι νυκτὸς μεθύουσιν). Again Paul uses the conduct of outsiders as a contrast to Christian behavior. If believers are not of the night/darkness, they should not act as such. He offers this maxim by way of explanation of what he has just said. Both statements begin with a substantival participle; this is followed by “at night” (νυκτός), a genitive of time—“the kind of time, or time within which the word to which it stands related takes place.”20

Sleep and drunkenness are stereotypical of nighttime. “Sleep can also become stupefaction, and here it is a judgment of Yahweh on those who sleep and a help to those who remain awake (Is. 51:20; 1 S. 26:12, cf. v. 7).”21 Drunkenness may refer to literal intoxication (Eph 5:18, and consistently in the LXX),22 but also by extension the overall numbing of one’s sensibilities towards God. T. Jud. 14.1 (ed. Charlesworth) shows that application: “And now, my children, I tell you, do not be drunk with wine, because wine perverts the mind from the truth, arouses the impulses of desire, and leads the eyes into the path of error.”

In his major work on Thessalonica, Vom Brocke proposes that the Thessalonian cult of Dionysus serves as the possible background for this verse. One of their rites was a drunken “midnight feast.” Therefore, Paul would be reminding the readers of a specific aspect of their pagan past and contrasts it with the Christian life of alertness and sobriety.23 But there is no indication that Paul has Dionysian rites in mind, especially given that people “get drunk … at night” sounds more like a truism than a cultic reference. Paul also condemns “sleep” in this passage, which has nothing to do with late-night Dionysian feasts. He elsewhere combines “night” and “drunkenness” as traits of the old life for other readers, with no obvious reference to any Dionysus cult (Rom 13:13; 1 Cor 5:11; 6:10; 11:21; Gal 5:21; Eph 5:8–18).

Paul can use the same imagery with a closer correlation of “night” with this age and “day” with the age to come: “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here…. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness” (Rom 13:12a, 13a).

5:8 But because we belong to the day, let us exercise self-control by putting on faith and love as a breastplate and as a helmet the sure expectation of our [coming] salvation (ἡμεῖς δὲ ἡμέρας ὄντες νήφωμεν, ἐνδυσάμενοι θώρακα πίστεως καὶ ἀγάπης καὶ περικεφαλαίαν ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας). Paul again turns to a positive exhortation, based on the “indicative” of the foregoing verse. He contrasts believers with the world and adds further emphasis (the pronoun “we,” ἡμεῖς), to contrast them with those who sleep and get drunk. He repeats in simpler terms what he has just said:

The broad meaning of the present participle “belong” (ὄντες; lit., “be”) is not disputed, but its syntax is less than clear. It could be adjectival to the pronoun “we.” This is a relatively common construction, as in 1:4, “brothers and sisters whom God loves.” In that case one should opt for a translation such as “we who are of the day should exercise self-control” (so KJV, GNB, NJB, NKJV, NLT).

Alternatively, ὄντες could be adverbial, modifying the imperative, “let us exercise self-control” (νήφωμεν). The only adverbial participle that works here is the causal: “because/since we belong to the day” (so ESV, HCSB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).24

Which is the best interpretation is almost a toss-up. The causal use of the participle is slightly preferable if only because the syntax is less awkward. Both interpretations yield nearly the same meaning; thus, the differences between one English version and another are barely noteworthy. A number of commentators do not even make a case for one view or another.25

The armor of God is a trope borrowed from Isaiah, who anticipated the coming wrath of God against injustice: “[Yahweh] put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak” (Isa 59:17). Yet in Paul’s usage, it is always the believer who puts on the armor:

It is to be noted that (1) some terms are constant; for example, salvation is always the helmet. (2) Yet Paul seems free to alter the metaphor; that is, one piece of armor does not consistently denote one and the same spiritual concept. (3) The weapons are for offense and defense in Isaiah and 2 Corinthians, and primarily for defense in 1 Thessalonians, Romans, and Ephesians. (4) The Isaiah passage and all of Paul’s references occur in close proximity to light/darkness language, marking Paul’s dependence on Isaiah.

The key to interpreting the genitives “breastplate of faith and love” and “helmet, the hope of salvation” is likewise found in Isaiah LXX. The Lord puts on “righteousness as his breastplate.” This indicates that Paul uses the genitive of apposition: the Christian’s breastplate consists of faith and love, while the hope for salvation is like a helmet.26

The metaphors are not intrinsic to the nature of the piece of armor. It cannot be inferred, for example, that the hope for salvation in some way protects the head, while faith and love protect the heart. It is enough to say that both articles protect vital areas.

Behind the benefits of the Pax romana lay naked militaristic force. Yes, Roman peace provided a good environment for the spread of the gospel, but it came at a horrific cost of human life and dignity.27 According to Paul, the Christian cannot take up literal arms, be they the weapons of the imperialist or the revolutionary zealot. They ready themselves with supernatural virtues such as faith and love. Despite the tribulation in which they find themselves, they are supernaturally enabled to bear the Spirit’s fruit for which they are already well-known (1:3).

“Hope” (ἐλπίδα) is followed by another genitive, “salvation” (σωτηρίας), which is best taken as an objective genitive, “the salvation for which we hope.” A legitimate expansion is “sure expectation of our coming salvation,” since in this context it is not wishful thinking but rather confidence in God’s future action. This piece of armor well suits the soteriology of the letter, in which salvation is eschatological and attached to the return of Jesus (1:10; 5:9). The Thessalonians are vitally protected by the fact that their Savior is on his way. Because of this future orientation, we have added “coming” to our translation.

5:9a-b [This is the confidence we have] because God has not assigned us to feel [his coming] wrath, but rather to obtain salvation (ὅτι οὐκ ἔθετο ἡμᾶς ὁ θεὸς εἰς ὀργὴν ἀλλὰ εἰς περιποίησιν σωτηρίας). Paul shows once more why the believers are to live in confident expectation of salvation. He repeats the truth of 1:10, that the return of Christ will save us from the eschatological wrath of God. This verse is a causal statement, “because [ὅτι] God has not assigned [ἔθετο] us.” God has determined that his people will not face his eschatological wrath. The day of the Lord (5:2) is at its core a “day of wrath” (Zeph 1:15).

By contrast, “but” (ἀλλά), believers are destined to “obtain salvation.” The thought is similar to the “hope of salvation” in 5:8. “Obtain” (περιποίησις) is the noun form of περιποιέω and speaks of the “experience of an event of acquisition.”28 It also appears in 2 Thess 2:14 to speak of obtaining Christ’s glory. The action noun is followed by an objective genitive; that is “the obtaining of salvation” is equal to “[we] will obtain salvation.”

5:9c–10a Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us (διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ ἀποθανόντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν). Whereas in 1:10 Paul has pointed to Christ’s resurrection as the basis for escaping God’s wrath, here it is his death. In 4:14 he speaks of both his death and resurrection. Although Paul does not develop the details of soteriology, the phrase “for us” (ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν) implies that Jesus’ death was for the believers’ benefit. He taught this from his first message in the synagogue in Thessalonica, “that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead” (Acts 17:3). At the same time when Paul was writing this letter, he was also passing along to the Corinthians the tradition that “Christ died for [ὑπέρ] our sins” (1 Cor 15:3). This formulation was typical of Paul, and he used it eight times in his letters (here; Rom 5:6, 8; 14:15; 1 Cor 15:3, 2 Cor 5:14, 15 [2x]). His language bears a resemblance to Jewish martyrs who died for their nation,29 but in Christian theology “Christ’s death for us” came to have a central position in the theology of atonement.

5:10b-d So that, whether we are [still] keeping alert or whether we have [already] died, we shall live together with him (ἵνα εἴτε γρηγορῶμεν εἴτε καθεύδωμεν ἅμα σὺν αὐτῷ ζήσωμεν). With 5:10–11, Paul recapitulates his eschatological instruction, just as he did in 4:17–18, moving on to exhort them to encourage one another on the basis of that teaching. Verse 10 is open to two interpretations of the phrase “whether we sleep” (καθεύδωμεν). Paul has used two synonyms in this letter, both of which could mean “sleep” or “die” (καθεύδω and κοιμάω). An attentive exegete knows that an author might switch from one synonym to another and not necessarily signify a change of meaning or even of emphasis; it is the context that must make clear the author’s intent. Most versions translate 5:10 with some form of “fall asleep” and leave to the reader to decide whether Paul is speaking of (1) the sleep of careless living or (2) the sleep of death.30

Interpretation 1 traces the use of “keep alert” (γρηγορέω) through 5:6–7, noting that it is a virtue that stands opposite of “fall asleep” (καθεύδω). By this route, the interpretation of 5:10 is “whether we are alert or whether we are dozing, we will live together with him.” Alertness, while important, is not an absolute necessity for participating in the resurrection; Christ will still take the negligent Christian with him.

Interpretation 2 looks to 4:15 for the interpretive key: “that those who live and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have ‘fallen asleep’ [κοιμάω].” In this view, Paul employs the same contrast here, to conclude the entire section on the destiny of living and dead believers: “whether we are alive and alert or whether we are deceased when he comes.”31

The first interpretation has the advantage of identifying one and the same meaning for the verb in 5:6–7 and 10. Nevertheless, the second interpretation is the better choice. Paul switches to the less likely term for “to die” (καθεύδω) because it has stuck in his mind from 5:6–7. The rendering “died” is perfectly correct, given that “sleep” was a fixed metaphor for death.

Paul is not simply speaking of being biologically alive in 5:10, but of being “watchful.” It is skating on thin ice to deduce that the verse “expresses the ‘blessed hope’ that all believers, spiritual or not, will be caught up to meet the Lord when he comes for his Church.”32 Throughout this section, Paul has lent no support to the notion that watchfulness is merely the desired ideal; rather, it is the very nature of the children of light that they will not be caught by the eschatological “thief.” According to 5:3–5, it is the world that will be found napping when Christ returns. Hence we translate 5:10 as “still keeping alert” versus “have already died.”

One should take Paul’s language on its own terms, as one should do for the teaching about the ten virgins in Matt 25:1–13. In Jesus’ parable, sleep is not a vice—even the five wise virgins drift off, but still they are prepared for the bridegroom when he finally comes. Nor is sleep a symbol of physical death from which the maidens are “awakened.” No, sleep is simply a part of the parable’s plot, providing for the possibility of delay in the bridegroom’s appearance. Yet just as Paul would teach in 1 Thess 5:10, there are the prepared and the unprepared; there is no third category, no unprepared ones who will be allowed to enter the wedding banquet.

Whether the Christian is alive and alert or has died in the interim, “we shall live together with him.” Paul uses the future indicative to highlight the eschatological nature of the resurrection. “Him” is “our Lord Jesus Christ” from 5:9. Paul uses the phrase “together with” (ἅμα σύν) for the second time; in 4:17 it was with the resurrected saints, and here it is with the Lord Jesus. He highlights the unity of Christ with his people.

5:11 So then, encourage and build up one another, just as you are already doing (Διὸ παρακαλεῖτε ἀλλήλους καὶ οἰκοδομεῖτε εἷς τὸν ἕνα, καθὼς καὶ ποιεῖτε). Paul ends this eschatological teaching as he did in 4:18, with a call to action; here he uses “so then” (διό). A proper use of eschatological truth is to benefit and enhance the spiritual life of other Christians. As is implicit from 5:1–2, the believers can carry out this task with nothing more than a generalized knowledge of end-time chronology. Their encouragement and edification is to be mutual; he uses the synonymous phrases “one another” (ἀλλήλους) and “one to another” (lit., “one to one,” εἷς τὸν ἕνα).

The word that is here translated “encourage” (παρακαλεῖτε) could also be rendered as “entreat, exhort” (its sense in 2:12; 4:1, 10; 5:14). Nevertheless, Paul has also used it to refer to comforting people who might otherwise remain in profound emotional distress (3:2, 7; 4:18). “Encourage” in fact suits 5:11 better (1) because that meaning makes it parallel with the similar 4:18, and (2) because 4:18 and 5:11 both speak of the resurrection hope at the coming of Christ. Paul also directs them to build up or edify (οἰκοδομεῖτε) one another. This refers to actively promoting the growth and strength of one’s fellow Christians. As the apostle stressed in 1 Cor 8:1, to contribute to the edification of other believers, even those who seem different, weak, or uninformed, is a primary duty of love.

Encouragement and edification are excellent ways to express the “familial love” that Paul enjoins in 4:9. When we picture a lack of love, we must think more broadly than outright hatred. For example, both the person who turns to eschatological speculation and the person who panics are likely to love others less than they should. In fact, soon the Thessalonians will be tempted away from love precisely because they have supposedly received inside information about the time of the end (2 Thess 2:1–2); the result is panic and deceptive speech. If they will return to the apostolic truth that the time of the end is incalculable, they could enjoy afresh the “eternal encouragement and good hope” of the gospel (2 Thess 2:16). But in this first letter, Paul finds no fault in their current behavior; with “just as” (καθώς) he signals that they are “already” (the best rendering of καί here) doing what is needful.

Theology in Application

In this chapter, Paul deals with two of the principal motivations for holy Christian behavior. The first is that the Thessalonians must be watchful as they await Jesus’ coming. The second basis for holy living can exist side-by-side with the eschatological: they must live out what is already true (“you are all children of light and the children of the day”).

Be Watchful in the Expectation of Jesus’ Coming

Biblical theology. According to Sicilian legend, Damocles was invited to sit on the king’s throne for a day. On making himself comfortable, he looked up and noticed that a huge and terrifying sword suspended over his head, hanging by a horse’s hair. Damocles fled, unable to keep himself fixed on the spot, no matter what the benefits of being “king.”

In their evangelistic work, the apostles announced the impending threat of the judgment of God on the whole world. Paul and his team has earlier proclaimed the final judgment in Thessalonica (1:10; 5:3; 2 Thess 1:6–9; 2:12). Although traditional Jews were already fully aware of that expectation, Paul had to start from scratch among the Gentiles. The Greeks were undoubtedly more apprehensive about the dangers they could see around them, such as earthquakes, disease, and poverty. This is why Paul needed to introduce the teaching that “in the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30–31). That is, they had to begin to wrap their minds around the fact that history would end and they would then face their Creator.

Human beings are able to make rational decisions based on what they reason to be true. This is one of those abilities that separate them from animals, which are not able to anticipate the future based on conscious calculation. A rational response to the truth of Christ’s coming should be fear that works repentance. Yet according to Paul, repentance is not the fruit of rationality; if people turned to Christ in the face of the approaching end, it was because God had enlightened them.

The Thessalonian believers did not fit in the world around them. The synagogue told them that they were alienated from the God of Israel. The Greeks told them that they were insulting the ancient gods. Everyone told the Christians that they were a source of offense. But the gospel informed them of something better. Not only were they destined to escape God’s wrath (5:9); they had also been altered from within and turned into a new kind of creation, one suited to a better (future) world.

Message of this passage for the church today. There is a slogan that originated with a certain atheist comedian but was picked up by Christians and placed on T-shirts: “Jesus is coming … everyone look busy!” This is an uncouth version of what many Christians have pondered: If you knew Christ was coming this week, what would you change? Holy apprehension about the end has been around ever since the Lord unnerved his followers with a parable about ten virgins.

There are Christians who have sought to remain vigilant by constructing arcane systems that spit out data about when Christ might come (see Theology in Application under 2 Thess 2:1–12). This is not simply misdirected fervor; rather, it is thoroughly antibiblical. In the Scriptures, preparedness is not based on knowing a date but on not knowing a date. It is defined as living as children of the day even when the day of the Lord is unpredictable.

Life in the light of Christ’s return is not some mystical experience. Rather, it reveals itself in concrete, everyday actions as empowered by the Spirit. In this letter alone, “readiness” includes the following: deeds of love, patience, peace, gentleness, mutual encouragement, hard work, behaving righteously with regard to alcohol use and sexual behavior, treating other believers properly, evangelism, thanksgiving, and prayer.

If preparedness and vigilance can take many forms, so can its opposite, sleepiness—that is, distraction from the divine things. From 1 Thessalonians alone we might mention these: drunkenness, which is not merely the overconsumption of alcohol or drugs but insensitivity toward God; idolatrous reliance on the government for peace and security; blocking the spread of the gospel or even not actively participating in its spread; sins of speech such as lying, trickery, or hypocrisy; greed and egotism; a poor work ethic; apostasy or even stunted spiritual growth; lack of sexual self-control; taking advantage of others in any way; taking God’s truth lightly; being a troublemaker; being impatient or vengeful; making light of God’s word as given through charismatic utterance; or any other failure of full holiness (5:23).

God summons every believer to watchfulness, since every human being has a deficit of attention when it comes to holiness. Yet in Christ, as we have seen, God’s people have the ability to remain watchful. If they drift off, this is not because they lack the means; rather they lack the willingness to focus on the future deeds of God and to act appropriately.

Live Out What Is Already True

Biblical theology. The Bible everywhere assumes that good works are at heart the reaction to the coming of God to save. After the exodus, the Ten Commandments demand obedience in this way: “And God spoke all these words: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me’ ” (Exod 20:1–3).

There is implicit causation in the first commandment: God has acted on your behalf, and therefore you must worship him alone. Whether in the face of that archetypical redemption from Egypt or military deliverance by the judges or the return from exile, Israel was commanded to obey because God had already intervened in their history. There is much of this motif in the NT as well; for example, Christ has died for people (5:10), and therefore they should serve God through him (5:4–8).

Yet Paul’s gospel goes far beyond the paradigm of the old covenant (see comments on ch. 4). Not only has God acted in historical deeds; he has also intervened in the very person of each Christian. Converts are already “children of the light” and “children of the day” (5:5). This designation cannot be reduced to “people enlightened by the gospel” or “people who live in an ethical manner.” Rather, God has made them a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17).

This arrangement is, of course, not the power of positive thinking, that is, to think better of yourself and you will become better. There is an authentic spiritual—and what we today might call psychological—reordering of the believer in Christ that goes beyond the humanly possible. This is why we cannot sift through Christian texts and find any coherent ethic that does not begin and end with Christ and with God’s work in human beings.33 It may not be secularized and keep its integrity.

Message of this passage for the church today. Prior to their first act of Christian behavior, God had already transformed the Thessalonians. He had rewritten and continues to alter their internal code, so that their thoughts, motivations, internal conversation, feelings, and inclinations had all been touched by God Spirit. Christian behavior is not simply God’s command; it is actually a possibility that was not available to them before they met Christ.

Since we have dealt with the positive side of the Christian walk, we might further define the new life in Christ by ruling out what it does not mean.

Legalism. The legalist has little appreciation that Christians are endowed with a new ability to know the right path and obey it. Therefore, the more that people attempt to achieve legalistic holiness, the more they will fail. When people come to your church from out of a legalistic background, they need to hear over a long time a great deal about God’s love and acceptance of them in Christ. But beware of a slingshot effect, since people freed from legalism might be tempted to whip over to license. Others will attempt to define holiness as some sort of middle-of-the-road approach to the Christian life. But God’s holiness is not some spiritual Goldilocks’s bed; it is not “moderation in all things.”

A merely intellectual appreciation of the doctrine of the new life. There are people who seem to grasp all the facts about the new life. Yet they seem to falter when it comes to launching out into the new behavior that this truth demands. This is the sort of tension found in James 2: a person claims to have faith in the miracle of new creation but has no extraordinary works that reflect those new abilities.

All-at-once sanctification. Like many Christians of a certain age, I have memories of youth rallies where we were called upon to surrender fully, to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” (Rom 12:1 KJV). But what happened next? People who went forward on Sunday night typically found themselves on Monday or Tuesday right back where they had begun. They wanted to step into the light, but they didn’t appreciate that walking is by definition a series of many steps (as Paul makes clear in Rom 12–13).

Isolation. This is the conclusion that some seem to draw from the Bible, that if we are new creatures in Christ, we are self-sufficient and do not need regular communion with other believers. They need to know that God never intended his people to be lone wolves, but a “holy nation.” For example, the Thessalonians were experiencing the new life in and through the love they had for the Christian family (1:3; 4:9–10). First John also provides help: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness” (1 John 2:9). But we can hear the objection: “What do you mean? I don’t hate anybody!” Hatred cannot be defined merely as harsh feelings about another person. Rather, it is the absence of love. To refuse the embrace of fellow Christians is to despise them, and the person who lives alone for God has wandered off the path of light.