1 Thessalonians 4:14-17
When we read our English Bibles we must at all times remember we are reading translations of the original writings. These translations were made by mostly very sincere and honest people – people, however, who did not understand the plan of God. They had no knowledge of the two salvations – the salvation now for the Church, the salvation in the future for all the rest of humankind (to be administered by that Church and Israel). This lack of knowledge greatly influenced the way they understood texts and their rendering of them.
First Thessalonians, chapter four, is a good example of this influence. Not understanding the two salvations, the translators rendered certain words so the meaning of the text would fit their theology (of course, that is what we do too). Below is how I believe 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 should be understood (it may be helpful to follow this rendering in an interlinear translation):
(14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so also [we believe] God will bring with [sun] him the ones having fallen asleep through [dial Jesus.
(15) For this we say to you by a word of the Lord that we -the ones living, the ones remaining into [eis – note 1] the Lord’s parousia – may in no way precede the ones having fallen asleep [through Jesus – vs. 14];
(16) because the Lord himself, in a commanding shout, in an archangel’s voice, and in God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in [en] Christ will rise first [at the beginning of the parousia – vs. 14];
(17) afterwards, we – the ones living, the ones remaining [into the parousia – vs. 15] – shall be caught up into [eis] the air [note 2] into [eis] a meeting [note 3] of the Lord in clouds [note 4] together [hama – note 5] with [sun] them [Jesus and the raised saints who had slept]; and so, we fall who believe, dead and living] shall always be with the Lord. – 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17
From the above rendering and notes it may be seen that the thought of both the dead and living saints rising simultaneously is not present in Paul’s words to the Thessalonians. Paul declared the dead saints were to rise at the beginning of the parousia, while the living who remain into the parousia were to rise afterwards.
Neither does a simultaneous rising agree with Paul’s statement that the living are caught up into a meeting and not to a meeting. Paul declared unambiguously the rising of the saints was to be a process over a period of time and not something that was to happen all in one instant.
Following that process all the saints, both those who were dead at the parousia and those who live into it, shall be with the Lord always.
– R. E. Evans
NOTE 1: An Exegetical Grammar of the Greek New Testament, W D. Chamberlain, page 119: “… eis, `into.’… In the New Testament, it will usually have the idea of `up to and within; and is used with verbs of motion..:’
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains J. P Louw and E. A. Nida, page 723: “84.22 eis… extension toward a goal which is inside of an area – `into: ”
NOTE 2: “Air” is no doubt used in this text in the sense used in Ephesians 2:2. The phrase “into the air” should be construed with “shall be caught up:’
The New Testament for English Readers H. Alford, page 1331:… `into the air’ (belongs to `shall be caught up; not to the words ‘to meet the Lord,’ as in the AV):..:’
NOTE 3: The meeting of the Lord is first assembled with the saints that were sleeping and then the living are caught up “into” [eis] it.
NOTE 4: “Clouds” are often associated with the Lord’s return. (Matthew 24:30,26:64, Revelation 1:7) In the Bible they are sometimes used as a figure for trouble. (Joel 2:1-3)
NOTE 5: Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul J. B. Lightfoot, page 68: “17. Hama is not to be taken apart from sun autois in the sense `at the same time,’ `together with them’; for the combination hama sun is too common to allow of the separation of the two words… In Matthew 13:29 the sense seems to require that hams autois should be interpreted of place rather than of time, and instances of a local meaning are frequent in the classics….
An Exegetical Grammar of the Greek New Testament, W. D. Chamberlain, page 130: `:.. sun, `together with: It is used only with the associative-instrumental case, and the basic idea of association is always present…. Twice, it is used with hama: 1 Thessalonians 4:17,5:10. This is really a redundancy, and shows the beginning of the retreat of sun before hama In modern Greek, sun has been entirely displaced by meta (me) and hama.”
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and…, Bauer, Arndt & Gingrich, page 41: “. (1) adv. – a denoting the coincidence of two actions in time… (b) denoting coincidence in place together. ‘
In BA&G there followed a reference to Psalms 13:3 and Psalms 52:3 in the LXX for hams used in the sense of 1(b).