At the end of chapter 4, Paul gave a clear teaching about Christ’s second coming and urged, “Therefore encourage one another with these words” (4:18). In chapter 5, Paul addressed concerns about the timing of Christ’s return, concluding with a similar charge: “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (5:11).

According to Paul, the Christian strategy for enduring in faith through trials is to strengthen one another with biblical truth. This is Christian teamwork in the church and home. How is the Christian family to endure against cultural attacks? By the husband’s encouraging his wife and the parents’ encouraging their children with biblical truths. How are Christians to minister to those faltering or discouraged? With the encouragement of biblical truth. We are to take the team approach in the Christian life, not tearing each other down but building each other up with the truths of God’s Word.

The truth that Paul wants to impress on the minds of his Thessalonian readers concerns their relationship with Christ. The way to be prepared for Jesus’ coming, he says, is to have our heads clear about what it means to be joined to Christ in salvation. Paul writes: “But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness” (vv. 4-5).

To describe the Christian’s situation, Paul employs the familiar biblical image of light. Believing in Jesus, the Christian no longer lives in the darkness but belongs to the realm of the light of Christ. Paul’s point is that Christians should not be unprepared for Christ’s coming, since we now belong to the light. By calling us “children of light,” he means that the blessings of God’s light have come to distinguish us and characterize our lives. Christians have gained knowledge of truth, have been warmed to God’s ways, have received spiritual life, and are guided by the light of God’s Word. Therefore, the day of the Lord should never come upon us as a “surprise,” like “a thief” (v. 4), since we have been looking forward to and preparing for that bright day.

Verses 4 and 5 present one of the Bible’s main principles for Christian living and sanctification, namely, that Christian living arises out of Christian thinking. We have seen earlier that Christians are persevere in faith by encouraging one another in biblical truth. Paul now explains how this works: God’s Word is taught to us, we begin thinking in light of God’s Word, and by God’s grace this new thinking yields a new and godly lifestyle. Jesus mandated this process of transformation by illumination when He prayed to the Father, “Sanctify them in truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).

Having expressed his principle of reckoning who and what are we in Christ – children of light – Paul makes the application in terms of how we should therefore live in anticipation of Christ’s return. He focuses on three aspects of Christian readiness that will enable us to persevere in faith until the coming of Jesus to save us.

Paul’s first application is that since believers no longer belong to the darkness but are children of light, we should stay awake and not slumber: “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake” (v. 6). Being children of light, Christians should not engage in the nighttime activities of darkness. Those in the dark are asleep to God, unaware of what is happening in the world, and unresponsive to the call of the gospel. The children of light, in contrast, are to be awake to God’s plan and alive to God’s calling. Jesus warned, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Matt. 26:41).

A second biblical example of a sleeping believer was Samson, who lost his strength as his hair was cut in the night. Samson took his rest and made his peace with the world around him, settling into the arms of a Philistine named Delilah, who betrayed him. Samson’s slumber cannot be blamed of Delilah, however: Samson put himself to sleep spiritually by violating his covenant with the Lord. Once asleep, he awoke to his danger too late, realizing only then what he had lost through his alliance with the world. How many Christians today are asleep to the influences of popular culture, as that like Samson we become prisoners of worldly thinking and acting and so lose our usefulness to the cause of Christ?

A third example was given by Jesus in His parable of the tares and the wheat. A man sowed good seed in his field, “but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away” (Matt.13:24-25). Likewise, in the tolerant spirit that grips the church today, there is little doctrinal vigilance over our churches and ministries. Christians are asleep to the threat of an active enemy who seeks to undermine and infiltrate the work of Christ’s kingdom so that we squander the gains given to us by God and lack the spiritual power to prevail in dangerous times.

In addition to staying awake, Christians maintain their readiness for Christ’s return by staying sober: “For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober” (vv. 7-8). This application is a companion to the previous one: since Christians belong to the day, they should not be characterized by practices that take place during the night. Among these nighttime practices is a lifestyle that is inebriated with earthly pleasures and sin.

We should understand Paul’s call to sober living to involve more than drunkenness on alcohol or drugs. Today, this calling extends to the whole realm of entertainments of which Christians may imbibe, including movies and music that promote a sensual, self-absorbed lifestyle and glorify values that are contrary to God’s Word. In the workplace, Christians can become drunk with academic prestige, political power, or financial success. Paul’s emphasis on sober living, repeated twice in these verses, could indicate that this was a problem among the Thessalonian new believers. Given our similarly intoxicated culture today, many young believers and new converts will likewise need to seek God’s power to start living a sober life that no longer indulges in the kinds of worldly recreations that deaden us to the things of God.

Paul’s first two applications were negative in principle: “Let us not sleep…[or] get drunk” (vv. 6-7). The third application is active and positive, calling for Christians to arm themselves with biblical virtues: “having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (v. 8). Paul presents here for the first time in his writings an analogy that he will continue to develop in his later epistles, especially in Ephesians 6. He imagines Christians as preparing themselves for life in the same way that a soldier puts on his armor before heading into battle. It is not enough for Christians merely to say No to sin and worldliness; we must also actively cultivate faith, love, and hope in order to be guarded from threats that would endanger our salvation.

The two pieces of armor that Paul cites here are those that protect the vital areas of the heart and the head. The soldier’s chest was protected in battle by a breastplate, and Paul urges Christians to “put on the breastplate of faith and love” (v. 8). In Ephesians 6:14, Paul speaks of putting on “the breastplate of righteousness.” These descriptions go together – “faith and love” on the one hand and “righteousness” on the other – because faith and love are the means by which righteousness is received and then practiced. We are forgiven our sins and justified before God through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:16). Having believed, we then pursue a practical righteousness by leading a life of love – love for God and love for one another as outlined in God’s holy law.

Added to the breastplate that guards the vital organs is the helmet that protects the head: “and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (v. 8). According to Paul, the Christian who possesses a biblical hope for salvation is able to think clearly and resist blows that would daze him or her into unbelief or folly. We ground our hope in God’s sovereignty over history – a history that is defined by Christ’s saving death for our sins and that will conclude in Christ’s saving return.

The helmet of salvation will deliver us not only from worldly threats but also from a misguided dread of Christ’s second coming, as many Christians have sadly been led to do. For Paul and the early believers, Christ’s return was the hope for which they fervently longed. We are to live in readiness for that day, not suspending our lives and gazing at the sky in trepidation, but awake, sober, and armed with faith, love, and Christian hope.

If we trust in the work that Christ has done for our salvation, dying on the cross for our sins; if we cultivate a love for God and for one another according to God’s Word; and if we look in hope for Christ’s coming to bring us with Him into glory, we will be guarded for salvation and crowned with grace to stand without fear before a dark and wicked world that can be awakened to the gospel only by the witness that we are emboldened to give.

Paul makes it clear that Christians should expect struggle and difficulty as we await the return of our Lord. Some may wonder whether it is worth all the effort of staying awake, keeping sober, and arming ourselves with faith, love, and hope. Can we expect to prevail? Jesus answers, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Paul urges believers to remind each other of such truths: “Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:18).

1 Thessalonians 5:4-8 Study Questions:

In verses 1-11, what are all the pictures or images that Paul uses to try to explain the relationship between believers and the world and the coming of the Lord?

How does Paul contrast the people of the day and the people of the night?

Paul’s point about staying awake belongs not so much with the danger of burglars but with the all-important difference between the old world (of darkness, sin and death) and the new world (of light, life and hope). What aspects of living as children of light or children of the day are challenging?

It seems from Paul’s letter that the Thessalonian Christians were worried about what might occur to them on some dark night. Having earlier addressed their concerns about the destiny of believers who had died, Paul now responds to their concerns about the timing of Christ’s return. “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers,” he writes, “you have no need to have anything written to you” (v. 1). The Thessalonians were concerned, we may infer, about the timing of Christ’s return, lest they be unprepared when Jesus came. Paul responded that he had covered this topic thoroughly during his time among them: “You have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (v. 2).

In 1 Thessalonians 4:15, Paul had written about “the coming of the Lord.” Now he describes the same event with the designation “the day of the Lord.” “The day of the Lord” is an expression with its origin in the prophetic writings, signifying the coming of God to judge His enemies in fiery wrath. In the Old Testament, “the day of the Lord” referred to a complex of events in which God broke into history to judge His enemies and save His people, pointing forward to the great day of the Lord when Christ returns.

The Bible’s teaching on the day of the Lord tells us that history is moving forward to a great reckoning for all the evil on the earth and to salvation for the people of God. This contrasts with the prevailing unbelief of our day, based on the theory of evolution, which holds that history has neither a goal nor any meaning. Just as history had its beginning in God’s sovereign act of creation, it will conclude in the sovereign return of the Lord, the day when man’s apparent sway is brought to an end and God’s sovereign purposes are unveiled as being fully achieved.

While both Jesus and Paul emphasized the unforeseen nature of the Lord’s coming, the Bible also displays an expectation of its nearness (Isa. 13:6; Ezek. 30:2-3; Zeph 1:14). What was said of these earlier, more limited judgments is all the more true of the great and final day of the Lord in the coming of Jesus Christ. Even if it should turn out that Christ returns at some far distant date in the future, the reality of death makes it certain that judgment is near to everyone who lives and breathes at this very moment. Hebrew 9:27 reminds us that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”

As Paul and other biblical writers explain it, the result of Christ’s unforeseen coming will be sudden destruction on those who were unprepared: “While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape” (v. 3). Here, the apostle mirrors the earlier teaching of Jesus, who compared the world at His return to the unprepared world on the brink of Noah’s flood (Matt. 24:37-39).

Jesus’ point was that the worldly will be oblivious to the demands of God and to their danger as rebels against God’s rule. They will be concerned about their own affairs: their pleasures, ambitions, and worldly pursuits. Just as worldly preoccupations keeps so many men and women from thinking about God and eternity now, the same attitude will expose the ungodly to destruction on the day of the lord when it suddenly comes, completely unforeseen, like a thief in the night.

Realizing that once the day of Lord has appeared it will be too late to get ready brings us back to the anxiety of the Thessalonians. They were concerned to be ready for Christ’s coming and therefore wondered about the “times and the seasons” of this great event. Paul answered that the way to be prepared for Christ’s coming is not to know the date – which no one can know – but to prepare ourselves in advance. The way to be ready for the day of the Lord is to act now on the offer of salvation granted to sinners through the saving work of Jesus Christ.

To be sure, those who prepare for the last day by believing in Jesus not only receive forgiveness of sin and justification through faith alone, but also are regenerated so that they increasingly are “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11). Paul therefore writes: “But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief” (v. 4). Unpreparedness for the day of the Lord is a feature of the life in the darkness of sin and unbelief, whereas readiness characterizes those who live in light of Christ. The believer’s readiness for Christ’s coming does not consist in additionally meritorious fervor, but through the salvation that every sinner receives when he or she turns to Christ in saving faith. In other words, while believers look with dismay on the world’s giddy blindness of coming judgment, we may be certain of our own readiness right now simply by trusting Christ for our salvation and surrendering our lives to the Savior who one day will come as Lord both to judge the wicked world and to complete the salvation of all who trust in Him.

Everything that Paul has said about the unbelieving world is reversed when it comes to Christ’s believing people. Jesus’ coming is unforeseen by the world. But far from being surprised, the believer lives every day in joyful expectation of the lord’s day. Christ will come to the unbeliever like a thief in the night, breaking into a life that the person had deemed secure and stripping away all that he or she had trusted and loved. To the believer, who has primarily sought for treasures not in this world but in heaven, the coming of the Lord unlocks our inheritance. Romans 8:17 says that believers are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

According to Paul, not only believers but also “the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21). The day of the Lord is the creation’s own deliverance from the curse of mankind’s sin. Therefore, Paul exclaims, “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19).

The example of creation on its tiptoe, groaning, waiting for the liberation of the glory of the people of God is given for us to emulate as we anticipate the coming of Christ. The day of the Lord is not unforeseen to those who have received God’s Word in faith. Christ does not come like a thief in the night, but like a long-awaited king whose triumph will inaugurate our own coming of her beloved groom, to whisk her away on a wonderful adventure. Therefore, we wait on tiptoe, casting our glance constantly on the clouds for a gleam of the glory of the Son of Man.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 Study Questions:

What does Paul mean when he says: “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night?”

What was Paul referring to when he says: “the day of the Lord?” How is that different to when the Old Testament says: “the day of the Lord?”

The term rapture comes from the Latin word rapio, which the Vulgate translation employed for the Greek word harpazo, which Paul uses in verse 17 of our Scripture. The apostle says that believers “will be caught up” to meet the Lord when He returns. Whereas allusions to the rapture may be seen in other Bible passages, the event is directly stated only in this verse, which explains that when Christ returns and “the dead in Christ” have been raised, then “we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (vv. 16-17).

There is a doctrine accepted by many evangelicals today that was virtually unknown before the mid-nineteenth century. This doctrine, which is called the secret rapture, teaches that Christ’s second coming will take place in two stages, one before and one after a seven-year period of tribulation. The secret rapture removes all Christians so that they will not suffer the tribulation prophesied in the Bible. For this reason, the secret rapture is also called the pretribulation rapture, language that is a standard feature of dispensational premillennialism. This teaching holds that after the Christians are removed and a seven-year tribulation is completed, Christ will come in visible glory to judge His enemies and inaugurate a literal thousand-year reign on the earth, after which comes the final judgment and the eternal state. Advocates of this view make their case not on the direct teaching of any Bible passage but from inferences taken from Scripture on the basis of a presupposed system of doctrine.

However, just as the Bible does not separate Israel and the church, so also the two-stage return of Christ is not supported by Scripture. It is true that different versions of Christ’s return present different elements, for the simple reason that individual passages are making particular points. It is even more obvious that the coming of Christ as described by Paul is anything but a secret. In fact, it is mystifying how believers who claim a literal interpretation of the Bible, as dispensationalists do, can describe as secret an event that is announced “with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God” (v. 16).

Moreover, the doctrine that Christians are raptured before the great tribulation is thoroughly refuted by any number of Bible verses that warn Christians to be prepared to endure these very trials. In His teaching on His return in Matthew 24, Jesus warns believers not to be deceived by false christs and then warns that “they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake” (Matt. 24:9). Jesus says nothing about believers’ being removed before this tribulation, but warns them instead to endure it without falling away: “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:13). Furthermore, Jesus’ statement that “for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short” (Matt. 24:22) makes little sense if His people have previously been removed from earth.

It should be stressed that the secret rapture is believed almost exclusively by Christians who hold a high view of the Bible’s authority and are courageously devoted to Jesus. The point of assessing and critiquing their teaching is not to mock them but rightly to handle the Word of Truth.

As Paul urges us to “encourage one another with these words” (v. 18), we focus on his concluding statement: “and so we will always be with the Lord” (v. 17). The souls of Christians who die go immediately to “be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23) in heaven. Those who have trusted Christ in this life, loved the Lord, and served His gospel “will be caught up together” (v. 17) and thus will be with the Lord forever. Death will bring no final loss to those of us who live in Christ now and reign with Him then. We will together enjoy the perfect fellowship for which we have so longed in this life, each of us joined together in love by the great love of Christ that will be our all in all.

What an encouragement Christians receive now from the knowledge of Christ’s glorious, saving return. First, we have a strong incentive to live as followers of Christ. This world, with its temptations to sin, is seen passing swiftly away. The reality that is found in Christ will soon appear forever, so that wise believers are glad to live now for His sake. Second, we are greatly emboldened to witness the gospel of Christ to a lost and dying world. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:18-19). Third, Christ’s coming encourages us to labor for building up the church and advancing the kingdom of Christ. Jesus urges us to “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matt. 6:33). “Blessed is that servant,” He says, “whom his master will find [serving] when he comes” (Luke 12:43). Fourth, we are encouraged to love one another as Jesus has loved us, realizing that we will be caught up in order to be together forever with the Lord. The relationships we forge now in Christian worship, fellowship, and service will literally last forever. And the most valuable thing that you and I will ever behold before seeing Jesus in glory is one another: precious saints purchased with the blood of Christ.

Finally, Paul’s teaching urges everyone to come to Christ in saving faith. The encouragement of which he spoke is valid only for those who have believed in Jesus. When Jesus returns, with heaven and earth passing away, those who are caught up in the air to meet Him will return with Him to the new heavens and the new earth. How many people close their hearts, fearing that they will lose the world if they put their faith in Christ! In the end, however, the very opposite will be true. Christians do, in many respects, lose this present world, especially its sinful pleasures, when they give their allegiance to Christ. But when He returns, they will be left when all others are taken away in judgment, to meet Him in the splendor of His glory. The, believers in Christ will gain the new world together with Him. Trusting in His promise, we call to Him now, together with all the rest of His adoring people, saying, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 Study questions:

Does the study of these verses encourage you to share the gospel?

How do you “seek first the kingdom of God” on a daily basis?

All Christians know that Christ forgives our sin so that when we die, we go to heaven. But fewer Christians realize that “going to heaven when we die” isn’t our final blessing. For after believers have gone to heaven, the day will come when Christ returns to earth and His people will be raised in the glory of the final resurrection. According to Paul, this is the hope that sustains God’s people in the trials of this life. “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us,” he writes. We wait now with hope for “the redemption of our bodies,” when we will finally “obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:18-23).

The resurrection is absolutely necessary for our salvation. Without the resurrection of the body, Christians may be forgiven of our sins, but we are not delivered from the futility of our present mortal existence. If the dead are not raised, then despite our justification through faith in Christ, our sanctification will never be complete and we will remain eternally unfit for the glories of Christ’s kingdom. “I tell you this, brothers,” Paul wrote: “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Cor. 15:50). This is why he was so determined to inform his readers of the resurrection, the knowledge of which brings hope to our present lives of faith: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess. 4:16).

Paul’s teaching on Christ’s return in 1 Thessalonians 4 is an eschatological treasure trove. While addressing the salvation of believers who have died, Paul gives straightforward teaching about Christ’s return, life after death, the rapture, and the resurrection of the dead. Each of these topics is worthy of study from this vital passage. In considering the resurrection, we will ask a number of questions, receiving answers that will not leave us uninformed (v. 4:13), but will encourage us with the apostle’s words (v. 18).

The first question to ask is: What is the resurrection of the dead? The Greek word for resurrection is anastasis, which comes from a verb that means “to raise up.” The resurrection, then, is the raising of our bodies after we have died. It is important to note the bodily nature of the resurrection, because this truth has often been neglected or assailed. The Bible values the body as God’s good creation, and Christian salvation positively affects our bodies, both now and forever. Christians are not to be radical ascetics who harmfully deny the body (1 Tim. 4:3-5) or libertines who sinfully misuse the body. Paul reasons: “Do you not know that your body in a temple of the Holy Spirit…So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). In the future resurrection, our same bodies that lived and died will be raised. The body is not simply replaced with a new body but is changed into a glorified body suitable for the new heavens and new earth in which Christ will reign forever in glory.

Realizing that our bodies will be raised and glorified should transform how Christians think about our present lives. The resurrection conveys dignity to the most humble Christian soul and body, both of which are destined to “shine like the brightness of the sky above” (Dan. 12:3). Our bodies are holy to the Lord. Reminding us that our bodies are united with Christ “in the resurrection like his,” Paul urged, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions” (Rom. 6:5, 12). The next time you are tempted to use your body to sin, remember that it is intended by God to be transformed for a holy eternal existence.

A second question asks: Who will be raised from the dead? The Bible’s answer is that everyone who has ever lived will be raised in the body on the last day when Jesus returns. Paul speaks of the “dead in Christ” as rising when Jesus returns (v. 16), but the Bible elsewhere informs us that all will be resurrected to stand in their bodies before the final judgment, receiving either eternal punishment or reward. The angel spoke of this to Daniel in the Old Testament: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). Jesus was even more emphatic, teaching that “an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29).

It is clear in these statements that while believers and unbelievers will alike be raised, they will experience radically different results. Jesus taught that on the day of judgment He will “separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matt. 25:32). This indicates that there will be a tangible difference between the resurrection of the godly and ungodly. To His justified people, on His right hand, Jesus will declare, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). It will be exactly the opposite for the ungodly: “Then he will say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Matt. 25:41).

If Paul tells us what the resurrection is and who will be raised, the third question we wonder about is when the dead will be raised. His clear answer is that the resurrection of the dead will occur when Jesus returns from heaven to earth in all His glory: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess. 4:16).

Passage after passage in the Bible tells us that the resurrection will take place when Christ returns, as the immediate precursor to the final judgment of all mankind. Jesus combines these three events – return, resurrection, and judgment – in Matthew 25:31-32: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations.” Jesus said that “all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out” (John 5:28-29), a description echoed in Paul’s statement that Christ will return “with a cry of command” (1 Thess. 4:16).

The fourth question that we should ask about the resurrection is how the dead will be raised. This question may be approached in two ways: first, asking, “By what power does the resurrection take place?” Paul answers in verse 16 by pointing to emblems of divine authority and power: “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of and archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” Here, God’s sovereign power is symbolized in Christ’s return by the call of the archangel and the trumpet blast of God. Jesus said that “the Father raises the dead and gives them life” (John 5:21). Realizing this divine cause for the resurrection should relieve any concerns over how bodies long decayed or otherwise damaged can ever be raised. Just as God created all things out of nothing, no barriers can thwart the Almighty in raising our bodies to glory on the last day.

The second way to approach the how of the resurrection concerns the nature of our transformation: How will believers be changed when our bodies are raised? This matter is most fully addressed by Paul in the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians: “Someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come’” (1 Cor. 15:35). The apostle answers by outlining four dimensions to the transformation of the believer’s body in the resurrection.

First, the resurrected body is imperishable so as to partake forever in the reign of Christ: “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable” (1 Cor. 15:42). Our bodies are prone to disease and decay, our natural beauty fades over time, and ultimately the body gives way to death. But in the resurrection “the mortal puts on immortality,” so that “death is swallowed up in victory” (v. 54). Second, the resurrection body is glorious: “It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory” (1 Cor. 15:43). The term dishonor is usually used by Paul with reference to the disgrace of sin, to which our bodies have been corrupted in their present desires. But in the resurrection, our bodies will shine in the glory of perfect holiness. Third, the resurrection body is mighty: it “is sown in weakness” but “raised in power” (1 Cor. 15:43). Unlike our current condition that so often falls short of what we desire, the resurrection body serves God tirelessly and powerfully in the redeemed creation. Finally, whereas we presently inhabit “a natural body,” the resurrection body is spiritual in nature: “It is raised a spiritual body” (1 Cor. 15:44). This statement does not mean that the resurrection body lacks material substance, but rather that it is ideally designed for the spiritual life in the age of glory with Christ.

This study of Paul’s teaching on the resurrection leaves two vital questions unanswered. A fifth question is: Why will the dead be raised? The best answer for the why of salvation is always this: that God may be glorified in the mighty working of His grace. There is another reason why the dead are raised on the last day, a reason given by Paul at the end of 1 Thessalonians 4:17: “And so we will always be with the Lord.” The eternal age of glory is designed to fulfill the covenant purpose of God. God’s purpose in salvation is “to purify for himself a people for his own possession” (Titus 2:14).

This leaves one last, vitally important question: How do we know that we will be raised? How can we be sure that there will be a resurrection of all the dead on the last day, the just into glory and the unjust into eternal death? Paul gives the answer in verse 4:15: “For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord.” Paul does not seem to be referring to any statement of Christ’s that is known to us, so this is probably a revelation given directly by the risen Jesus to the apostle. Where else can we learn about life beyond the grave and the end to the history of the world than from the One who is the Alpha and Omega of all things? If the Bible is true, as it can be shown to be by its many proofs, then God’s Word is the message to which we must affix our hopes and commit our hearts in faith.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 Study Questions:

How are you glorifying God with your body? Are you a good steward of the temple (your body) of the Holy Spirit?

What is the purpose of the resurrection body?

What happens to the body of an unbeliever?

How does this study encourage you to share the gospel?