1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Commentary

In this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson, Paul returns to the theme of encouragement with which he ended last Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson. In 1 Thessalonians 4:18 he calls Thessalonica’s Christians to “encourage” [parakaleite*] each other with what he has written to them. Now, in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 he again calls them to “encourage” [parakaleite] one another. 

It sometimes seems as though 21st century North American preachers and churches are in love with words like “should,” “ought,” and even “must.” In our longing to proclaim the gospel in ways that are relevant to life in our world, we spend a great deal of time “encouraging” Jesus’ friends to obediently respond to God’s amazing grace.

It is, in fact, appropriate to call God’s adopted children to a life of active love for God above all and our neighbor as ourselves. Paul himself spends part of this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson talking about what it means to let the Spirit help us respond to God’s amazing grace by imitating Jesus Christ.

But Jesus’ followers never forget the basis for our obedience is God’s amazing grace to us in Jesus Christ. So preachers’ chief encouragement lies not in calls to greater righteousness, but in a proclamation of that grace. Any proclamation of the gospel, including 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, is foremost an announcement of God’s gracious plans for us that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, energize us for lives of Christian love and service.

This text’s encouragement stems from what verse 2 calls “the day of the Lord [hemera Kyriou].” While Paul doesn’t identify that day in 1 Thessalonians 5, in chapter 4:15 he speaks of “the coming of the Lord.” So hemera Kyriou (“the day of the Lord”) quite clearly refers to the time of Christ’s second coming.

Though Paul insists Christ’s return is a cause for encouragement, some of Jesus’ friends think of that hemera (“day”) as frightening. Preachers shouldn’t be surprised that Christians whom our churches and social media bombard with “shoulds” and “musts” naturally wonder if we’ve adequately prepared for that day by sufficiently keeping those commands.

That’s a reason this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s wise preachers emphasize the nature of the work and One whose “day” we anticipate. In verse 9-10 Paul writes, “God did not appoint [etheto] us to suffer wrath [orgen] but to receive [peripoiesen] salvation [soterias] through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake [gregoromen] or asleep [katheudomen], we may live [zesomen] together [hama] with him.”

This is such a theological “heaping helping” of grace that preachers may hear the Spirit prompting us to “unpack” it fairly carefully. We note it begins with Paul’s assertion that “God did not appoint us to suffer wrath.” The apostle encourages his Thessalonian readers by insisting God didn’t choose God’s adopted children in order to pour out on us God’s righteous anger over our sins. As The Message paraphrases verse 9, “God did not set us up for an angry rejection.”

God knows the depth, creativity and persistence of our sin even better than we do. Yet while that angers and saddens God, it doesn’t trigger God’s holy fury against us. God knows how consistently we’ve failed to love God above all and our neighbor as ourselves. Yet God graciously chooses to shower us not with God’s punishment, but with God’s salvation of us.

God, in fact, as Paul goes on to write in verse 9b, chose not to punish us but to grace us with soterias dia tou Kyriou (“salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”). So God doesn’t just refuse to punish God’s dearly beloved people in the ways we naturally deserve. God also graciously rescues us from the messes we make not only for ourselves, but also for our neighbors and, in fact, the whole creation.

God did that, the apostle adds in verse 10a, through Christ’s death on our behalf. That means our hope lies not in human improvement or rescue. Jesus’ followers hope not just for now but also for all eternity lies solely in the saving life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. No matter what Jesus’ friends think of atonement theory and its potential overemphasis, we never forget that our rescue came at the immeasurable cost of the life of Jesus Christ.

Because Christ suffered unimaginably on our behalf, “whether we are awake or asleep, we … live together with him” (10b). Christians sometimes assume Paul is writing here about our future life together with Christ in the new earth and heaven. Yet while he likely has that in mind, his use of the present tense of the Greek verb zesomen (“live”) suggests he’s primarily speaking of the way the Spirit of Christ lives with his followers already here and now. While we will, by God’s grace, live with him most fully in the new creation, the apostle professes the Christ who promised never to leave or forsake us already lives with us.

This awareness provides some context for what Paul says about Christ’s second coming. It will be, he insists, largely unexpected. In verse 2 the apostle writes, “the day of the Lord will be like a thief [kleptes] in the night.” Because only the Lord knows the exact date of Christ’s second coming, even God’s adopted children can’t know it in advance. We can’t write it on our calendars. 

The returning Christ won’t, what’s more, as The Message paraphrases Paul’s insistence, call ahead to make an appointment with us. His return will be as unanticipated as a burglar’s break-in. In fact, as the apostle continues, Christ’s second coming will “come on” us “suddenly [aiphnidios], as labor pains on a pregnant woman” (3b).

As a result, Paul continues, those who blithely live their lives as if they suspect Jesus will never return will find it to be “destruction” [olethros].  Those who assume Christ will never come back “will not escape” [ekphygosin] (3b) either that return or its results. Neither ignorance about nor ignoring of the prospect of Christ’s second coming will be a good excuse for those to whom our Savior returns.

As a result, God’s adopted children live in eager and constant expectation of Christ’s imminent return. After all, the Holy Spirit has not left us “in darkness” [skotei] about it (4). Because we are what verse 5 calls “children of the light and children of the day,” we know Jesus may come back literally at any time. While God’s adopted children don’t know the exact date of our Elder Brother’s return, it won’t catch us completely off guard 

Paul continues by insisting we live in full expectation of Christ’s return by being “awake [gregoromen] and sober [nephomen]” (6b). In The Message’s paraphrase, we “keep our eyes open and [are] smart.” Instead of letting various things distract us from the prospect of Christ’s second coming, Jesus’ followers seek to live each waking moment as if we knew it were our last.

Paul even gives those who soberly await Christ’s return a kind of “dress code.” He summons us to put “on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” By using defensive military imagery, it’s as if he suggests Jesus’ followers need to let God’s gifts of faith, hope and love protect us. While the apostle doesn’t identify the threats, they may include complacency about that return. 

Christians sometimes assume the devil is our greatest threat. However, Paul at least implies that indifference about Jesus’ second coming poses an equal if not greater threat. The Spirit uses the great Christian triumvirate of faith, hope and love to inoculate us against such indifference.

The apostle concludes this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson with calls to God’s dearly beloved people to continue to both “encourage” [parakaleite] and “build up” [oikodomeite] each other. They are in some ways complementary summons. 

Parakaleite (“encourage”) has a strong sense of comfort. Jesus’ followers constantly remind especially fearful or doubtful Christians of God’s finished work of salvation and God’s promises to someday soon fully rescue us. After all, Paul didn’t intend for his words about Christ’s second coming to terrify God’s dearly beloved people. He longed for them to be a source of strength and hope.

Yet Paul doesn’t intend for his words about Jesus’ return to merely be about that comfort. He doesn’t wish to make his brothers and sisters in Christ complacent about Christ’s return. The apostle intends for reminders about that return to be sources of encouragement to obedience. 

Those who await Jesus’ return are neither terrified by its prospect nor indifferent about it. God’s adopted children humbly, lovingly and gently find ways to keep summoning our adopted siblings in Christ to live, talk and even think in ways that are Christ-like, holy and righteous. We continue to build up each other by inviting people to, quite simply, live as though the Christ who so deeply loves them were returning in the very next moment, hour, day or week.

*I have here and elsewhere added in brackets the Greek words for the English words the NIV translation uses.

Illustration

In his book, How to Inhabit Time, James K.A. Smith writes about the similarities between his daughter and son-in-law’s offer on a house being accepted and living between Christ’s two comings. After his children’s offer was accepted, he notes they experienced “that vexing season of waiting. The offer is accepted; your new reality has dawned. Wait for the inspection. Wait for the assessment. 

“Then that curious season in which ‘your’ house is occupied by hangers-on who seem to be squatting in your future. You’re buying curtains and stockpiling paint swatches and already planning your first party. But you have to wait. You have to dwell in what Auden calls ’the Time Being’ … The Christian life is like living in escrow: the Creator has retaken possession, but we’re waiting for closing.”