1 Thess 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1 Thess 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1 Thess 4:15 For this we say unto you BY THE WORD OF THE LORD, that WE which are ALIVE and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent THEM which are asleep.
1 Thess 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1 Thess 4:17 Then WE which are ALIVE and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1 Thess 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Fascinating!! BY THE WORD OF THE LORD this was supposed to happen but it didn't. Why is that? I know some of you are trying to play the little game of pulling verses completely out of context which have nothing to do with these verses but you're simply wrong.
What's the issue, again? That Paul expected "we" to include himself, eh?
Yet in Philippians 1 Paul states, "22If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again." Pp 1:22-26
There's something odd about this statement. He can't tell which he will choose, first. Now that would contradict the Thessalonians passage, as Paul may choose to depart and be with Christ.
Instead we have to consider that Paul is projecting into the groups he's describing for the encouragement of his readers: that is, "we" refers to those who are alive and remain -- and he still being alive at the time, that would include Paul --
in the event Jesus returns
at the time. For it'd be tough to consider himself a part of "
those who had died", seeing that Paul had not yet died. I'd kind of expect Paul's response to be, "What, you expected me to have already died? Look, there're only two groups: those in the grave, and those not. And I and those reading my letter -- they weren't dead yet."
The rest of Paul's explanation in 1 Thess 5 points out the need to be constantly prepared -- but not because it's "soon", but because we belong to the day. That is, we should be ready for the Last Day in our lifetime, whether it really is or not.
I asked this in another thread but figured I'd start a new thread. Clearly in 1 Thessalonians Paul was expecting Jesus to return while he was alive. If Paul expected him to return, why didn't he????
