More on "Hope"
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. 4:13.
With today's verse we come to Paul's most extensive treatment of the Second Advent. And in terms of the details about the resurrection of the saints it is the most complete in the New Testament, with 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 coming in as a close second.
The apostle begins his discussion with a statement regarding "hope." We have already seen how Paul viewed the Second Advent as "the blessed hope" (Titus 2:13). But here in 1 Thessalonians he expands on that hope and makes some of its implications explicit.
The recently converted believers in Thessalonica needed such hope. The death of some of their number had caught them by surprise. Undoubtedly they had assumed that all believers would live until Christ returned.
But some hadn't made it, and the Thessalonica church members had had the sorrowful task of burying them. What would become of such individuals?
Here is a problem that troubles people in every generation. After all, none of us escapes death. So what is the meaning of death, or even of a life destined to end in such a useless manner? It is a question that has challenged philosophers and theologians and ordinary people across the ages. Paul's answer is the most satisfactory ever given.
He writes that he doesn't want them to be ignorant about those who were sleeping in death. The apostle didn't want the death of loved ones to shatter the faith of those he was writing to. He didn't want them to be people of "no hope."
"No hope" are the words that set the apostle up for the discussion of the resurrection of the saints, a topic he begins to undertake in 1 Thessalonians 4:14.
But before moving to his presentation we will examine Paul's understanding of Christianity as a religion of hope. In his letter to the Romans he refers to God as the "God of hope" (Rom. 15:13) and notes that as Christians we "rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God" (Rom. 5:2, RSV).
Hope in the Bible, I should point out, is not wishful thinking but a knowledge that something will happen. And confidence about what God will do in the future rests upon what He has done in the past. Therefore, Paul writes, "whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope" (Rom. 15:4, RSV).
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. 4:13.
With today's verse we come to Paul's most extensive treatment of the Second Advent. And in terms of the details about the resurrection of the saints it is the most complete in the New Testament, with 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 coming in as a close second.
The apostle begins his discussion with a statement regarding "hope." We have already seen how Paul viewed the Second Advent as "the blessed hope" (Titus 2:13). But here in 1 Thessalonians he expands on that hope and makes some of its implications explicit.
The recently converted believers in Thessalonica needed such hope. The death of some of their number had caught them by surprise. Undoubtedly they had assumed that all believers would live until Christ returned.
But some hadn't made it, and the Thessalonica church members had had the sorrowful task of burying them. What would become of such individuals?
Here is a problem that troubles people in every generation. After all, none of us escapes death. So what is the meaning of death, or even of a life destined to end in such a useless manner? It is a question that has challenged philosophers and theologians and ordinary people across the ages. Paul's answer is the most satisfactory ever given.
He writes that he doesn't want them to be ignorant about those who were sleeping in death. The apostle didn't want the death of loved ones to shatter the faith of those he was writing to. He didn't want them to be people of "no hope."
"No hope" are the words that set the apostle up for the discussion of the resurrection of the saints, a topic he begins to undertake in 1 Thessalonians 4:14.
But before moving to his presentation we will examine Paul's understanding of Christianity as a religion of hope. In his letter to the Romans he refers to God as the "God of hope" (Rom. 15:13) and notes that as Christians we "rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God" (Rom. 5:2, RSV).
Hope in the Bible, I should point out, is not wishful thinking but a knowledge that something will happen. And confidence about what God will do in the future rests upon what He has done in the past. Therefore, Paul writes, "whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope" (Rom. 15:4, RSV).
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