1 Thessalonians 4:18

1 Thessalonians 4:18

Personal Identity in the Resurrection.

I. The context states the identity of the saint after the resurrection and before it. We shall be the same persons hereafter that we are here. It is a very true and simple thing to say, and yet if we think of it, it includes a truth that throws a wonderful light on the future state of the saint, and answers many of the questions which a devout curiosity naturally asks concerning the future. The identity of the saint here and hereafter, as one and the same person, is involved in the phrase that we shall be raised again. We, not other beings in our name and place, but we,in our actual personal identity, shall be raised to life again at the last day. (1) Our bodies will be the same. I do not say materially the same, and that the very identical atoms which compose our frame of flesh nowwill compose our frame then.For we are told that these are always changing, and are never quite the same two hours together. (2) Our mental and moral selves will be the same. Whatever is part of our being will survive in a higher state. We shall be ourselves still. We shall be ever with the Lord.

II. From this follows, I think, without a doubt, the truth of mutual recognition and of society in the better world. Sociability is of God, and will be, I believe, a new channel through which we shall enjoy Him. It is our sinfulness, and our sinfulness alone, that ever sets our love to each other, and our love to God in opposition. They will be harmonised in heaven, when both the body and the soul will be pervaded, penetrated with God, and every feeling, every affection, every thought, will be a new revelation of His glory. The Apostle does not say, Ishall be ever with the Lord, or you, singly and individually, but we.He is writing to converts, for whom he expresses the tenderest affection, and to whom he says, "Ye are our glory and joy"; and can the idea of their society have possibly been absent from his mind, when he wrote the words, " weshall be ever with the Lord"?

E. Garbett, Experiences of the Inner Life,p. 288.

References: 1 Thessalonians 4:18. G. Prothero, Church of England Pulpit,vol. i., p. 249. 1 Thessalonians 5:1. F. W. Farrar, Ibid.,vol. xiv., p. 85.