1 Thessalonians 4:15

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord Lit., in a word of the Lord, in the character of a message coming from "the mouth of the Lord;" comp. 1 Corinthians 7:10, "I give charge, not I, but the Lord;" and ch. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 above, "not men's word, but God's." The "word" that follows (1 Thessalonians 4:15) can hardly be explained as a traditional saying of Christ, unrecorded in the Gospels, like Acts 20:35; nor as an inference from the teaching of Jesus on the subject of His return. St Paul claims to have received this communication directly from Christ, "the Lord" of His Church, as a revelation to himself (comp. Galatians 2:2; Ephesians 3:3 for similar instances), given to him expressly in order to allay the fears of his readers. The Lordis manifestly Christ, as it is four times in the immediate sequel. St Paul applies to Christ's word the same august phrase that in the O. T. denotes "the word of God" Himself; comp. note on ch. 1 Thessalonians 1:8.

that we which are aliveand remain unto the coming of the Lord This should be: we that are alive, that remain (or survive) unto the coming of the Lord. The second designation qualifies the first, "those (I mean) who survive till the Lord comes." St Paul did not count on any very near approach of the second Advent: comp. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2. At the same time, his language implies the possibilityof the great event taking place within his lifetime, or that of the present generation. This remained an open question, or rather a matter on which questioning was forbidden (see Acts 1:7; Matthew 24:36). "Concerning the times and seasons" nothing was definitely known (ch. 1 Thessalonians 5:1, see note). The Apostles "knew in part" and "prophesied in part" (1 Corinthians 13:12); and until further light came, it was natural for the Church, ever sighing "Come Lord Jesus, come quickly!" to speak as St Paul does here. The same "we" occurs in this connection in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. But from the time of the dangerous illness recorded in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, the prospect of death occupied the foreground in the Apostle's thoughts of his own future, and he never afterwards writes "wethat remain."

shall not prevent "Prevent" is obsolete in this sense: comp. the Collect, "Preventus in all our doings with Thy most gracious favour." Better, shall in no wise precede (or anticipate) those that fell asleep. The shadow which the event of their premature death had cast over the fate of the sleeping Thessalonian believers was wholly imaginary, and should be dismissed at once from the minds of their sorrowing friends. Instead of their having no place, they will have, as Christ now reveals to His Apostle, the foremostplace in His triumphant return. Though dead, they are "dead in Christ" (1 Thessalonians 4:16), departed to "be with Christ" "absent from the body" but "at home with the Lord," as St Paul subsequently teaches (2 Corinthians 5:6-8; Philippians 1:23). So it cannot be that those who are found in the flesh when He comes again, will be beforehand with them in this reunion. "God will bring them with Him," for they are with Him already.

The Apostle proceeds to support this assurance by a description of Christ's coming, derived from the revelation, or "word of the Lord," to which he has just appealed. This was one of the most remarkable of the many "visions and revelations" which St Paul experienced (comp. 2 Corinthians 12:1-5).