Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Thessalonians 4:14

Unlike some of the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:17-18), the Thessalonians did not doubt the fact of Christ's resurrection (εἰ of course implies no uncertainty). Paul assumes their faith in it and argues from it. Their vivid and naïve belief in Christ's advent within their own lifetime was the very source of their distress. Paul still shares that belief (17). διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ is an unusual expression which might, so far as grammar is concerned, go either with τ. κ. (so. e.g., Ellic., Alford, Kabisch, Lightfoot, Findlay, Milligan) or ἄξει. The latter is the preferable construction (so most editors). The phrase is not needed (cf. 15) to limit τ. κ. to Christians (so Chrys., Calvin), for the unbelieving dead are not before the writer's mind, and, even so, ἐν would have been the natural preposition (cf. 16), nor does it mean martyrdom. In the light of 1 Thessalonians 5:9 (cf. Romans 5:9; 1 Corinthians 15:21), it seems to connect less awkwardly with ἄξει, though not = “at the intercession of Jesus” (Rutherford). Jesus is God's agent in the final act, commissioned to raise and muster the dead (cf. Stähelin, Jahrb. f. deut. Theol., 1874, 189 f., and Schettler, Die paul. Formel, “Durch Christus,” 1997, 57 f.). The divine mission of the Christ, which is to form the climax of things, involves the resurrection of the dead who are His (1 Thessalonians 5:10). Any general resurrection is out of the question (so Did., xvi. 6: ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν · οὐ πάντων δὲ, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἐρρέθη, ἥξει ὁ Κύριος καὶ πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι μετʼ αὐτοῦ).

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Thessalonians 4:14

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