1st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 in Social Context

Methodologies

In the fourth and fifth chapter of the first epistle to the Thessalonians, curious comments are made in reference to the return of Jesus. The author uses the term parousia, “meaning "presence," "visit, “or "coming" [it] is a term St. Paul uses for the return of Christ in his letters (see 1 Cor 1:7; 15:23; Thess 2:19; 3:13; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:1,8,9). In secular Greek it was used of the visit of a high-ranking government official.”¹ The term was also often used to describe how the local citizens of a township would meet the approaching  met approaching public figures while they were still outside the city walls (Matthew 25:6 and Acts 28:15 provides us other examples of meeting important people in this social context). He also uses the term paraenesis, which, is “an address or communication strongly urging someone to do something.”² In this paper, sociological, historical and other interpretative methodologies are used to glean further understanding about the authorship, date and place of composition, social setting, 1^st century mythological understandings, and what this means for the two periscopes contained within 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11.

Authorship and Dating of 1^st Thessalonians

According to 1^st Thessalonians 1:1, the authors were “Paul, Silas and Timothy”³ and the letter is addressed “To the church of the Thessalonians”. According to the book of Acts, Silas only went on Paul’s second missionary journey, so we can surmise that it was on this journey that the epistle was written.⁴ Paul is believed to have authored several NT documents, and in most (if not all) cases it is thought that they were always by the hand of a scribe (cf. Romans 16:22), although there are occasions where Paul would write on his own (Galatians 6:11). There are various arguments for and against Pauline authorship, but the scholarly consensus is that Paul authored this epistle, and it is believed to be the earliest letter of the NT.^5-6 In fact, according to Bart D. Ehrman, “Scholars are almost unanimous in thinking that it was the first of his surviving works to be written, which also means that it is the oldest book of the New Testament and consequently the earliest surviving Christian writing of any kind.”⁷

Now, some scholars have noted a similarity between Romans 13:11-14 and the 1^st Thessalonians 5:1-11 pericope, and as Romans is generally accepted as a Pauline letter it could follow that 1^st Thessalonians is also Pauline.⁸ It ought to also be noted that the two pericopes of 4:13-18 and 5:1-11 have had their authenticity questioned before. Some suggest that the 5:1-11 is "a post-Pauline insertion that has many features of Lucan language and theology that serves as an apologetic correction to the Pauline expectation of the parousia and thus already reflects the problem of the delay of the parousia."⁹  Nevertheless, 5:1-11 simply shows us some results that source criticism or tradition criticism would bear out – that “The material found in this pericope bears remarkable similarity to some of the expressions found in the prophetic literature of the Bible, to the literature of Qumran, and to other NT passages.”¹⁰ As such, simply because there appears to be a developed idea of the delay of the parousia does not throw the authenticity into question, it simply demonstrates that believers have had questions from the start.

Further, when considering the authenticity of the Pauline letter, the church structure is quite clearly very primitive and early, as in 5:12 the apostle calls the leaders merely “those who are over you.” This suggests an early structure that was similar to the Jewish system and not as far departed as later Christians. Also, “The language and style are certainly Pauline, while the subject-matter would be inconceivable after Paul’s death. No one would have thought of representing the apostle as expecting to be alive at the parousia when it was known that he was already dead.”¹¹ In light of this, it seems rather unlikely that this epistle would be a forgery. If indeed Paul had already died and his death was then known to the Christian community – what purpose would forging this document serve unless it was to discredit Pauline Christianity? It is therefore reasonable to assume Pauline authorship for this epistle with these and other considerations.

Regarding the place of composition, the scholarly consensus holds that this letter was written from Corinth. As with anything in Biblical studies, however, there is slight disagreement. The Textus Receptus, “at the end of the two Epistles, gives a subscription stating that they were written from Athens (egraphe apo Athenon); and this same subscription is contained in the great uncial codices A, B2, K2, L2 — that is, Alexandrinus (fourth century), Vaticanus (fifth century corrector), Mosquensis, and Angelicus (both of the ninth century); it is likewise translated in important Latin, Syriac and Coptic manuscripts.”¹² Although these manuscripts state that St. Paul wrote from Athens, intertextual evidence seems to demonstrate a Corinthian composition. Paul clearly states in 3:6 that Timothy had returned from Thessalonica before the writing of this epistle. 1^st Thessalonians does not state where it is that Timothy returned to Paul at, but Acts 18:1-5 shows that when Timothy and Silas returned from Macedonia (the province where Thessalonians is located), Paul was in Corinth. It seems that the news brought by Timothy was what Paul is responding to in his first epistle to the Thessalonians. Subsequently, 2^nd Corinthians 1:19 (assumed to be Pauline as well) states that St. Paul, Silas and Timothy preached among them, lending further credence to a Corinthian place of composition.

Concerning the date of composition, scholars tend to differ. Some believe that this epistle was written in AD 48 or 49,¹³ whereas others believe that it was written in 53 or 54 according to the commonly received scheme of Pauline chronology¹⁴ or even between AD 50-53.¹⁵ This gives us a range between AD 48-53, sometime around the Council in Jerusalem mentioned in Acts 15 (which is believed to have occurred around AD 48). As such, this places the date of composition around 20 years after the followers of Jesus claim that he was resurrected, which seemingly makes this the earliest NT document. Granted, it is widely believed that Paul’s letters contain early creedal formulas, baptismal statements and christoglocial hymns that date to the 30s, but the earliest complete document in the NT appears to be 1^st Thessalonians.⁴

How else may we date this letter? The early papyri and early writers may aid in this dating. Papyrus 30 is one of the earliest manuscripts of 1^st Thessalonians 4-5, dating from the 3^rd century. The infamous Papyrus 46 (AD 175-225) may have contained 4:13-5:11, but some of the folios are missing or deteriorated. Papyrus 65 (AD 200s) may have once contained 4:13-5:11, but what remains is a fragment of the first and second chapter. There appear to be relatively few early papyrus fragments of these passages in the first four centuries, though it appears in abundance later on. Therefore, the three major 1^st Thessalonians papyri that we have date from between AD 175-225. Subsequently, the Didache, Clement of Rome (in 1^st Clement), the Shepherd of Hermas, Ignatius, Melito, Polycarp, the Gospel of Nicodemus, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and various other writers and works of antiquity quote from 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11.¹⁶ The fact that the Didache (AD 50-120), Clement of Rome (around AD 95 for 1^st Clement) and the Shepherd of Hermas (AD 100-160) all quote from this section of 1^st Thessalonians firmly dates the letter to sometime in the 1^st century. Further, the fact that Paul calls the Lord “Jesus” in 4:14 instead of the usual Pauline “Christ” may also be slight evidence for an early date as Paul may have become more concrete in his terminology as he wrote more and more, although it is worth noting that Paul would have been a missionary for about 15 years by this point. Therefore, it is reasonable to date this epistle around the mid-1^st century.

Sociological Purpose of 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11

According to Ehrman, “Thessalonica was a major port city, the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia, where the Roman governor kept his residence, and one of the principal targets chosen by Paul for his mission in the region.”¹⁷ When considering that the Thessalonians would  quite obviously be familiar with the image of the parousia, being a major port city and major Roman area, we begin to understand why Paul utilizes the languages and images that he does – but this does not establish the purpose of the letter. 1^st Thessalonians 3:6 conveys that St. Paul was given“good news about [their] faith and love.”

However, although there was “faith and love,” questions arose in the Thessalonian church such as to what happens to believers who die before the parousia of Jesus. This question seems to have come about early in the church history – which may also be further evidence for an early composition¹⁸ – and although the Thessalonian church was well-aware of the purpose for Christ’s return, they began to be concerned. The eschatology in 1^st Thessalonians appears to show a heavy apocalyptic message preached to the church there, so Paul’s message of Jesus returning for his followers to save them from judgment was familiar to them, but they did not understand how or when, and questioned the times and dates as well as their social status as believers who died pre-parousia.

As Young notes, “Paul's motivation here is neither to recite his teachings about the second coming of Christ nor to convince the Thessalonians that the general resurrection would soon occur…the passage seeks to explain the relationship between the claim that the righteous will experience a glorious resurrection and the early Christian conviction that Christ will return in glory to consummate history,”¹⁹ but also to explain socially to the church in Thessalonica how they are separated from the pagan world. “If one were baptized into Christ Jesus, he could not also be initiated into the cult of Dionysus or Serapis, nor could he participate in many civic and social ceremonies that were, however innocuous to most, to the Christian… idolatrous.”²⁰ As such, those who are not of God are “prepared for destruction” (5:3), and this dishonor that is associated with these outsiders is something Christians were attempting to avoid. As more of them died, however, they felt shame. The pagans were likely pointing at the Christians and saying, “you claim that you are saved from the grave by your God – but where is your God? Why do your people continue to die?”

If this was the case, “Paul turns this pagan characterization on its head and argues instead that those who have died will precede those who are living at the Parousia, denoting that their honor is the greatest of all (v.15; cf. Phil. 1:21).”²¹ A further consideration is needed to clarify this important sociological issue. In this epistle, St. Paul called Christians “sons of light,” with the dualistic implication being that these pagan outsiders are “of night” or “of darkness” (5:5) and those who are “destined for wrath” (v.9). The concept of “sons of light” and sons “of darkness” was likely familiar to Paul’s audience. The concept “was especially important for the Dead Sea sect at Qumran, who considered themselves the ‘sons of light’ (the literal rendering of "children of light," v. 5) and God's only righteous remnant (1QS 1:9-10; 3:13,24-25; 1QM 1:1, 3),”²² and in fact the phrase can also mean the “sons of the day of the Lord,” a highly important concept explored later in this paper.

Subsequently, the dualistic nature of the concept of light and dark or day and night is also clearly seen in Paul’s epistle and can help to clarify some of the underlying ideas behind his words. In the 1^st century context, values, ethics and morals seemed to change between the day and night. Indeed, even in modern times we are known for doing things at night that we would not otherwise do during the day – clubbing, partying, illicit behavior and even criminal activity. Greco-Roman literature and archaeology demonstrate widespread fear of a thief coming in the dead of night to steal, perhaps rape, burn or enact other malice upon the household.²³ When Paul appeals to this image of the thief in the night he may be harkening back to oral tradition from Jesus later preserved in NT documents,²⁴ but he may also be appealing to a wide fear of thieves. Dark deeds were accomplished in the nighttime, and the Christian community at Thessalonica would not want to be associated with these dishonorable individuals.

Another related factor to take into consideration is how the female audience of the 4:13-5:11 pericopes would have interpreted these ideas. Here, the Lord will return not only as a thief in the night – unexpectedly and causing great distress – but also would come suddenly and quickly, “like labor pains on a pregnant woman” (5:6). As scholar Christopher D. Stanley points out, “to a woman living in an era before painkillers, when many women actually died giving birth, the comparison of the ‘day of the Lord’ with ‘labour pains’ would have evoked feelings of anxiety and even dread.”²⁵ Although Paul fortunately states that these words should not be taken in fear as the audience would not be among those who suffer, Stanley notes that “the moral injunctions of v. 6 and v. 8 lies the implicit charge that those who fail to act in the prescribed manner are not really ‘sons (!) of light’ and will therefore suffer destruction on the coming ‘day of the Lord’. This attempt to regulate the conduct of the Thessalonian believers would have been most effective with those who had already been stirred to fear by the earlier imagery of thieves and birth pains, i.e., the women in the audience.”²⁶

Furthermore, the imagery in NT documents of a thief in the night is a fearful and striking image that shows that the authors “implicitly endorsed the dehumanization of a whole class of people and reinforced the social system that oppressed them.”²⁷ Through this we find that a large amount of the issue in the church was primarily of a sociological and not an eschatological nature. Nevertheless, Paul’s eschatology is inseparable from his overall theology. In fact, “Paul's eschatological worldview—his conviction that the end of the age was near—was the driving force behind much of his ethical exhortation. Eschatology and ethics were so linked in his thinking that when he wrote of one, the other was never far from his mind… we must take ample account of the connections Paul draws between the imminence of the end of the world and the moral imperatives of the Christian life.”²⁸

Various Other Sociological Factors

There are a handful of other sociological factors to take into consideration. For example, the socio-historical usage of shouting  battle and war imagery as well as cosmological views of the universe are other factors to consider. 1^st Thessalonians 4:16 says that Jesus will return with a shout. Understanding what is meant by a “shout” in the historical-social context may help. “The ‘shout’ often denotes an authoritative utterance… It is the cry made by the ship’s master to his rowers, or by a military officer to his soldiers, or by a hunter to his hounds, or by a charioteer to his horses. When used of military or naval personnel it is a battle cry. In most places, then, it denotes a loud, authoritative cry, often uttered in the thick of great excitement… The whole situation demands a command of God or Christ to the dead.”²⁹

St. Paul utilizes a lot of battle imagery in 4:13-5:11. In fact, he often utilizes Roman imagery in his letters to explain a Christian concept (cf. Ephesians 6:13-17). As the Jews were still under Roman rule during Paul’s lifetime and the Roman Empire spanned the locations Paul tended to visit, the images of soldiers, shields, helmets and armor would have been visually striking and familiar to his audience. Morris notes that a Jewish audience would likely have been familiar with this concept of war imagery from Isaiah 59:17, “where Jehovah is depicted as a warrior armed.”³⁰ The combat imagery frequent in 5:1-11 also recalls the biblical teaching on holy war as well as the War Scroll from the Qumran community. Here, Paul mentions “a breastplate” and “a helmet,” which are both part of common Roman soldier garb.

Another consideration of the 4:13-5:11 pericopes is Paul’s cosmological view, which also allows us to gain a better understanding of this letter in the socio-historical context. The Greco-Roman worldview held that there were different planes of existence – Hades below (with Tartarus at the lowest pit), the earth we inhabit (here), Olympus above and the Elysium Fields were elsewhere. Here, “…Paul’s scenario presupposes a three-storied universe, in which the world consists of an ‘up’ (where God is, and now Jesus), a ‘here’ (where we are), and a ‘down’ (where those who have died are)… Jesus was here with us; he died and so went down to the place of the dead; then God raised him up to where he is. Soon he is going to come back down to the earth on the clouds (i.e., from heaven above the sky) to raise up both those who are here and those who are down below, elevating them to the clouds to live with him forever.”³¹ In these clouds, however, the Jewish cosmology shines through. 1^st century Jewish cosmological understanding also shows that there “may be significance in the meeting place being ‘in the air.’ In the first century the air was often thought of as the abode of demons (Satan is described as ‘the ruler of the Kingdom of the air,’ Eph. 2:2). That the Lord chooses to meet his saints there, on the demons’ home ground so to speak, shows his complete mastery over them.”³²

The dwelling place of Satan and his demons is also noted in the Ascension of Isaiah 7:9. Young alludes to the idea of evil spirits abiding in the air (cf. the other source in paper that mentions that). – “In popular Greek cosmology, the "air" was the midpoint between the heavens and the earth and was often occupied by evil forces. Locating the glorious reunion in this setting makes a compelling statement about the all-encompassing extent of Christ's authority at his parousia.”³³ This cosmological concept not only further demonstrates that Jesus – the head of this Christian community – is over even the forces of darkness, but it provides a model for the Christians to understand that they are also following the one who is higher than the pagans who oppress them.

Considerations of the Parousia and “Sleep”

The NT refers to the Second Coming of Christ in a variety of ways, but does so in nearly every NT document. However, “In the Old Testament and in Jewish apocalyptic literature, those who were taken up to heaven were alive…^[34] [Therefore, the] implication in the Thessalonians passage is that those in Christ will experience such a heavenly assumption”³⁵ while they are still living. The problem then arises – will this heavenly assumption be made by those who have already died? The Thessalonian church was extremely concerned about this, and along with the previously mentioned factors, Paul appeals to various social contexts and understandings that his audience would have been familiar with.

In Matthew 24:31, Jesus refers to the trumpet’s sounding in relation to the gathering of the believers just as Paul does here, and in fact “The sounding of the trumpet is associated with the activity of the Lord in the Old Testament passages…^[36] J. Klausher attests the idea for first-century Judaism… The trumpet is frequently mentioned in the descriptions of battles in the War scroll.”³⁷ It is worth noting that as Paul uses the term parousia to identify the coming of Christ, as aforementioned the term itself in the Greco-Roman context denoted the coming of the king. Thus, Paul “describes the [parousia] like the coming of a king or Caesar for whose arrival the community must be prepared… As the lord draws near… the archangel who goes before him like a herald, accompanied by a trumpeter, will effect the resurrection of the dead… [and] it may be allowed to draw on archaeology: everywhere in ancient Greek cities, the cemeteries line the main roads leading into the city, often for miles.”³⁸ As a result of this understanding, the Thessalonian audience would have understood that the coming of Christ is like the coming of a governor or of Caesar – it is heralded by trumpets and loud noise, but in this case the trumpets of God’s kingdom are cause for the believers to celebrate and not have to cope with the oppressive Roman overseers. They also would understand that the very same roads that the Caesar would be announced upon were lined with graves of individuals who would then rise again, so this image is one which Paul knew would be familiar to them.

Also, it would have been understood that this “peace and security” that Paul alludes to in 5:3 would remind the audience of the Roman rule. It is highly unlikely that Paul was the one who first coined this very slogan, and in fact was probably utilized as a form of Roman propaganda in order to advance their empire, maintain social and political order and also as a way to elevate their states. As Koester notes, “If this interpretation of the phrase is correct, it would imply that Paul points to the coming of the Day of the Lord as an event that will shatter the false peace and security of the Roman establishment”³⁹ The Roman propaganda is therefore not accepted as a true peace or security, but as promoting a false sense of peace. “Peace and security” is found by living in Christ and by being part of the community, not through Roman rule.

Another point to take into social consideration is how Paul uses the term “sleep” as a euphemism for death. As we see from 1^st century sources, the life of a pagan is absolutely filled with uncertainty, not having a major meaning or purpose (other than to worship the pagan gods), ignorance and near-carefree morality where most things are permissible. It is in this pagan world that the Thessalonians live, and we can clearly see this lifestyle through 1^st Thessalonians. In fact, according to the Greek poet Theocritus, “Hopes are for the living; the dead are without hope.”⁴⁰ Similarly, the Greek historian Plutarch wrote to a grieving friend who had lost his son that the greatest cure for grief was reason as we all die and are all mortal.⁴¹

The usage of “sleep” as a euphemism for death is rather common in Greco-Roman documents. It essentially “embraced the whole ambivalence of human life and death – it was an attempt to avoid confrontation with the harsh reality hiding behind a euphemism… [and] Through a figurative use of the verb ‘to sleep,’ Epictetus [said]… ‘Lie down and sleep, and follow the pursuits of a worm of which you judge yourself worthy; eat and drink, mate, go to the privy, and snore.’”⁴² Even the Roman poet Horace taught that we should “seize the day” (carpe diem), as we may “sleep” at any time.⁴³ This was not the understanding being given to the Thessalonians, however. Their understanding is that they would sleep “in Christ,” and that this sleep is not an end but only the beginning.

Day of the Lord and other Traditions

The two pericopes in 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 (specifically in 4:13-18) can be seen as a combination or culmination of various mythological and religious understandings and traditions of the day. According to Collins, “What is clear and most significant for our present purpose is that the Pauline paraenesis of 5,1-11 is redolent with traditional motifs. Paul has reworked these materials into a consistent whole which takes attention away from idle speculation on the time of the Parousia in order to allow the expectation of the Parousia to provide a note of urgency for the exhortation which Paul is addressing to the faithful of Thessalonica.”⁴⁴

There appears to be an abundance of apocalyptic imagery present in this Pauline epistle. In fact, “All of the images found in verse 16 were part of the common stock of apocalyptic thought in Paul's day… [however,] There is no word on many of the issues which fascinated apocalypticists of Paul's day, such as the nature of the final judgment, the ultimate fate of unbelievers, what will happen to the present world, the nature of the resurrected body, or how living believers will be translated into glory. Paul takes up some of these topics elsewhere (1 Cor 15, for example),”⁴⁵ but in this epistle his aim is not to create a structured outline of the eschatological events, but it has another purpose. His “description of the end at this point is tailored to the pastoral needs of the Thessalonians. As grieving believers, they need the assurance that God will keep their departed Christian friends in God's care. An exhaustive script of the end-times is not called for, but attention to the readers' spiritual needs is.”⁴⁶ Here, Paul lays out the parousia as Jesus returning “from heaven” (4:16) with a shout or loud command, the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God (some debate whether these are three ways of describing the same noise or three different noises), and those who have died will be resurrected, and the believers will be caught up together into the clouds “to meet the Lord in the air.” Thus, the concept of resurrection and the return of Jesus are explicitly interconnected and both will occur on the day of the Lord.

It is entirely relevant to finally address what this “day of the Lord” that has been referred to numerous times actually is. This “day of the Lord” was a very ancient phrase that was in use even by the time of the prophet Amos (8^th century BC). The usage by Amos suggests that the audience already has familiarity with this phrase, which implies that it may be very old indeed, or that the idea behind it was older. According to Morris, “the day would be one of judgment on all people. The Israelites could expect to be punished for their sins, just as they expected that other people would be punished. This… [concept] used of Yahweh in the Old Testament [is] applied to Christ in the New… [and the] thought of final judgment carries over into the New Testament understanding of the Day.”⁴⁷ This phrase is found in various forms throughout both Testaments as well as in extrabiblical literature, so when Paul referred to the day of the Lord coming like a “thief in the night” and that it would come suddenly, “like labor pains on a pregnant woman” (5:6), the urgency, the concept of divine judgment and the idea of the end of time would have been very familiar to a Jewish audience, and the Greco-Roman audience would likely also have been familiar with the image as well.

It should be noted that there do not appear to be any present oral traditions that source criticism can determine. We are likely meant to understand that when Paul says, “According to the Lord’s own word,” or ‘in the word of the Lord,” this is in fact an actual saying of Jesus, one that is simply not recorded in the canonical gospels. Also, John 21:25 states that not everything that Jesus said or did is recorded, and “There must have been many such sayings, for example, one is recorded for us in Acts 20:35 (cf John 20:30; 21:25)”.⁴⁸ While this is entirely true that Paul may have learned an actual saying of Jesus, it is also probable to consider that a supposed prophet in the early community claimed they were given these words, or that the saying actually comes from an extra-biblical document which we do not have.

Conclusion

1^st Thessalonians 1:3 and 5:8 has the triadic formula, “faith, love and hope.” This triadic formulation is also utilized elsewhere in Paul’s letters (1^st Cor. 13:13). However, when Timothy reports back to Paul about the church of the Thessalonians, he brings only tidings of their “faith and love” (3:6), essentially implying that hope is not present. Paul then notes that he seeks to “supply what is lacking” (3:10) in the faith of the Thessalonians, and so in the 4:13-5:11 pericopes, he is likely attempting to supply that hope. Although members of the congregation were dying or already deceased, Paul wanted these believers to understand that victory over death had been won – “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” ⁴⁹ The relationship between the problem of deceased believers and the parousia’s prominent place in Paul’s theology is summarized in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him.”

Social and historical criticism has revealed a number of conclusions concerning the two pericopes found in this section of the epistle. The roads near Thessalonica were lined with graves of individuals who were “asleep” and these same roads would be the place of the parousia of the Caesar or governor which was announced via a shout or trumpet, and the coming of high-ranking officials would also have been understood as a way to remind the onlookers of the “peace and security” they had because of their Roman rulers. This “peace and security” would have carried over into both day and night, so that the Thessalonians would not have to fear thieves in the night because they were supposedly protected by those who wore both a breastplate and a helmet – the Roman soldiers. All of these things were very familiar to the Thessalonian believers, and Paul appealed to these contemporary images, understandings and customs to convey the message to his believers.

Therefore, this Pauline epistle written from Corinth – the earliest NT document we have – was written not only with an eschatological mindset but also a social mindset. This understanding allows the reader to see that Paul was not simply explaining to the Thessalonians that the believers who had died would be reunited with them at the parousia of Jesus, but that their “peace and security” would come from Jesus, who would return like a “thief in the night” to meet believers in the “air” thereby demonstrating his mastery over the forces of evil, and then the believers would “be with the Lord forever” (4:18). They were not outcasts or “of darkness” as the pagans were; these individuals were “sons of light” and belong to the ultimate Light. “Therefore,” Paul concludes, “comfort one another with these words.”

Endnotes

1. Young, R Garland. "The Times And The Seasons: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11." Review & Expositor 96.2 (1999): 274. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials. Web.

2. "paraenesis". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, n.d. Web.  

3. Or the Greek Silvanus, which is a variant of Silas.

4. Mackervoy, Ian. "When Jesus Christ comes: An EasyEnglish Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians." EasyEnglish Bible. Wycliffe Associates (UK), n.d. Web.

5. There are a variety of arguments for and against the Pauline authorship of 1^st Thessalonians. For example, 2^nd Thessalonians is considered to have been written between AD 80-100. As such, perhaps one of the strongest external textual evidences in favor of Pauline authenticity is 2^nd Thessalonians which appears to be the earliest document that presupposes Pauline authorship of 1^st Thessalonians. Other evidences cited are very early usage of this Epistle as Scripture by the Church Fathers as well as a variety of other reasons. Arguments against Pauline authorship essentially come to a supposed lack of firm doctrine, the notion that this letter is a forgery derived from his story in the book of Acts, and the phrase ephthase de ep autous he orge eis telos, "the wrath hath come upon them unto the end" (2:16), supposedly refers to the destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70) as punishment of the Jews for killing Jesus. But this is an unnecessary assumption, however. Paul, as with any other writer, “adapted his letters to the wants of those to whom he wrote. The very fact that the apprehension of an immediate Parousia us not mentioned in the later letters would have prevented a forger from palming off as Pauline such an unusual topic” (Drum, Walter. "Epistles to the Thessalonians." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.)

6. There are a handful of scholars who hold that Paul actually wrote to the Galatians first before writing to the Thessalonians, thus causing dispute about which letter was earliest (Zahn, "Einleitung in das Neue Testament" Leipzig, 1897, I, 138.)

7. Ehrman, Bart D. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. 302. Print.

8. Collins, Raymond F. Studies on the First Letter to the Thessalonians. 1st ed. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1984. 170. Print.

9. Udo Schnelle, translated by M. Eugene Boring, The History and Theology of the New Testament Writings (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998), pp. 48.

10. Ibid 8, pp.156.

11. Wallace, Daniel B.. "1 Thessalonians: Introduction, Outline, and Argument." Bible.org. N.p., 28 Jun 2004. Web.

12. Drum, Walter. "Epistles to the Thessalonians." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.

13. Chronology of Harnack, "Chronologie der altchristlichen Litteratur" (Leipzig, 1897), I, 717

14. Drum, Walter. "Epistles to the Thessalonians." Early Christian Writings. 2013. 

15. Mackervoy, Ian. "When Jesus Christ comes: An EasyEnglish Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians." EasyEnglish Bible. Wycliffe Associates (UK), n.d. Web.

16. Kirby, Peter. "e-Catena." Early Christian Writings. 2013. 16 Oct. 2013

17. Ibid 7, pp.303.

18. Morris, Leon, and F.F. Bruce. New International Commentary on the New Testament. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William E. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 1991. 135. Print.

19. Ibid 1.

20. Cranford, Michael. "Pagan Ethics and the Rhetoric of Separation: A Sociological and Rhetorical Context for 1 Thessalonians 4:1-5:11." Early Christian Writings. 2013.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid 1. Note that Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, also makes reference to an Essene teaching of hating your enemies – but he goes against this and says to love your enemies. See also “Sons of light” (Luke 16:8 and John 12:36), “Children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).

23. Stanley, Christopher D. "Who's Afraid of a Thief in the Night?." New Testament Studies. 48. (2002): 468-486. Print.

24. See Matthew 24:43; Luke 12:39; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 3:3; 16:15

25. Ibid, 23. pg.483

26. Ibid.

27. Ibid, pg.486.

28. Ibid 1.

29. Ibid 18, pp.143.

30. Morris, Leon. The Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians. 1st ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Printing Company, 1979. 95. Print.

31. Ibid 7, pp.314.

32. Ibid 18, pp.146.

33. Ibid 1, pp.270.

34. For example, Enoch in Genesis 5:24; Elijah in 2nd Kings 2:11; see also the Apocalypse of Moses 37.3; the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra 5:7.

35. Ibid 1, pp.266

36. See Exodus 19:16; Isaiah 27:13; Joel 2:1; Zechariah 9:14.

37. Ibid 18, pp.144.

38. Koester, Helmut. "Imperial Ideology and Paul's Eschatology in 1 Thessalonians." Trans. Array Paul and Empire. . 1st ed. Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1997. 158-160. Print.

39. Ibid, 162.

40. See Homer’s Iliad 11.241; Genesis 47:30; Deuteronomy 31:16; Job 14:12f., Jeremiah 51:39; John 11:11-13; Acts 13:36; 1st Corinthians 11:30.

41. Idyll 4.4.2, from Malysz, Piotr J. "Paul's Use Of The Imagery Of Sleep And His Understanding Of The Christian Life: A Study In The Thessalonian Correspondence." Concordia Theological Quarterly 67.1 (2003): 69. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials. Web.

42. Letter to Apollonius 103F-104A, from Ibid. In Epistle 99.2 the philosopher Seneca makes a similar urging to reason similar appeal to reason when scolding who reprimands his friend for grieving too much.

43. Ibid.

44. Ibid 1, pp.271.

45. Ibid, pp.269.

46. Ibid.

47. Ibid 18, pps.150-151.

48. Ibid, pp.141.

49. Paul uses this in 1^st Corinthians 15:55 (AD 54), which is itself a quote from Hosea 13:14 (710 BC). Notably, Paul alludes to the concept found within the 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 in the previous verses, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” Here we see the usage of the trumpet, the resurrection of the dead, and “sleep” as a euphemism for death, just as in the 4:13-18 pericope.