NEWBOLD COLLEGE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP IN JESUS
EXEGESIS OF 1 THESSALONIANS 4: 13–18
SUBMITTED TO DR. DE BRUIN
BY
SERGIO DE SOUSA
2nd OF MAY 2017
1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18
The chapters preceding the passage in question present Paul as a counsellor in two main subjects; (1) love and (2) the importance of holiness with Christ. Paul had commended and exhorted the believers to stand firm in their faith, correcting some of the misconceptions of a young church regarding the responsibilities of the present, where honour and shame were in their mind-set as most important and valuable.
At one point in time, the believers in Thessalonica were assured that Jesus would return soon, resulting in the fulfilment of being with Him in heaven. However, as time went on and Jesus still had not returned, there were growing concerns regarding those who had passed away prior to the coming of Christ. Would those who had already passed away participate with Him with the same privilege as those who were still alive? Thus, the authors sought to clarify the teaching so that they could rest assured with the hope that those who have already died would enjoy the same privilege as those who were alive.
In the light of the dilemmas faced by the apostle Paul and against the background of the discussions which took place, the aim of this paper is to explore why Paul used the euphemistic expression of ‘being asleep’ instead of ‘death’ in his rhetoric, with special focus on the passage in question (1 Thess 4:13). I propose to explore this by connecting the time that he spent with the congregation with how this may have affected the understanding of his doctrine. It is apparent that Paul did not explain the specific details of the fate of the believers who had passed away before the coming (παρουσία) of Jesus (1 Thess 4:13-18). As Paul’s visit, according to the author of Acts, only lasted a short while, it is reasonable to conclude this was the reason for his not exploring the fullness of the gospel teaching, which was still in its infancy. Thus, Paul is seeking to soften one aspect of the teaching concerning the second coming: the explanation of death by using the euphemism ‘asleep’ (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
Paul finds himself in a difficult position at this point, on the one hand, he needs to acknowledge the different backgrounds of the Thessalonica church, where Jews and Gentiles are living in a society immersed in the Greek philosophy and its views, on the other hand, he could not address in depth some of the profound conceptions of Christian theology regarding death, while spending just some weeks with the members of that congregation. Paul’s teaching approach was to soften his themes using euphemisms like ‘asleep’ (κοιμάω) instead of ‘death’ (θάνατος), an approach not seen before in his writings, reinforcing the acknowledgement that perhaps some contextual compromise must be made so that with a longer period of time and learning the conception of ‘asleep’ will amalgamate with the idea of the definitive death of the body and soul.
Furthermore, according to Ehrman, the short length of time Paul spent in the church of Thessalonica becomes more evident as the apostle and his companions set up a business in order to financially maintain themselves and not become a burden to the congregation. As they worked day and night (1Thess 2:9), their very busy working schedule, left very limited time to preach any kind of profound theology. As a result, perhaps considering that the church was composed of reformed dead idol worshipers, Paul’s primary focus was to introduce the basic message of Christ, hoping for in the future he would explain more in depth his full doctrine.
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, with respect of those who are asleep, that you should not grieve like those who don’t have hope. 14 If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and then God, through Jesus, will bring with him those who fallen asleep. 15 This we declare to you, by the word of the Lord that we who remain alive until His coming, will not go before those who have fallen asleep. 16 Because the Lord himself, with a loud command with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God will descent from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then, we the remaining living ones will be together with them and will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so always with the Lord, we will be. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thess 4:13–18)
Paul responded to some misinterpretations of his teachings while with the Thessalonians. They had been distressed about the fate of those who had died before Jesus’ return, believing that those who will be alive at the time of the coming will have some kind of special privilege with Christ. As Paulien explains, the confusion caused among the members of Thessalonica is understandable because of the short time given by the Apostle Paul to instruct them correctly, the consequence may be that they may have mixed what they remembered from Paul’s instructions and cultural ideas from Jewish or other traditions.
However, the opposite also applies according to Wiersbe’s point of view on Paul’s teachings that, if we take the assumption that Paul and his companion spent just three weeks in Thessalonica, this demonstrates Paul’s commitment and dedication to preach the doctrines of Christ to the newly converted in such a short period of time. As we observe through the first and second letters to the Thessalonians that every major important subject was mentioned by him.
One can reasonably conclude that Paul did not have enough time to explain the fullness of the Christian notion of death and, as a result, did not want to discourage them in the process, which lead to his use of ‘asleep.’ Who then is Paul referring to when using the phrase ‘…those who are asleep?’ The term κοιμηθέντας is in the aorist participle carrying the connotation of a past event which has present implications. The term ‘sleep’ is a euphemism for the death of a Christian; it illustrates the belief that just as a person awakes from sleep, the Christian will be awakened to a newly resurrected life with Christ.
However, why does Paul opt for this specific metaphoric expression ‘to sleep’? We can answer this question by pointing out that many other cultures have similarly applied this particular term to make a direct connotation with death, which may explain why he decided to use ‘sleep’ in a euphemistic way,. From a Christian context, to the term lends itself well to emphasise the temporality of death, for as Paul mentioned later, ‘in a blink of an eye’ (1 Cor 15:52), death must be followed by the resurrection, just like metaphorically ‘sleep’ is soon followed by being awake.
Paul is now faced with the issue of identity and belonging, with the question if those who have died still can be part of the community, the body of Christ. In the Thessalonian mentality those who died had no hope of being saved in Jesus’ coming, and in response to their concerns, Paul’s choice of words to describe the deceased believers is rather interesting. Paul highlights that those Christians have not actually died, but rather they had ‘fallen asleep’ and as he refers to the deceased believers as ‘sleeping’, he is giving them the reassurance that they are still part of the community even in such a state.
Another assumption we can take into consideration is the rhetoric of Paul’s metaphor of death. As Sampley and Lampe explains, the way we interpret particular metaphors can be different from context to context and result in different meanings. If Paul’s metaphors were to be read in a different way from what his contemporaries knew, Paul would have been more specific in order to avoid ambiguity and confusion. If we approach the meaning of death in a metaphoric form just like the Thessalonians perhaps had been culturally instructed to do, we can see how the poetic influences could affect the meaning of the writings of the Apostle Paul.
To conclude, in the passage of 1 Thess 4:13–18, wich provides a greater discussion regarding Jesus’ second coming, Paul’s writing is focused on correcting some of the wrong teachings that had been interpreted by some through the lens of Gnostic concepts from no Christian community. However, what Paul aimed to correct in the church of Thessalonica was not their theology but how they behaved, not to inform the church but to provide ground for change.
Part of the main issue was the short time spent by Paul with the members of the church in Thessalonica, since this led to some of the basic doctrines being largely ignored in his teaching. We will never know for sure if a longer stay had been beneficial for better understanding, but it seems plausible to believe that it would have generated a considerable chance to help those in the church to be better informed by the apostle and get the clarification they needed. What we know for sure is that God was in control of Paul’s message to his church, and the fact that we have been benefitting from his writings and his experiences, is a clear living proof of it.
Bibliography
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