But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
The leading topic of Paul's preaching at Thessalonica having been the coming kingdom (Acts 17:7), some perverted it into a cause for fear as to friends lately deceased, lest these would be excluded from the glory which those found alive alone should share. This error Paul corrects (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:10).
I would not. A B Delta G 'Aleph (') f g, Vulgate, have 'we would not:' Silas, Timothy, and myself desire that ye be not ignorant.
Them which are asleep. So Delta G х kekoimeemenoon (G2837)]. A B 'Aleph (') f g, Vulgate, read (present) 'them which are sleeping' х koimoomenoon (G2837)]: the same as "the dead in Christ" (1 Thessalonians 4:16), to whose bodies (Daniel 12:2, not their souls; Ecclesiastes 12:7; 2 Corinthians 5:8) death is a calm and holy sleep, from which the resurrection shall awake them to glory. Repose, continued existence, and awaking are implied in 'sleep.' 'Cemetery' means a sleeping-place. The full glory is not to be realized at death, but at the Lord's coming: one is not to anticipate the other, but all are to be glorified together then (Colossians 3:4; Hebrews 11:40). Death affects the individual; the coming of Jesus, the whole Church. At death our souls are invisibly and individually with the Lord; at Christ's coming the Church, with all its members; in body and soul, shall be visibly and collectively with Him. As this is here the consolation to mourning relatives, the mutual recognition of the saints at Christ's coming is implied.
That ye sorrow not, even as others, х hoi (G3588) loipoi (G3062)] - 'the rest:' all the world besides Christians. Not natural mourning for dead friends is forbidden; for the Lord Jesus and Paul sinlessly gave way to it (John 11:33; John 11:35; Philippians 2:27): but sorrow as though there were "no hope," which indeed the pagan had not (Ephesians 2:12). The Christian hope, is the resurrection. Compare Psalms 16:9; Psalms 16:11; Psalms 17:15; Psalms 73:24; Proverbs 14:32, show that the Old Testament Church, though not having the hope so bright (Isaiah 38:18-19), yet had this hope. Contrast 'Catullus,' 1 Thessalonians 4:4, 'Once our brief day has set, we sleep one everlasting night.' The tomb inscriptions of pagan Thessalonica express this hopeless view. AEschylus, 'Eumen.,' 638, 'Of one once dead there is no resurrection.' Whatever glimpses pagan philosophers had of the soul's existence after death, they had none of the body (Acts 17:18; Acts 17:20; Acts 17:32).