Page 30 - Pauline Epistles Student Textbook

everything that Jesus Christ said and did (John 21:25). It could be that those words were among
those things that the authors did not include when they were penning down their canonical books.
Written in this verse also is what appears to be the proof to Plevnik’s point concerning the cause for
the grieving among the brothers and sisters. Notice that Paul said that those who will be alive at the
coming of Jesus Christ will not precede those who have died in Christ.

Verse 16 divulges the manner of Jesus’ coming. He will come with a loud command, with the voice
of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. After which, the dead in Christ will rise first. As
others have suggested, Christ’s cry of command is directed to the dead whom He will call to the
51
resurrection by means of the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. Fair analysis of this
verse suggests that Jesus’ coming will be unequivocally public and loud because of the use of a
trumpet. These are future realities!. The author of Hebrews says;

7
“ So, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested and tried me,
though for forty years they saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest’” (Heb 3:7-11; cf. Psa 95:7-11).

Based on v17, many attempts have been made by a large group of scholars to place the “catching
up” together with Him for a meeting in the air as a rapture. Some have seen it as a secrete action
that will suddenly remove Christians from the world so that they should not undergo the great
tribulation mentioned in Revelation 7:14. The Greek word for “to be caught up” is ἁρπαγησόμεθα
52
(arpagēsometha). It is derived from ἁρπάζω (harpazō). Green argues that this verb appears in a
number of New Testament passages. In those passages, it can either mean “to take someone by
force or violence (Matt 11:12; 12:29; 13:19; John 6:15; 10:12, 28-29; Acts 23:10; Jude 23), or to catch
someone away to a celestial place (Acts 8:39; 2 Cor. 12:2, 4; Rev 12:5).” In v17, those Christians who
will be alive at the Parousia will be suddenly taken away. Then on the word “meet” the Lord in the
air, Morris argues that the word was a “technical term for the official welcome of a newly arrived
dignitary.” So, the “customary procedure was for the delegation to return to the city with the
53
visiting dignitaries.” Notice that Paul did not mention anything concerning welcoming Jesus Christ
54
on earth together with the saints. Instead, he said that those Christians will be with the Lord forever.
Also, Paul does not discuss anything concerning the transformation of their bodies into the glorified
bodies like 1 Corinthians 15:35-49. Therefore, based on the context, discussions concerning the
rapture should not be juxtaposed with this passage because its thrust concerns the reassurance to

51 Ibid., 173.
52 Morris, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The First and Second Epistles to
the Thessalonians, 145.
53 Morris, 1 & 2 Thessalonians: The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, 94.

54 Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians: The Pillar New Testament Commentary, 226.

29