Discovery Box1 Thessalonians 4:14
Context4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that 1 God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians. 2
1 Thessalonians 4:17
Context4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, 3 will be suddenly caught up 4 together 5 with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.
[4:14] 1 tn “we believe that” is understood from the first clause of the verse, which is parallel. Grk “so also God will bring.”
[4:14] 2 tn Grk “those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.” It is possible that “through Jesus” describes “bring,” but this gives the unlikely double reference, “through Jesus God will bring them with Jesus.” Instead it describes their “falling sleep,” since through him their death is only sleep and not the threat it once was. Also Christians are those whose total existence – life and death – is in and through and for Christ (1 Cor 8:6).
[4:17] 3 tc The words οἱ περιλειπόμενοι (Joi perileipomenoi, “[the ones] who are left”) are lacking in F G {0226vid} ar b as well as a few fathers, but the rest of the textual tradition has the words. Most likely, the Western
[4:17] 4 tn Or “snatched up.” The Greek verb ἁρπάζω implies that the action is quick or forceful, so the translation supplied the adverb “suddenly” to make this implicit notion clear.
[4:17] 5 tn Or “simultaneously,” but this meaning does not fit as well in the parallel in 5:10.
