1 Thessalonians 4:17

4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, ¹  will be suddenly caught up ²  together ³  with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:10

5:10 He died ⁴  for us so that whether we are alert or asleep ⁵  we will come to life together with him.

1 Thessalonians 4:14

4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that ⁶  God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians. ⁷ 

[4:17]  ¹ tc The words οἱ περιλειπόμενοι (Joi perileipomenoi, “[the ones] who are left”) are lacking in F G {0226^vid} ar b as well as a few fathers, but the rest of the textual tradition has the words. Most likely, the Western mss omitted the words because of perceived redundancy with οἱ ζῶντες (Joi zwnte", “[the ones] who are alive”).

[4:17]  ² 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]  ³ tn Or “simultaneously,” but this meaning does not fit as well in the parallel in 5:10.

[5:10]  ⁴ tn Grk “the one who died,” describing Jesus Christ (1 Thess 5:9). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 10 in the translation.

[5:10]  ⁵ sn The phrases alert or asleep may be understood (1) of moral alertness (living in faith, love, and hope as vv. 6, 8 call for, versus being unresponsive to God) or (2) of physical life and death (whether alive or dead). The first fits better with the context of 5:1-9, while the second returns to the point Paul started with in 4:13-18 (no disadvantage for the believing dead).

[4:14]  ⁷ tn “we believe that” is understood from the first clause of the verse, which is parallel. Grk “so also God will bring.”

[4:14]  ⁸ 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).