But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that ye should be written to,
Paul has just told the Thessalonians something new about the Lord's coming for His own. On the times and seasons, though, he says they need no letter at all — and that leaves us asking why the two subjects stand so differently.
The opening words of chapter 5 are set deliberately against what came just before, where Paul writes so that his readers will not be uninformed.
The first and second verses of chapter 5 stand in very direct contrast to 1 Thess. 4:13, 15. About the coming of the Lord Jesus for His saints — what people usually call "the rapture" — they knew nothing. That left them in needless difficulty and sorrow, so the Apostle wrote to them "by the word of the Lord" to teach them. But about "the times and the seasons" they were not ignorant at all, and Paul had no need to write to them on that subject.
The phrase is not a general word for the future. Writers connect it with God's dealings with this world.
The times and seasons have to do with the earth and not heaven, as Genesis 1:14 shows us. In Thessalonians the term does not mean the divisions of earth's history that the sun and stars mark out. It means the larger divisions, each with its own special features, which God's moral government of the earth marks out. In the past, great events have opened a fresh season: the flood, the rescue of Israel from Egypt and the giving of the law, the fall of David's line of kings and the passing of rule into the hands of the nations. Another season is still to come. The Lord Jesus will open it when He takes up His great power to reign. That will be "the day of the Lord."
Paul does not argue the point. He treats the day of the Lord as something his readers already know.
So the apostle, when he speaks of the day of the Lord, refers to it as already too well known to need fresh words about it. The Thessalonians did not need teaching about that. But this makes very plain the difference between how God will deal with the saints and how He will deal with the rest of mankind. When Paul takes up the Lord's coming, they need teaching; when he speaks about the day of the Lord, they do not.
That gap in what they knew leads one writer to a firm conclusion.
The Thessalonians had no difficulty with these times and seasons. They knew all they needed to know about them. Yet no one had taught them properly about what will happen at the resurrection and rapture of the saints. It is obvious then that Paul — and therefore the Spirit — did not count the resurrection and rapture as part of the times and seasons. Those belong to the day of the Lord and the kingdom on earth.
Once Paul reaches this subject, the way he speaks of his readers changes.
In the previous chapters Paul had not pointed out any period of time in connection with the Lord's coming. Here he takes up the question of "times and seasons." But the moment he touches this point, he stops saying "we." He says "they" and "them" — those who are outside. He takes great care to mark the saints off from them. When he speaks to the saints again, he calls them "But you, brothers."
One writer turns to what this means for working out dates.
Times and seasons do not directly concern the Church. They look on to the times and conditions in which God will carry out His ways with the earth, as the prophetic Scriptures foretell. The Lord had said to His disciples, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority" (Acts 1:7). So it is useless to try to work out the date of the Lord's coming from Daniel's prophecies or any other Scripture. It is worse than useless. It tries to find out what the Lord says is not for us to know.
Yet ignorance of dates is not ignorance of sequence:
Scripture has foretold two events, and one must happen before the other: the rapture of the saints comes before the day of the Lord, when He returns with His saints. Christians are expected to know this order... Still, we are not to know when either will happen. We are to be ready for the rapture at all times.
- Contrast. Chapter 4 taught them what they did not know. Chapter 5 builds on what they already knew.
- Scope. "Times and seasons" belong to God's government of the earth, and lead up to the day of the Lord.
- Source. Paul wrote nothing new about the day of the Lord because it was already too well known to need fresh words.
- Proof. They knew the times and seasons well, but knew nothing of the rapture — so the two are not the same event.
- Posture. Believers may know the order of events, but not the dates — so the call is to be ready, not to calculate.
for ye know perfectly well yourselves, that the day of [the] Lord so comes as a thief by night.
In chapter 4 Paul described the Lord coming for His own. Now he turns to an event the world will never see coming: what is "the day of the Lord," and how could Paul say they already knew it perfectly?
The opening phrase of verse 1 sets the frame for verse 2. "Times and seasons" is not a vague expression for the future; it points to God's dealings with this world, and the same words appear elsewhere in Scripture.
'Times and seasons' as relating to the earth are first mentioned in Genesis 1:14. We have the exact words here, and we meet with them again in Acts 1:7 and 1 Thessalonians 5:1. It is clear that this expression refers to God's dispensations and dealings on the earth. In Acts 1, the disciples were not to know the time of God's dealings. Yet the Thessalonians did know the manner of God's predicted dealings, and the order in which they would happen: indeed they knew this perfectly, though they were ignorant of the coming of the Lord for His saints, as revealed in the previous chapter. But then, that coming has to do with a heavenly calling, while 'times and seasons' relate to the earth.
This has a sharp practical edge for anyone tempted to fix a date.
Times and seasons do not refer directly to the Church. They look on to the times and conditions in which God will carry out His ways with the earth, as the prophetic Scriptures foretell. The Lord had said to His disciples, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority" (Acts 1:7). So it is useless to work out and predict the date of the Lord's coming from Daniel's prophecies or other Scriptures. It is worse than useless. It means trying to find out what the Lord plainly says is not for us to know.
"You yourselves are fully aware" — but aware of what, exactly? Their certainty was not about a date.
There was no need to write anything now, for they knew perfectly that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. The apostle may not have gone into details. But they were sure of this great and solemn truth deep inside. What they knew perfectly was not, as some strangely say, that its time is uncertain. They knew that its coming is certain, and as terrible as it is unexpected.
So what does that day actually bring?
The prophets refer to the day of the Lord again and again. It always has in view the day when the Lord steps in to judge the earth. That judgment leads on to the restoration of Israel and the blessing of the nations.
Its force comes out best when set against the present age.
From these and similar passages, we learn that "the day of the Lord" carries a very solemn thought: judgment on the world. Judgment on Israel in its turning away from God, on man and his ways, on everything the human heart prizes and longs after. In short, the day of the Lord stands in striking contrast with man's day. Man has the upper hand now, the Lord will have the upper hand then.
The image says one thing above all: no announcement.
The Lord is not willing that you should perish. But remember this: "The day of the Lord will come like a thief" (2 Peter 3:10). I never heard of a thief blowing a trumpet before he broke into your house. This is how the Son of Man will come to deal with this godless world.
Commentators here draw a firm line between chapter 4 and chapter 5.
So 1 Thessalonians 5 opens by drawing a distinction. Chapter 4 has dealt with the coming of the Lord for His saints. Now comes "the day of the Lord." That comes, not as a bridegroom for his bride, but "like a thief in the night."
"The day of the Lord" is not a day of twenty-four hours, but a stretch of time like "the day of salvation." It is a period in the cycle of "times and seasons," marked out by the complete supremacy and authority of the Lord. It starts when He shows Himself publicly in the clouds of heaven — His appearing with His saints.
The same line runs on into verse 4. There the thief image no longer applies to believers.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:2, about the world it says, "the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." But to the saints it says, "But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day." And when He comes who brings in the day, the children of the day will come with Him.
The thief language is not confined to open unbelievers.
The judgment of God will suddenly overtake the scoffers of these last days, for "the day of the Lord will come like a thief." In Matthew 24:43 the Lord had shown that He would come as a thief. Paul wrote the same thing to the Thessalonians. Now Peter tells us the same thing. From heaven, the Lord gives a similar warning to the professing church: "If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief" (Rev. 3:3). How very solemn that the same unexpected judgment will catch those who only profess to be Christians, just as it catches the scoffers of the last days.
- Earth, not heaven. "Times and seasons" belong to God's dealings with the world, not to the hope of the Church.
- Certain, not datable. They knew perfectly that the day comes, never when. Date-setting reaches for what the Father has kept in His own hands.
- Man's day ends. The day of the Lord is the day He steps in to judge. Man has the upper hand now; then the Lord will.
- A thief, not a trumpet. No announcement comes first. The day breaks in on the world without warning.
- Night for them, day for you. Believers are children of the day, so the thief image does not apply to them. The warning still stands over anyone who only claims the name.
When they may say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon her that is with child; and they shall in no wise escape.
The verse pictures the world at its most confident: a cry of peace and safety, and then a blow that no one can dodge. Paul writes it to mark the line between what waits for the world and what waits for believers.
Watch the pronouns. Paul does not slide from one audience to another by accident.
That is exactly where many make such utter confusion; they do not distinguish between the hope of the Christian and "the day" for the world... he says, "When they say, 'Peace and safety,' then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman." He does not say "you," but "they." Why the difference? When he speaks about the presence of the Lord, he says "you," "we"; but when he treats of the day of Jehovah, he says "they."
A note on wording: the ESV reads, "While people are saying, 'There is peace and security.'" Kelly quotes an older translation that keeps the pronoun "they," and his point turns on that word.
"Peace and safety" is not the same unbelief as open mockery. It is the settled calm of people who trust the world's arrangements — and even that calm is not quite steady.
Here it is more a matter of inward quiet and outward freedom from danger. It comes from confidence in the social and political state of mankind. Yet it is not without uneasy qualms. These betray the real unrest and the hidden dread of those who do not know God and His Christ. So it was with men when the flood came and swept away all who despised God's warning through Noah. So it was in the days of Lot: after a weaker and shorter warning, judgment fell on the corrupt cities of the plain. So it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Sudden destruction hangs over those who trust themselves and their own thoughts, rejecting the testimony of God. This is the judgment of the living... It is the end of the age, but not the end of the world materially... It is unspiritual ignorance, even folly, to apply this to the destruction of Jerusalem or to death, as some have done and do. It is the day of the Lord, still to fall on the world.
What will produce such confidence? One writer ties it to a coming world ruler, the figure called the beast.
The beast is the dragon's chief political agent. He will be a very powerful and impressive figure. Men will even worship him and see his power as unstoppable. Men will feel that here at last is the superman and the super-kingdom, which can impose its will and put down all opposition. This, we judge, is what will lead men to say, "Peace and safety," as foretold in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, but which leads to "sudden destruction."
Nothing builds up in view. The cry of safety is the last thing heard before the blow.
"Sudden destruction" will come. Swift will be the blow — a bolt out of the blue. How vivid is the picture of the old book — "as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman."
Commentators read the comparison in two ways. Some stress the speed of the pangs. Others look at what the pangs produce.
The comparison "labor pains come upon a pregnant woman" is meant to teach us this: out of all this anguish God will see fit to bring fruit for His own glory. During the tribulation crowds of people will turn in faith to the living God, people who never knew the gospel before. This will glorify God, as will His holy triumph over evil. Indeed, for Israel the tribulation will be the labor pains of a nation born all at once (Isaiah 66:8).
The last clause shuts every door. Yet the same verse that leaves the world no escape gives the believer certainty.
Things may look golden and peaceful, and so deceive. But the children of light have the privilege of knowing that there is no escape for the world. So, just as Daniel made known the rise and course of the world's power, the believer can declare its end. The One who executes judgment on the world is the same One who died for the believer. He removed all wrath and judgment, and He is risen for ever out of it.
Paul immediately turns from "they" to "you," and he does it deliberately.
He is not afraid that it would endanger the young believers in Thessalonica, or any others, to know how grace had marked them off from the rest of mankind. His very aim here, as elsewhere, is to press this distinction on them so it can never be erased. He says, first, that they were not in darkness, so that the day should surprise them like a thief; second, that they all were sons of light and sons of day.
- They, not you. The pronoun does the teaching: the day of the Lord falls on "them," while the Lord's coming for His own is always "you" and "we."
- The cry. "Peace and safety" is confidence in the state of society and politics — calm on the surface, uneasy underneath.
- The trigger. One reading links the cry to a coming ruler, the beast, whose power looks unstoppable. Men think peace has come at last.
- The blow. Destruction falls at once, as in the days of Noah and Lot. It is the day of the Lord on a living world, and the labor-pains figure points both to its speed and to the fruit God brings out of the anguish.
- The escape. There is none for the world. The believer needs none: he is a child of light, secured by the very One who will execute the judgment.
But *ye*, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you as a thief
Paul has just pictured the world talking about peace and safety when sudden ruin falls on it. Now he turns to the believers with one small word — "you."
The two pronouns mark off two different groups.
The words "they" and "you" make it still clearer that the day of the Lord is for the world. He does not say, "When you say, Peace and safety," but when "they say." So Paul leaves the believer entirely outside that day of sudden destruction.
Paul says one thing they are not, and then one thing they are. Young believers take no harm from knowing the difference.
He is not afraid that it would harm the young believers in Thessalonica, or anyone else, to know how grace had set them apart from the rest of mankind. His whole aim here, as elsewhere, is to stamp this difference on them so deeply that nothing can rub it out. He says two things. First, they were not in darkness, so the day could not surprise them like a thief. Second, they were all sons of light and sons of day. They were not only unlike the world, which sits in darkness under the Lord's judgment. They were real sharers in divine nature and blessedness.
Some argue that Paul only means believers will be partly surprised. One writer answers that from what Paul had taught them just before.
Some claim that Paul could not have said the day would not overtake them like a thief unless they were still liable to be overtaken by it in some way. But look at what Paul teaches, even right here, and there is no ground for this at all. But he had just taught them that they were to be caught up to meet Him in the air and be brought with Him. In other words, he had taught them what makes it impossible to say that the day could overtake them in any way at all.
The two titles in verse 5 are not repetition. One looks at what has already happened inside the believer; the other looks at where he is heading.
The believer is in no sense in darkness. He is in the light, even though all around him lies "darkness which may be felt," like the plague of darkness in Egypt. New birth has made an infinite difference. A great gulf now separates us from those who are "of the night" and "of darkness." The words "children of light" seem to mean that the truth has already taken hold of the heart, even though all around may be darkness. The words "children of day" tie us to the future day of glory. On that day we will be shown and blessed in the place that truly belongs to us. We are no part of the present state of things at all. Night and darkness do not belong to our nature. We look for the day, because the day is where we belong.
A thief only alarms a house that is asleep. So does the Lord come to His own that way?
His coming is never spoken of this way for His own. They wait for Him in bright hope, with no fear that He will surprise them like a thief. His coming is their joy; and they watch more than a watchman for the dawn. So the picture of the thief belongs to the sleeping world, and to people whose minds are set on the world.
Another writer sets this verse beside a warning the Lord sent to the church in Sardis.
To the Thessalonians Paul had written, "You are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief." It will come on the world that way. And then the Lord writes to Sardis, "Lest I come as a thief" — that is, treat you as the world.
Verse 4 states a fact. The next verse draws the conclusion.
The word of God never contains bare doctrine on its own. Truth always gives a certain character to the people it puts in a place of privilege.
If we are sons of light and of day, then sleep does not suit us. Sleep here means not caring about the will of the Lord. What suits us is watching and staying clear-headed, as people who draw their life from Him who is the one true light, and who will bring in the day.
- Pronoun. Paul's "they" and "you" divide the human race in one stroke: sudden destruction falls on them, not on you.
- Reason. The day cannot surprise a believer. He is not in darkness, and he will already have been caught up to meet the Lord.
- Nature. He is more than safe. He is a son of light and a son of day. Truth holds his heart now, and the coming day of glory is where he belongs.
- Thief. That image fits a sleeping world, and a church like Sardis that the Lord will treat as the world. It never fits those who watch for Him with joy.
- Character. Privilege never stays bare doctrine. Being of the day means refusing to sleep, and staying awake and clear-headed until it dawns.
for all *ye* are sons of light and sons of day; we are not of night nor of darkness.
Paul has just described the day of the Lord falling on a sleeping world like a thief in the night. Now he tells the believers why that day holds no dread for them, and the reason is not what they do but what they are.
Safety from that day comes down to who a person belongs to.
That day will not overtake the children of the day — the children of light — as a thief does. And that is exactly because they are children of the day. They have been taught in advance about the judgments of God. They belong to Him who is to be the Judge, not to the world those judgments will fall on. They wait for Him from heaven, who has saved them by His grace, who delivers them from the wrath to come.
"Sons of" is a way of speaking about nature rather than rank. Scripture uses it elsewhere in the same way.
The title 'son' implies 'likeness.' Scripture uses it this way to mark moral likeness, as of a son to a father — so 'a son of Belial' (a worthless man), 1 Sam. 25:17; 'you son of the devil,' Acts 13:10; 'sons of disobedience,' Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:6; also 'sons of light' and 'sons of day.' 1 Thess. 5:5.
So the phrase points back to a beginning.
The believer is not in darkness, nor is he of the darkness. He is a child of light and of the day. He has been born, so to speak, of the light that reached him in the gospel, and he shares the character of what gave him birth. So he lives in a world of darkness, but he is not in darkness himself. Divine light surrounds his path. He is a child of the coming day, and so he knows where he is going and what is coming.
The two titles are not a repetition. Each one points in a different direction.
It seems that "children of light" means the truth has already taken hold of the heart, even though darkness may be all around. "Children of day" connects us with the future day of glory. In that day we will stand shown and blessed in the place that is truly ours. We are not part of the present state of things at all. The night and the darkness are foreign to our nature; we look for the day, because it is where we truly belong.
The opposite words have a meaning too. Night and darkness are not vague gloom — they mark something missing.
Believers are marked out by having the knowledge of God, and by being in the light of the day that is coming. The world is marked by "night" and "darkness". It is the absence of Christ that makes the night, and ignorance of God that makes up the darkness.
The word "all" matters. These were new believers, yet Paul makes the distinction plainly. Then he includes himself by switching to "we".
He sees no risk in letting the young believers in Thessalonica, or anyone else, know this. Grace had marked them off from the rest of the world. His whole aim here, as elsewhere, is to press this distinction on them so it can never be erased. He says two things. First, they were not in darkness, so the day would not surprise them like a thief. Second, they were all sons of light and sons of day. They were not only unlike the world, which lies in darkness and faces the Lord's judgment. They also had a real share in the divine nature and its blessing.
The verse hands the believer two things at once, and the second is not optional.
So we are given both a privilege and a character. The privilege is that the day will not overtake us, as it will overtake those who live in darkness. The character is that of children of light. There are no bare doctrines in the word. The truth always gives a character to the people it puts in a place of privilege.
That character is meant to be visible now, while the night still lasts.
On the outside it may be night, with darkness all around us. Yet our hearts are in the light of the coming day. So, as sons of the day, we show in the middle of the world's night "the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9).
- Origin. The believer is born of the light that reached him in the gospel and carries the character of what gave him birth.
- Nature. "Son of" marks likeness, not rank — the same idiom that calls others sons of disobedience.
- Position. Sons of light have the truth in the heart now. Sons of day belong to the glory still coming, so night is foreign ground.
- Reach. It is all of them, young converts included, with Paul standing inside the "we" — no advanced class exists.
- Result. Privilege always brings character with it. The result is a life lit up in the world's night, and a day that can never arrive as a thief.
So then do not let us sleep as the rest do, but let us watch and be sober;
Paul has just called the Thessalonians children of light and children of the day. So what sleep is he warning against, and how does staying awake differ from staying sober? (Older translations say "let us watch" here, and the writers quoted below use that wording.)
The command rests on what the believer already has and enjoys.
Privilege that the believer knows and enjoys is the very hinge and motive of responsibility, and so the apostle goes on to urge them. If we are children of God, that is a deep spring of joy in Christ and of thanksgiving to our Father — but how immediate and unbreakable is the call to walk in keeping with that relationship! So here, if we are sons of light and of day, sleep — indifference to the will of the Lord — does not suit us. Watchfulness and sobriety do, as those who draw their life from Him Who is the one true light.
The first command is negative, and it turns on what sleep does to a man.
First, he says, "Let us not sleep, as others do." A sleeping man is untouched by everything around him, and unaware of it. The world has no idea where it is drifting, how useless all its efforts are, or that its doom is coming. Believers must beware of falling into a spiritual apathy that drifts on, like the world, indifferent to the day of the Lord.
Religious activity is no proof that a person is awake. Witherby warns of spiritual sleepwalking.
Sleeping and walking do not go together. Where divine things are real, the mechanical motion of sleepwalking is unknown. We are not saying that the children of God never sleepwalk. Sadly, there is a great deal of formalism and going through religious motions that fits that description, and any religious observance can turn into formalism. Let us make sure we are real. Because we do not belong to the night, let us not sleep as others do.
One word lies behind "watch" here and "wake" in verse 10, but the sense is not the same in both.
It is translated "watch" in verse 6 and "wake" in verse 10, but it is really the same word… In this passage what is commanded is watching in a moral sense. Verse 8 shows it clearly: conduct that suits the Christian as belonging to the day, and not to the night. They were to be marked morally by watching rather than sleeping, and by sobriety… In verse 10 "watching" and "sleeping" mean being alive at the Lord's return, or having fallen asleep before it.
Watching and sobriety are not the same duty said twice. Each answers something different.
Third, we are told to be sober. This stands in contrast to the state that drunkenness pictures, where a man comes under an evil influence. We are to beware of coming under the intoxicating influences of the world. In relation to Christ, and His day, we are to watch; in relation to the world we are to be sober.
A clear head is what makes watching possible. This writer also turns the verse back on the reader.
We are to watch, as in the parable, because we do not know the day or the hour. So we are always expecting the Bridegroom. While we watch — and in fact so that we can watch — we are to keep "that sober clearness of mind which comes from being free of false influences." We are not intoxicated with "wine," but governed and shaped by the truth in the power of the Holy Spirit. You may well ask whether these marks are found in many Christians. That is why it is such an advantage to judge ourselves in the light of this exhortation.
- Day — The command starts from a fact. Believers already belong to the day, and the call is to walk in keeping with it.
- Sleep — Sleep is indifference to the Lord's will. The sleeper is untouched by everything around him, drifting like a world that does not know where it is heading.
- Sleepwalking — Religious routine can be sleep in motion. The test is whether we are real.
- Watch — The watching commanded is moral. It shows in conduct that suits the day, and it looks for Christ.
- Sober — Sobriety faces the other way, toward a world that intoxicates. A clear head makes watching possible, and it is a fair test of where we stand.
for they that sleep sleep by night, and they that drink drink by night;
Paul has just urged the Thessalonians to stay awake and sober, unlike the rest of the world. Here he gives his reason — and it raises two questions: what is this "night," and can people who belong to the day still live as if they belonged to the dark?
One reference work defines this night in a single line:
The moral darkness of the world, in which people sleep and get drunk.
Paul is not making a rule. He is pointing at something everyone has already noticed about human behaviour.
Sleep suits the night, and so does excess: people naturally do in the dark what they would not like to do in the light. This verse sets before our minds the common and undeniable practice of people.
The believer lives in the same world as everyone else. But he belongs to a different time of day, and his life follows from that.
We belong to the day, and so that day cannot come upon us like a thief. The apostle applies this difference of position to the character and walk of the Christian. He is a child of the light, so he is to walk as one. He lives in the day, though all is night and darkness around him. Nobody sleeps in the day. Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. These are the works of darkness.
Drunkenness here goes wider than wine. One writer applies it to the ideas and influences an age pours into people's minds.
The world is in darkness. The world is asleep. The world is even drunk, intoxicated with influences that come from below. This has never been more obvious than it is today, when countless means of communication spread new ideas and influences at great speed.
Drunkenness pictures a person under an outside power. Sobriety is the freedom from it. That gives watching and sobriety two different directions.
Thirdly, we are exhorted to be sober, in contrast to a condition set forth by drunkenness which brings a man under an evil influence. We are to beware lest we come under the intoxicating influences of the world. In relation to Christ, and His day, we are to watch; in relation to the world we are to be sober.
Kelly spells out how far that sobriety reaches:
The picture is drawn, as everyone admits, from keeping clear of all drunkenness. For the Christian that means avoiding everything likely to excite the flesh or the spirit.
The warning is aimed at believers as well. One writer points to the parable of the virgins, where the wise slept just as the foolish did:
There we see the wise and the foolish alike forget the blessed hope that first filled their souls when they went out to meet the Bridegroom. They came under the influence of passing things, and they all slumbered and slept. That is, they lost the expectation of their returning Lord. They settled down among the things around them, carelessly forgetting the hope they once treasured, and forgetting their own character as virgins. And what about us? Are we asleep, even with the truth on our lips?
The whole argument rests on a coming morning. That is what makes the world's drinking so short-sighted.
In every age the enemy has managed to attract and intoxicate crowds with the perishing joys of a world that lies under the curse of God and waits for the fire of His judgement. "Those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night." But the morning is at hand, and then the wine — a fitting symbol of this world's joy — will have completely evaporated.
One writer finds a picture of this in Daniel, who stayed away from a king's feast that stood under God's judgement:
Sudden destruction, like a thief in the night, does not come upon him... The judgement on the feast held no terror for them, because they were not at the feast. They had already judged it. Their separation was not sleep. But they were not indifferent to it, any more than they were enjoying it.
- Night. The darkness here is moral, not the hour on a clock. It is the world's condition: people do in the dark what they would not do in the light.
- Sleep. Night dulls people. The sleeper drifts, and believers can drift the same way, even with the truth on their lips.
- Drunkenness. The night also intoxicates. It brings people under an influence: wine, or the ideas an age pours into their minds.
- Day. The Christian belongs to a different time of day. He walks as a child of light while darkness is all around him.
- Sober. Sobriety is freedom from the night's influences. Watch for Christ, stay clear-headed toward the world — the morning is at hand, and the wine will have evaporated.
but *we* being of [the] day, let us be sober, putting on [the] breastplate of faith and love, and as helmet [the] hope of salvation;
Paul has just split people into two groups: those who belong to the night, and those who belong to the day. This verse tells the day group how to live now — awake, self-controlled, and wearing three things that work as armour.
The command rests on something that was already true of these readers.
As sons of day, they already belonged to the day of glory, and its light filled their hearts with radiant hope… They were told to be clear and open in motive and in movement, alert, and marked by self-control and wakeful activity.
Paul sets the call to be sober against the two things that belong to the night: sleep and drunkenness. One writer separates watching from sobriety by what each one looks at.
Third, we are urged to be sober. The opposite is the state pictured by drunkenness, which brings a man under an evil influence. We must take care that we never come under the intoxicating influences of the world. Toward Christ and His day, we are to watch. Toward the world, we are to be sober.
Paul does not just tell the believer to stay awake. He tells him to dress for danger. Notice what is missing from the list: there is no sword, no weapon for attack.
So the believer is called to be armed as well as watchful and sober. But the weapons here are not for attack. They are for defence only, since it was young Christians who were being addressed. They are the three marks of their life here below: faith, love, and hope.
Each piece covers a particular part of a soldier. The Greek word behind "helmet" says so in its very form.
The breastplate covered and protected the vital organs. It covered the heart, the centre of life and the seat of the affections. It also covered the breathing organs, which supply the breath the life of faith needs… The helmet, peri-kephale, means literally "round the head," not just "on" it. It is the hope of salvation. It covers and protects the mind from the wanderings of human wisdom and from the dark, subtle suggestions of Satan.
Faith, love and hope are not three interchangeable virtues here. Each answers a different pull of the world around us.
To escape the world of sight we need faith, for faith is not ruled by sight. It lives in the light of what is unseen. To escape the lust of the world, love must rule us. To escape the world's empty plans for the future, with their trapping prospects and empty hopes, we need "the hope of salvation".
Some readers take "hope" to mean an unsure wish to be saved in the end. One writer answers that head-on.
But have you thought it through, my soul? Our "helmet" is a salvation we know we have. It is much more than merely hoping to be saved at last. The enemy would soon knock a helmet like that off your head. Is it not right, then, to hope for salvation? True — but in 1 Thessalonians 5 the apostle is speaking of the hope of the Lord's coming, not of our forgiveness and acceptance.
So the salvation still ahead is salvation in its widest sense. And the armour goes on inside, not outside.
Two things can be seen here. The "putting on" means clothing ourselves inwardly, so faith, love, and hope are to be the marks of our spiritual life… Salvation is used here in its full and complete sense. It includes the resurrection of the body, and being for ever with the Lord… That assurance makes us fearless, whatever dangers we have to meet, for this is a helmet no weapon of the enemy can pierce.
Paul elsewhere describes a breastplate of righteousness and a helmet of salvation. The pieces carry the same names there, but they serve a different purpose. The two passages are not saying the same thing.
In Ephesians we are in conflict with enemies… So there the breastplate is practical righteousness, which we must have if we are to fight Satan successfully… In Thessalonians the armour is one part of our life with God, seen in its final result as a matter of hope. It is the active energy of that life with God in faith, love and hope, lived out in a sober walk among the dangers and enemies down here.
- Sober — watching looks toward Christ. Being sober looks at the world and refuses its intoxicating pull.
- Armed — the pieces named are defensive only: faith, love and hope, the three marks of Christian life now.
- Heart — the breastplate covers the affections, so the world's sights and desires cannot reach them.
- Head — the helmet wraps right around the mind. It guards it from human wisdom and the enemy's suggestions.
- Home — the hope is not doubt about forgiveness. It is the certainty of the Lord's coming, the body raised, and being for ever with Him.
because God has not set us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Paul has just told the Thessalonians to wear faith, love, and the hope of salvation. This verse tells them why that hope is safe: God has already settled what lies ahead, and for believers it is not wrath.
The verse sets two destinies side by side. Both rest on God's own appointment.
God has appointed the Christ-rejecting world to wrath, when He will pour out the bowls of His judgment on the earth. We find the details of that solemn time in the book of Revelation. He has appointed us, however, to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. God's appointments are always kept on time. They never fail. Wrath for the world and salvation for the saints are alike sure.
The writers quote an older translation, which says "appointed" where the ESV says "destined."
Many readers take this wrath to mean hell. One writer tests that against the letter itself.
Much depends on how we understand the words "the wrath to come." What is this? The popular explanation is hell, the lake of fire. That will be the doom of all whose names are not found in the book of life, when the great white throne is set (Rev. 20:15). But look closely at 1 Thessalonians 5. It is true that God will cast all who have rejected His testimony in any age into the lake of fire. Even so, "the wrath to come" does not have that final outcome in view. It means instead the judgments God will pour out on this world in a future day — the wrath connected with the coming of the day of the Lord.
The Thessalonians were suffering, and some treated their pain as proof that wrath had already fallen.
There is an immense difference between being appointed to afflictions and being appointed to wrath. The former is our lot, as we have seen; but, thank God, not the latter... There were then those who used the afflictions of the Thessalonians as an occasion to rob them of the Christian's hope, assuming that the afflictions were wrath poured out. That misrepresented the character of God's dealings with His children.
"Salvation" here is not looking backwards at conversion. It is something believers are still to receive.
To sustain "faith," "love," and "hope," we need to grasp God's purpose for us. God has not appointed the believer to wrath but "for obtaining salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." Here salvation means the future, final, and complete deliverance from the world and its coming judgment.
This future hope had a present purpose.
The Holy Spirit of God had a clear purpose: to separate "the children of light and the children of day" in daily life from the confusion and utter godlessness around them. So in these words He reminds them of their glorious future: "God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation" — that is, of the body, since they already had the salvation of the soul — "by our Lord Jesus Christ."
This salvation comes through our Lord Jesus Christ. The next verse tells what it cost Him, and what that means for believers who die before He comes.
"For God has not appointed us to wrath." Faith understands that love — what God wills, His mind concerning us. "But to obtain salvation." This is what we hope for. He speaks of salvation as the final deliverance "by our Lord Jesus Christ." He naturally adds, "who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep" — that is, we have died before His coming, or are alive then — "we should live together with Him." Death does not deprive us of this deliverance and glory, because Jesus died. Death became the means of obtaining them for us. He died for us, in our place, so that, whatever happens, we should live with Him.
In this letter the helmet is the hope of salvation. One writer sets that beside the wording in Ephesians.
In Thessalonians, salvation is from coming wrath. In the Son of God they had found a Deliverer; and God had not appointed them to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. For a helmet they were to have the hope of salvation — unlike the Ephesians, who were to put on the helmet of salvation, a salvation that was already theirs.
- Appointed. God has fixed two destinies — wrath for the Christ-rejecting world, salvation for His own — and neither appointment fails or runs late.
- Purchased. The appointment stands because Christ "died for us." Death can no longer keep a believer from living together with Him.
- Future. The salvation in view is still ahead: the full deliverance of the body, since God has already saved the soul.
- Distinguished. Affliction is the Christian's lot; wrath is not. Reading hardship as God's anger misreads how He deals with His children.
- Worn. The outcome is settled, so wear this hope like a helmet.
who has died for us, that whether we may be watching or sleep, we may live together with him.
This verse closes Paul's answer to the Thessalonians, who were upset about believers who had died. He points them back to the cross, and two questions shape what he says: what "awake or asleep" means here, and what life the words "with him" promise.
Everything in the verse rests on the short clause about Christ's death. That death clears away every obstacle:
He died for us, in our stead, so that whatever happens, we should live with Him. Everything that stood in the way is out of our path and has lost its power. More than that, it has become a guarantee: we will enjoy the full life of Christ in glory with nothing to hinder us.
Earlier in the chapter these same two words carry a moral sense. Here they shift:
Christ died for us, so that whether alive or dead, we should live together with Him. It is living along with Him where He is and as He is, glorified on high. This verse is the conclusion of the answer to the Thessalonian difficulty about the dead. In verses 6 and 7 the Holy Spirit seems to have boldly used the words for waking and sleeping in a moral sense. Here He uses them figuratively. He could do so because He took for granted the mind of Christ in the saints — a mind that could not mistake His different aims in the two cases.
Another writer ties the same two groups back to the death of Christ:
He reminds us here of the purpose of Christ's death for us. Whether we are watching or asleep — that is, whether we are down here when He returns, or whether we have departed to be with Him before His coming — "we should live together with Him." This is the full enjoyment of all our blessedness, as those who have been chosen for salvation, living together with Christ.
The verse begins with "so that," pointing back to the salvation named just before it. That salvation is still future:
Here "salvation" has its final, complete sense. The body will then share in the gracious power that has already dealt with the soul. The believer already has eternal life and redemption in the Son of God. So he receives the end of his faith, the salvation of his soul. He is therefore looking for the salvation of his body at Christ's coming as Saviour. These are plain words. They trace back to God the sovereign grace that marks off the saints from the world from first to last. That grace makes Christ and His death the turning point of all blessing for those who look to Him.
The older translation these writers use reads "live together with him," where the ESV has "live with him." That one word carries a promise:
He died that we might live. But it is not only life that is before us — it is life together with Christ. It was delightful to discover what the resurrection day will bring. We shall be united with all the saints, and reunited with those we knew on earth, to meet the Lord. It is more delightful still to know that as one united company we shall enjoy life together with Him for eternity. All that life means, its pursuits and its joys, we are to share with Him.
His death shapes life now, not only life after death:
His death is so effective that it fits us to be "with Him." If we fall asleep, we depart to be with Him, as He could say to a dying thief, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." If, however, we are left here for a time, He would still have us walk in separation from the world "with Him."
The verse comes with an instruction attached:
How precious indeed is the basis we have for encouraging ourselves together and building up one another. We are certainly supplied with every necessary incentive. Yet the apostle adds, "just as you are doing." It was already their practice, and still the reminder was needed. Is it not true that those who are most diligent are the most ready to admit they need reminding?
- Cause. The whole promise hangs on the words "who died for us." His death in our stead removes every obstacle and turns the promised life into a guarantee.
- Gift. The salvation in view is still future. At Christ's coming the body will share what the soul already has.
- Reach. "Whether we are awake or asleep" covers both groups: those alive at His return and those who have died. Neither loses anything.
- Result. "Together" means one united company. We shall be reunited with those we knew on earth and share Christ's life and joys forever.
- Now. His death already fits us to be "with Him." So those left here walk with Him, apart from the world, and use this hope to comfort and build up each other.
Wherefore encourage one another, and build up each one the other, even as also ye do.
The verse closes a passage about the Lord's return and the day of the Lord with two plain instructions: encourage each other, and build each other up. A truth about the future becomes a tool for daily use. Paul then ends by telling the Thessalonians they are already doing it.
The word "therefore" points back to what has just been said — that Christ died for us so that, whether alive or asleep, we live together with Him. Comfort and building up are not asked for on their own; they rest on something already settled.
How the Spirit of God loves to carry us back to the death of Christ as the foundation of all our blessing! He reminds us here why Christ died for us. It was so that we would live together with Him — whether we are awake (still here when He returns) or asleep (gone to be with Him before He comes). God chose us for salvation, and living together with Christ is the full enjoyment of all He has given us.
The first half of the instruction reaches straight into grief over believers who have died. The comfort offered is not that death is small, but that it is not the end of the story.
Many of the saints have passed away, and if we are tempted to mourn over them, the apostle gives us these words at the direction of the Lord for our comfort... Are they lost because they have died? Certainly not. No. As I have explained, their spirits are with Christ while their bodies decay in the grave. But we know that when the Lord comes He will call them out of their graves and give them bodies like His own. That will be the complete and final triumph of Christ in redemption.
The same comfort covers present trouble, not just grief over death:
God has appointed us for salvation. Our privilege is to live together with Christ now, and very soon to be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. So in all the troubles and sufferings along the road, let us comfort one another.
"Build one another up" is the second half, and it describes a whole pattern of life together rather than a single act.
The Apostle also urges us to edify one another — that is, to build one another up in our most holy faith. A Christian company as God means it to be is made up of believers who love one another, comfort one another, and build one another up (1 Thess. 3:12; 4:9, 18; 5:11).
Another writer sets out three aims in building up, and comfort is one of them:
The simple meaning of edification is building up. A person receives the Gospel, and that lays the foundation. But a great deal has to be built on that foundation, so edification can continue through a long Christian life... Comfort is a third continuing need in the church. There are always people facing sorrow, trouble and disappointment, and they need something that lifts them above it. We might summarise this threefold end as building up, stirring up, and lifting up.
Paul says "one another," so the work runs both ways. Another writer applies the same call to every believer, each according to what he has been given.
This is the responsibility of all true Christians: to keep together instead of splitting up and scattering. We are to help one another in love, according to the measure of grace given and the nature of the gift received. It is mutual — "building yourselves up." It does not mean leaving the work to a special class of leaders, or complaining that we lack gifts. It means each one doing what he can for the blessing and good of all.
Paul does not scold. He praises what they are already doing, and still repeats the charge.
What a precious basis we have for encouraging one another and building one another up. God gives us every reason we need. But the apostle adds, "just as you are doing." They were already doing it, yet they still needed the reminder. Is it not true that those who work hardest are the readiest to admit they need reminding?
The New Testament letters show a pattern. Where the Lord's return is in view, calls to care for each other follow.
It is worth noticing that the strongest calls to Christian fellowship always come right alongside the teaching about the second coming... The letters to the Thessalonians are full of calls to build one another up, and the same pattern is clear there.
- Foundation. The instruction starts with "therefore." Christ died so that believers, living or dead, live together with Him.
- Comfort. This certainty first meets grief. Those who have died are with Christ, and He will raise them with bodies like His.
- Building. The Gospel lays the foundation, and a lifetime of building follows — building up, stirring up, and lifting up.
- Mutual. It is "one another" work, not the task of a special class; each does what he can for the profit of all.
- Commended. Paul praises a habit already at work while still urging it — the most diligent are the readiest to accept the reminder.