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.