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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - 1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 4:13
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
We would not have (ou thelomen). We do not wish.
You ignorant (humas agnoein). Old word, not to know (a privative, gnȯ, root of ginōskō). No advantage in ignorance of itself.
Concerning them that fall asleep (peri tōn koimōmenōn). Present passive (or middle) participle (Aleph B) rather than the perfect passive kekoimēmenōn of many later MSS. From old koimaō, to put to sleep. Present tense gives idea of repetition, from time to time fall asleep. Greeks and Romans used this figure of sleep for death as Jesus does (Joh 11:11) and N.T. generally (cf. our word cemetery). Somehow the Thessalonians had a false notion about the dead in relation to the second coming.
Even as the rest which have no hope (kathōs hoi loipoi hoi mē echontes elpida). This picture of the hopelessness of the pagan world about the future life is amply illustrated in ancient writings and particularly by inscriptions on tombs (Milligan). Some few pagans clung to this hope, but most had none.