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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - 1 Thessalonians 4:15 - 4:15
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
By the word of the Lord (en logōi Kuriou). We do not know to what word of the Lord Jesus Paul refers, probably Paul meaning only the point in the teaching of Christ rather than a quotation. He may be claiming a direct revelation on this important matter as about the Lord’s Supper in 1Co 11:23. Jesus may have spoken on this subject though it has not been preserved to us (cf. Mar 9:1).
Ye that are alive (hēmeis hoi zōntes). Paul here includes himself, but this by no means shows that Paul knew that he would be alive at the Parousia of Christ. He was alive, not dead, when he wrote.
Shall in no wise precede (ou mē phthasōmen). Second aorist active subjunctive of phthanō, to come before, to anticipate. This strong negative with ou mē (double negative) and the subjunctive is the regular idiom (Robertson, Grammar, p. 929). Hence there was no ground for uneasiness about the dead in Christ.