John Bengel Commentary - 1 Thessalonians 4:15 - 4:15

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John Bengel Commentary - 1 Thessalonians 4:15 - 4:15


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1Th 4:15. Ὑμῖν) To you, who are worthy of knowing this.-λέγομεν ἐν λόγῳ Κυρίου, we say by the word of the Lord) The Lord, the Christ, has spoken to us; we have spoken to you: comp. 1Ki 20:35, בדבר יהוה, ἐν λόγῳ Κυρίου, by the word of the Lord. Phrases such as these are used in respect of a matter which is now for the first time opened up (disclosed), [Many matters connected with an altogether extraordinary subject, which would be in vain sought for elsewhere, are here discussed.-V. g.]-ἡμεῖς, we) The saints, by speaking thus in their own age, have greatly added to the obligation resting on those of following ages to look for the Lord. The we is presently explained by the following words, who are alive, and further on, who remain.-οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι, who live, who remain [who live, surviving]) So also 1Th 4:17. This is equivalent to an apposition. Who live, is an antithesis to, who sleep. There is at the same time intimated the small number of those who live, compared with the multitude of the dead; likewise the good condition of those who are asleep, so that the living may desire to be gathered to them. Men of all ages conjointly have a lively anticipation of [realize to themselves the immediate fulfilment of] some one thing;[20] and so believers, who are now long waiting, and who regard themselves in the light of persons who are to live at the coming of the Lord, have spoken in accordance with this their character (spake in the manner that became the character they represented, viz. those who shall be alive at the Lord’s coming). Those who live, and those who remain till the coming of the Lord, are the same, and these are denoted by the pronoun we. Each generation, which lives at this or that time, occupies, during that period of their life, the place of those who are to live at the time of the coming of the Lord.[21] So the we is put here, as elsewhere the names Cajus and Titius,[22] and that, too, with the greater propriety, because believers of that age [i.e. of each successive past age] have not yet been allowed distinctly to know the vast period of time to elapse till the end of the world. The present tense in both participles is in reference to [i.e. in order to suit] the coming of the Lord itself, as in Act 10:42 [παρήγγειλεν κηρῦξαι ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν], and elsewhere frequently. Hence Paul has not hereby asserted that the day of Christ is so near; see 2Th 2:2-3. A similar phrase is found at Rom 13:11; 1Co 15:51; Jam 5:9; 1Pe 4:5-6; Mat 24:42, note.-ΤΟῦ ΚΥΡΊΟΥ, of the Lord) Jesus Christ.-οὐ μὴ φθάσωμεν, we shall not [prevent] get before or anticipate) This assurance sweetly counteracts the fear of the survivors regarding the dead, and reckons the advantage of the former, including himself, not to be greater than that of those who are asleep.

[20] Or ‘repræsentant’ means, Men of different ages aiming conjointly at some one object (for instance, the House of Commons in successive ages seeking civil liberty and good government) are joint representatives of that one idea: and so the men of each particular age might regard themselves as the representatives of it in their particular age.-ED.

[21] That is, they are called on to live in daily and hourly expectation of the Lord’s coming in their time, since the time of His coming was left uncertain for that very purpose, Mat 25:13. Such ‘watchers’ in each generation are representatives of those who shall actually be found alive when He comes.-ED.

[22] Imaginary persons put in law as representatives to exemplify some principle.-ED.