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1Th_4:13. Οὐ θέλομεν δὲ ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν ] but we wish not that ye be in ignorance. A recognised Pauline formula of transition to new and important communications; comp. Rom_1:13; Rom_11:25; 1Co_10:1; 1Co_12:1; 2Co_1:8. In an analogous manner, Paul uses also positive turns of expression: θέλω ὑμᾶς , Col_2:1, 1Co_11:3, and γινώσκειν ὑμᾶς βούλομαι , Php_1:12.
περὶ τῶν κεκοιμημένων ] concerning those that are asleep, that is, by means of euphemism, “concerning the dead;” comp. 1Co_11:30; 1Co_15:6; 1Co_15:18; 1Co_15:20; Joh_11:11; 2Pe_3:4; Sophocles, Electr. 509. The selection of the word is the more appropriate, as the discourse in what follows is concerning a revivification. But not the dead generally are meant, which Lipsius (Theolog. Stud. u. Krit. 1854, p. 924), with an arbitrary appeal to 1Co_15:29, considers possible, but the dead members of the Thessalonian Christian church. This is evident from all that follows, particularly from the confirmatory proposition in 1Th_4:14, and from the expression οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ , 1Th_4:16.
After the example of Weizel (Stud. u. Krit. 1836, p. 916 ff.), de Wette (though in a hesitating manner) finds in κεκοιμημένων the idea indicated “of an intermediate state, i.e. of an imperfect and, as it were, a slumbering continuance of life of the departed soul;” whereas Zwingli, Calvin, Hemming, Zanchius, in express contradiction to the idea of the sleep of the soul, insist on referring this state of being asleep to the body exclusively. But neither, according to the one side, nor according to the other, are we justified in such a limitation, as οἱ κεκοιμημένοι only denotes those who are asleep as such, i.e. according to their whole personality.
The article in περὶ τῶν κεκοιμημένοι represents the question, to the solution of which the apostle now passes, as one well known to the readers, and discussed by them. The brevity and generality of the statement of the subject, combined with the solemn formula of transition οὐ θέλομεν δὲ ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν , renders it not improbable that a request was directly made to Paul for explanation on the subject.
ἵνα μὴ λυπῆσθε ] sc. concerning those who are asleep.
καθὼς καὶ οἱ λοιποί ] sc. λυποῦνται . Woken (in Wolf) gives the directly opposite meaning to the words: Absit a vobis tristitia, quemadmodum etiam abest a reliquis illis, qui nempe non tristantur ob mortuos et tamen spem nullam certam habent de felicitate. Erroneously, because then καθὼς καὶ οὐ λυποῦνται οἱ λοιποί , μὴ ἔχοντες (instead of οἱ μὴ ἔχ .) ἐλπίδα would require to have been written: not to mention that Paul would hardly propose unbelievers as an example to Christians.
Theodoret, Calvin, Hemming, Zanchius, Piscator, Cornelius a Lapide, Calovius, Nat. Alexander, Benson, Flatt, Pelt, Koch, Bisping, Bloomfield, Hofmann, Riggenbach find in ἵνα μὴ λυπῆσθε καθὼς κ . τ . λ . the thought that the Thessalonians should not mourn in the same degree, not so excessively as οἱ λοιποί , because the apostle could not possibly forbid every mourning for the dead. Incorrectly; for then ἵνα μὴ λυπῆσθε τοσοῦτον ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποί would require to have been written. καθώς is only a particle of comparison, but never a statement of gradation. The apostle forbids λυπεῖσθαι altogether. Naturally; for death has no more any sting for the Christian. He does not see in it annihilation, but only the transition to an eternal and blessed fellowship with the Lord. Comp. 1Co_15:54 ff.
οἱ λοιποί ] the others, that is, the Gentiles; comp. Eph_2:3. It is, however, possible that Paul may also have thought on a portion of the Jews, namely, the sect of the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection.
οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα ] namely, of an eternal life of blessedness. Comp. Theocrit. Idyll. iv. 42: Ἐλπίδες ἐν ζωοῖσιν , ἀνέλπιστοι δὲ θανόντες . Aeschyl. Eumenid. 638: ἅπαξ θανόντος οὔτις ἐστʼ ἀνάστασις . Catull. v. 4 ff.: Soles occidere et redire possunt. | Nobis quum semel occidit brevet lux, | Nox est perpetua una dormienda. Lucret. iii. 942 f.: Nec quisquam expergitus exstat, | Frigida quem semel est vitae pausa secuta.
From this comparison with those who do not believe in a future life in general, it inevitably follows that also the Thessalonians feared for their deceased Christian friends, not merely a temporary deprivation of the eternal life of bliss to be revealed at the advent, but an entire exclusion from it. If the comparison is to have any meaning (which Hofmann with great arbitrariness denies), the blessing for whose loss the Gentiles mourn must be the same as the blessing for whose loss the Christians are not to mourn. The solution of the theme περὶ τῶν κεκοιμημένων is therefore already indicated by the objective sentence, and what follows has only the purpose of further explaining this solution.