Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Thessalonians 5:7

"For they that sleep sleep in the night: and they that are drunken are drunken in the night." — 1 Thessalonians 5:7 (ASV)

Verse 5 provides a solid basis for the ethical behavior Paul now urges on the Thessalonians. Paul calls them to a lifestyle free from moral laxity. “Let us not sleep” represents the ethical insensitivity that besets people of the other realm. While it is impossible for the day of the Lord to catch Christians unprepared, it is possible for them to adopt the same lifestyle as those who will be caught unawares. Paul urges his readers not to let this happen.

Conduct in keeping with “the light” and “the day” also includes alertness.

Inattention to spiritual priorities is utterly out of keeping for those who will not be subject to the coming day of wrath. Though the Thessalonians were, if anything, overly watchful to the point of neglecting other Christian responsibilities (4:11–12; 2 Thessalonians 3:6–15), they were not to cease watching altogether.

Apparently being “self-controlled” (GK 3768) was a great need. This word denotes sobriety. To counteract what might become a state of wild alarm or panic, Paul urges self-control as a balance for vagaries arising from distorted views of the parousia. Undue eschatological excitement was a serious problem; spiritual sobriety was the cure.

To explain his exhortation in v.6, Paul appeals in v.7 to everyday experience.

Sleep and drunkenness are most often associated with the night. So he illustrates his figurative use of “sleep” in v.6 by referring to the normal habit of sleep and uses “drunkenness” to point up his reference to sobriety.