Thomas Aquinas Commentary 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

"But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." — 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (ASV)

Previously, Paul aimed to bring the Thessalonians to the practice of self-control instead of sinful desire, and to curtail their idleness. Now he urges them to lessen their excessive sorrow. First, he provides a warning; secondly, he assigns a reason for it (1 Thessalonians 4:13b).

Therefore, he forbids them to indulge in excessive sorrow, telling them not to grieve like others. It seems, though, that the Apostle views sorrow for the dead with compassion. He does not forbid all grief, but cautions them not to grieve too much. Someone who grieves for the dead does possess compassion. A person grieves for several reasons:

1. A person grieves because of the dissolution of the fragile body, for we ought to take care of the body for the sake of the soul. “O death, how bitter is the reminder of you to one who lives at peace among his possessions” .
2. A person grieves because of the separation and departure, which is so painful to friends. “Surely the bitterness of death is past” (1 Samuel 15:32).
3. We mourn because death reminds us of our own sin. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
4. We mourn because death reminds us of our own mortality. “For this is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to heart” (Ecclesiastes 7:2).

So, moderate sorrow is permitted. “Weep less bitterly for the dead, for he has attained rest” . Therefore, Paul says not to grieve as others do who have no hope. This is because unbelievers think that the negative aspects of death are eternal, but we do not believe so. “Our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20). So he says clearly, concerning those who are asleep, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep” (John 11:11).

A person who decides to go to sleep does three things, which provide an analogy for the death of a believer:

1. He lies down with the hope of eventually getting up: “Shall he that sleeps not rise again from where he lies?” (Psalms 40:9). A person who passes away abiding in the faith feels the same way.
2. The soul in a sleeping person remains vigilant: “I slept, but my heart was awake” (Song of Solomon 5:2).
3. After sleep, a person gets up much more refreshed and restored. In this same manner, the saints will rise incorruptibly, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15.

Then, when Paul says, for since we believe, he provides a reason for the warning he had given. First, he establishes the resurrection; secondly, he rules out the faint suspicion of a delay (1 Thessalonians 4:15); thirdly, he outlines the order of the resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:16). It should be understood that the Apostle builds the case for our resurrection on the foundation of Christ’s resurrection (1 Corinthians 15), for Christ’s resurrection is the cause of our resurrection. Paul makes his point here through a causal analysis. Christ’s resurrection is not only the cause but also the pattern of our resurrection. The Word made flesh revives our bodies, while the Word as God revives our souls. Christ is the pattern of our resurrection in that He assumed flesh and also rose embodied in flesh.

Nor is Christ only the pattern; He is also the efficient cause of our resurrection. The things done by Christ’s humanity were accomplished not only by the power of His human nature but also by the power of His divinity united with it. Just as His touch cured the leper, acting as an instrument of His divinity, so also Christ’s resurrection is the cause of our resurrection—not merely because it was a body that arose, but because it was a body united to the Word of life.

So the Apostle, firmly assuming this, declares, for since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep [or, those who have fallen asleep through Jesus]. This latter phrase can mean those who were conformed to His death through baptism. Alternatively, the text says “through Jesus” because God will bring them “with Him”—that is, with Christ Himself. “The Lord your God will come, and all the holy ones with him” (Zechariah 14:5). “The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people” (Isaiah 3:14).

Then when he says, for this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, he rules out a delay in the resurrection, as if saying: We know that they will rise and will come with Christ; therefore, we ought not to grieve so much. For those who will be found alive will not achieve the glory of resurrection before those who are dead. For this reason he says: for this we declare to you, not as human conjecture, but by the word of the Lord, whose words do not fail. That we who are alive, that is, those who are living, will not receive the consolation accompanying the coming of Christ before the dead. As a result Paul says, we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.

To those who did not fully understand what the Apostle was saying, it seemed that all this would happen while he was still alive; indeed, this is how the Thessalonians understood it. Because of this misunderstanding, he wrote them a second letter in which he says: “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ... we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come” (2 Thessalonians 2:1–2).

But he is not talking at present about himself and his contemporaries, but about those who will be found alive at the time of Christ’s coming. We who are left, that is, those who will be left after the persecution of the Antichrist, shall not precede those, meaning that those who are living will not receive their consolation first. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

Then when he says, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven, he shows the order and manner of the resurrection. First, he discusses the cause of the resurrection; secondly, he presents its order and manner (1 Thessalonians 4:16); thirdly, he ends with a consideration of their mutual consolation (1 Thessalonians 4:18).

He proves his first point by saying, the Lord himself. It should be noted here, as was already mentioned, that the cause of the general resurrection is Christ’s resurrection. But if you ask, “Since Christ’s resurrection has already occurred, why does its effect not follow?” I would reply that it is the cause of our resurrection according to the activity of the divine power. God, however, acts according to the order of His wisdom. Therefore, our resurrection will occur when the order of divine wisdom determines it.

To prove that Christ is the cause of the resurrection, he shows that all the dead will rise in the presence of Christ. Three causes cooperate in the accomplishment of the general resurrection: the principal cause is the divine power; the second, instrumental cause is the power of the humanity of Christ. The third cause might be termed a ministering cause, in that the power of the angels will have some effect in the resurrection. For Augustine shows that the things that happen now by the power of physical creatures actually occur through God, with the creatures acting as mediators. In the resurrection, some things will be done through the angels, such as the gathering of the dust. But the restoration of the bodies and the soul’s reunion with the body will be accomplished directly by Christ.

Paul then presents these three causes. First, he sets forth the glorious humanity of Christ when he says, the Lord himself. “Jesus... will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). With a cry of command. In the first coming, He came as one who was obedient: “He became obedient unto death” (Philippians 2:8). That happened because it was the coming of humility, but this one will be the coming of glory: “Coming with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27).

Secondly, he presents the power of the angels when he says, with the archangel’s call, not that anything is accomplished by his voice, but rather by his ministry. He says “archangel’s” because all angels minister to the Church under one archangel. “This is Michael, the prince of the Church” (Revelation 12). [There is no accepted text that has this reading for a verse in the 12th chapter of Revelation.] Or perhaps, with the archangel’s call refers to the call of Christ, Who is Prince of the angels. “Wonderful Counselor” (Isaiah 9:6). The resurrection will be through Christ’s voice, whether physical or spiritual. “(They) shall hear the voice of the son of God” (John 5:28); in other words, the dead will rise and come to judgment, and they will obey the physical voice.

Thirdly, he considers the divine power when he says, with the sound of the trumpet of God. This refers to the divine power, which is also called the voice of the archangel insofar as it will act through the archangel’s ministry. It is called the trumpet of God because the resurrection comes about by divine power. It is called a trumpet because of its resonance, which is derived from God who raises the dead. The trumpet, which had many uses in the Old Testament, also brings people together for war: “And creation will fight alongside him” . The trumpet was also used for celebrations, as it will be in the heavenly Jerusalem, and for deploying armies. Therefore, if it is an audible sound, it is called a trumpet; but if it is not a sound, then it represents the divine power of Christ, present and visible to the whole world.

Then when Paul says, and the dead in Christ will rise first, he mentions the order that the resurrection will follow. In doing so he makes three points. First, he treats the resurrection of the dead; secondly, he considers the meeting of the living with Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:17); finally, he refers to the happiness of the saints with Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:17b).

Because of these words, some people believed that those alive at the end would never die, as Jerome mentions in his letter. For Paul has said, then we who are alive... shall be caught up together. It might seem that there would be no other reason for distinguishing the living from the dead. But on the contrary: [“We shall all indeed rise”] (1 Corinthians 15:51). “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). “So death spread to all men” (Romans 5:12).

And so I say that some will be alive when Christ comes for judgment, but in that moment they will die and immediately rise again. Because of the short time involved, they are regarded as living. But then another problem arises, because it is said, and the dead in Christ will rise first, and then, we who are alive. This seems to imply that the dead will rise before the living meet Christ, and that the living will die when they meet Him. It would appear that some will rise ahead of others, and that there will not be a resurrection of everyone at the same time. This, however, is contrary to what is found in 1 Corinthians 15:52: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.”

I wish to point out that there are two opinions on this matter. Some say that the resurrection will not take place at the same time for everybody, but that first the dead will come with Christ. During the time that Christ is coming, the living will be taken up into the clouds, and they will die and rise while they are being taken up. On this view, what is said to happen “in a moment” may be understood as occurring in a brief amount of time. And if you insist that it will happen in an instant, then it should not be applied to the total resurrection of all, but rather to the resurrection of individuals, for every individual will rise in an instant. But there are others who maintain that everyone will rise at the same time and in an instant. They feel that where Paul says will rise first, he denotes an order of dignity, not an order of time. This seems difficult to maintain, for many who are still alive will have suffered in the persecution of the Antichrist and will be more distinguished than those who had died before.

And so it seems necessary to answer the question in a different way, saying that all will die and all will rise at the same time. For the Apostle does not say that the dead will rise first and then the living will rise, but that the dead will rise before the living meet Christ. Therefore, he is not speaking about the order in which they will rise, but of the order in which they will be taken up to meet Christ. For when the Lord comes, first those who are found alive will die, and then, immediately and together with those who had died before, they will rise up and be taken up into the clouds to meet Christ, as Paul clearly says.

But there is a difference between the good and the evil people, because the evil people will remain on the earth that they loved, while the good people will be taken up to the Christ whom they had sought. “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together” (Matthew 24:28). In the time of the resurrection, the saints will be conformed to Christ, not only with regard to the glory of the body (Philippians 3), but also with respect to place, for Christ will be in a cloud. “A cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9), and “Jesus will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). And so the saints too will be taken up into the clouds.

The reason for this is to show their likeness to God. For in the Old Testament the glory of the Lord appeared in the form of a cloud. [The Lord said that he would dwell in a “cloud”] (1 Kings 8:12). These clouds will be prepared by divine power in order to show the glory of the saints. Or, the glorious bodies of the glorified will appear as clouds to the evil people who will remain on earth. “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6).

Then when Paul says, and so we shall always be with the Lord, he shows the beatitude of the saints, for they will always be with the Lord and derive constant enjoyment from Him. “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3). The saints desire this: “My desire is to depart and be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23).

Then when he says, therefore comfort one another with these words, Paul concludes that they should comfort one another about the dead. He feels that since the saints will rise without suffering any loss, the Thessalonians should comfort one another about the dead. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God” (Isaiah 40:1).