Objection:
The apostle Paul says that God will bring with Him from heaven those who have fallen asleep in Jesus at the second coming of Christ (See 1 Thessalonians 4:14). That proves that the righteous go to heaven at death instead of lying in the grave until the Second Advent.
Answer:
The text reads as follows: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” 1 Thessalonians 4:14. In the verses immediately preceding and following, Paul discusses two groups: (1) “them which are asleep” and (2) “we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.” In his discussion, Paul sought to accomplish five things:
- Assure them that they need not “sorrow,” as the pagans about them did, “which have no hope.” Verse 13.
- Inform them that the living saints would not “prevent [precede] them which are asleep” regarding being taken to glory. Verse 15.
- Inform them how “them which are asleep” will be awakened; namely, “the trump of God” shall cause them to “rise.” Verse 16.
- Inform them what happens immediately following the resurrection: The living saints are “caught up together with them [the resurrected saints] in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” Verse 17.
- Inform them of the state of the living and resurrected saints after meeting their Lord: “And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Verse 17.
Now, if the righteous dead are to “rise” at a future resurrection date, and together with the living saints then go heavenward to dwell forever with the Lord, how can Paul possibly be declaring in verse 14 that the righteous dead come down from heaven at the great resurrection day? The only way the believer in soul immortality can harmonize his interpretation of verse 14 with the related verses is to declare that the souls of the saints ascended heavenward at death and that these souls come down with the Lord at the resurrection day to receive their resurrected bodies.
The prime weakness in this explanation is that it assumes what is to be proved. The objector submits this passage in Thessalonians to prove the immortal-soul doctrine and then proceeds to assume that there is such a thing as an immaterial entity, an immortal soul, to escape from a hopeless conflict between verse 14, as interpreted by him, and the succeeding verses!
But his assumption can easily be shown to be not even plausible. Here is how the righteous dead are described:
- Verse 13: “Them which are asleep.”
- Verse 14: “Them also which sleep in Jesus.”
- Verse 16: “The dead in Christ.”
By what rule of language is it proper to say that in verse 14, Paul is speaking only of the souls of the saints, whereas in verses 13 and 16, he is speaking only of their bodies?
Most evidently, the interpretation given to verse 14 must be wrong. What is Paul there seeking to establish? To assure the believers that the resurrection was a certainty. The certainty of the resurrection was the critical point that the apostles stressed in their preaching. First, the certainty that Christ was raised from the dead, and then because of that, the assurance that we also will be freed from the prison-house of death. Listen to Paul argue the case:
“And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” 1 Corinthians 15:14-23.
His reasoning sums up thus: Unless we believe that Christ rose from the grave, we have no hope of a resurrection. Christ rose as the first fruits from the grave, and “afterward they that are Christ’s” will be raised “at his coming.”
In his letter to the Hebrews, Paul thus describes God: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus. . .” Hebrews 13:20.
In the light of these and related passages, we have no difficulty finding an interpretation for 1 Thessalonians 4:14 that harmonizes with the whole context of that chapter and with Paul’s whole argument elsewhere regarding the resurrection. The verse is in two parts:
- “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again. . .”
- “. . .even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”
Paul is here simply presenting the case for the certainty of our resurrection on the ground that Christ was raised. Now it was God “that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus. . . Even so, “will God bring with him [Jesus]” from the grave “them also which sleep in Jesus.” “Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.”
Therefore, it becomes plain that Paul teaches in 1 Thessalonians 4:14 not the immortal-soul doctrine but the great doctrine of the resurrection.
