1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
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: 4:16
Trivia: What prevented Paul from visiting the Thessalonians?
4:1-121 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
You know the commandments that we gave you from Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
This is the will of God: Don't fornicate. [1]
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
Every man should know how to possess his vessel in holiness and honor. [2]
5Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
Don't be filled with lust like the Gentiles.
6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;
11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
And don't take something that belongs to someone else. [3]
4:13-1813 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
Don't worry about believers who have died.
They're not like dead non-believers who have no hope. [4]
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
When Jesus returns, he'll bring dead believers with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
Jesus told me that when he returns,
those of us who are alive won't precede the dead. [5]
16For 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:
Jesus will descend with a shout,
with the voice of an archangel. [6]
A trumpet will sound, [7] and dead believers will rise first.
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Then those of us who are alive will be raised up into the clouds
to meet Jesus in the air and be with him forever. [8]
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Comfort one another with these words.
Every man should know how to possess his penis or his wife (depending on the translation) in a holy way.
This seems to be saying that no male believer should have sex with another male believer's wife.
Christians shouldn't mourn the death of their fellow believers. They'll be OK; you'll see them later in heaven. The people you should mourn are dead nonbelievers. They have no hope (because they're going to hell).
First Thessalonians was one of the first Christian writings, yet already (ca.50 CE) believers were getting impatient about Jesus' supposed return. Their fellow believers were dying and yet Jesus still hadn't come. What the hell is taking him? And what happens to dead believers? Will they get to see Jesus return?
Jehovah's Witnesses: From this verse and Jude 9, the Jehovah's Witnesses figure that Jesus is really the archangel Michael.
But the JWs are wrong about that. Donald Trump is the trump of God -- or so says WND, anyway. Donald Trump is God's final warning to America.
Christians get the idea of the rapture from this verse. (Paul thought he'd live to see it.)
