judgment-seat of God! Who can feel comfort from these words? That man alone with whose spirit the Spirit of God bears witness that his sins are blotted out, and the thoughts of whose heart are purified by the inspiration of Gods Holy Spirit, so that he can perfectly love him, and worthily magnify his name. Reader, thou art not in a safe state unless it be thus with thee, or thou art hungering and thirsting after righteousness. If so, thou shalt be filled; for it is impossible that thou shouldst be taken away in thy sins, while mourning after the salvation of God. They that seek shall find.
CHAPTER 5
The apostle continues to speak of Christ’s coming to judgment, and the uncertainty of the time in which it shall take place, and the careless state of sinners, 1-3. Shows the Thessalonians that they are children of the light; that they should watch and pray, and put on the armor of God, being called to obtain salvation by Christ, who died for them; that whether dead or alive, when the day of judgment comes, they may live for ever with him; and that they should comfort and edify each other with these considerations, 4-11. He exhorts them to remember those who labor among them, and are over them in the Lord; and to esteem such highly for their work’s sake, 12, 13. He charges them to warn, comfort, and support those who stood in need of such assistance, and to be patient and beneficent towards all, 14, 15. He points out their high spiritual
privileges; warns them against neglecting or misimproving the gifts of the Spirit, and the means of grace, 16-20. They are also exhorted to prove all things; to abstain from all evil; and to expect to be sanctified,
through spirit, soul, and body, by him who has promised this, and who is faithful to his promises, 21-24. Recommends himself and brethren to their prayers; shows them how they are to greet each other; charges them to read this epistle to all the brethren; and concludes with the usual apostolical benediction, 25-28.
NOTES ON CHAP. 5.
Verse 1. But of the times and the seasons— It is natural to suppose, after what he had said in the conclusion of the preceding chapter concerning the coming of Christ, the raising of the dead, and rendering those immortal who should then be found alive, without obliging them to pass through the empire of death, that the Thessalonians would feel an innocent curiosity to know, as the disciples did concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, when those things should take place, and what should be the signs of those times, and of the coming of the Son of man. And it is remarkable that the apostle answers, here, to these anticipated questions as our Lord did, in the above case, to the direct question of his disciples; and he seems to refer
in these words, Of the times and the seasons ye have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night, to what our Lord said, Matthew 24:44; 25:13; and the apostle takes it for granted that they were acquainted with our Lord’s prediction on the subject: For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. It is very likely therefore, that the apostle, like our Lord, couples these two grand events-the destruction of Jerusalem and the final judgment. And it appears most probable that it is of the former event chiefly that he speaks here, as it was certainly of the latter that he treated in the conclusion of the preceding chapter. In the notes on Acts 1:6, 7, it has already been shown that the cronouv h kairouv, times or seasons, (the very same terms which are used here,) refer to the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth; and we may fairly presume that they have the same meaning in this place.
Verse 3. For when they shall say, Peace and safety— This points out, very particularly, the state of the Jewish people when the Romans came against them; and so fully persuaded were they that God would not deliver the city and temple to their enemies, that they refused every overture that was made to them.
Sudden destruction— In the storming of their city and the burning of their temple, and the massacre of several hundreds of thousands of themselves;
the rest being sold for slaves, and the whole of them dispersed over the face of the earth.
As travail upon a woman— This figure is perfectly consistent with what the apostle had said before, viz.: that the times and seasons were not known: though the thing itself was expected, our Lord having predicted it in the most positive manner. So, a woman with child knows that, if she be spared, she will have a bearing time; but the week, the day, the hour, she cannot tell. In a great majority of cases the time is accelerated or retarded much before or beyond the time that the woman expected; so, with respect to the Jews, neither the day, week, month, nor year was known. All that was specifically known was this: their destruction was coming, and it should be sudden, and they should not escape.
Verse 4. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness— Probably St. Paul refers to a notion that was very prevalent among the Jews, viz.: that God would
judge the Gentiles in the night time, when utterly secure and careless; but he would judge the Jews in the day time, when employed in reading and performing the words of the law. The words in Midrash Tehillim, on Psalm ix. 8, are the following: When the holy blessed God shall judge the Gentiles, it shall be in the night season, in which they shall be asleep in their transgressions; but when he shall judge the Israelites, it shall be in the day time, when they are occupied in the study of the law. This maxim the apostle appears to have in view in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th verses. {1 Thessalonians 5:4-8}
Verse 5. Ye are all the children of light— Ye are children of God, and enjoy both his light and life. Ye are Christians — ye belong to him who has brought life and immortality to light by his Gospel. This dispensation, under which ye are, has illustrated all the preceding dispensations; in its light all is become luminous; and ye, who walked formerly in heathen ignorance, or in the darkness of Jewish prejudices, are now light in the Lord, because ye have believed in him who is the light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory and splendor of his people Israel.
We are not of the night, nor of darkness.— Our actions are such as we are not afraid to expose to the fullest and clearest light. Sinners hate the light;
they are enemies to knowledge; they love darkness; they will not receive instructions; and their deeds are such as cannot bear the light.
Verse 6. Let us not sleep, as do others— Let us who are of the day — who believe the Gospel and belong to Christ, not give way to a careless,
unconcerned state of mind, like to the Gentiles and sinners in general, who are stupified and blinded by sin, so that they neither think nor feel; but live in time as if it were eternity; or rather, live as if there were no eternity, no future state of existence, rewards, or punishments.
Let us watch— Be always on the alert; and be sober, making a moderate use of all things.