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The Taking Up of the Faithful and the Resurrection of the Dead in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

JOSEPH PLEVNIK, S.J.


Regis College Toronto, Ont. M4Y 2R5

THREE PROBLEMS PRESENTED by 1 Thess 4:13-18 have in the history of exegesis often been raised but still await a convincing solution. They are: (1) whether Paul preached the resurrection of the dead during his mission in Thessalonica; (2) the relationship between the presentation of the resurrection in 1 Thessalonians 4 and that in 1 Corinthians 15; (3) the unique depiction of the parousia in the course of which the faithful are bodily taken up1 and gathered around the Lord in the airy heights and which results in unending life with the Lord. The reason, we suggest, why a satisfactory answer evaded exegetes in the past is that these problems were not examined in

1 We use the expression "taking up" or "translation" rather than "rapture" to indicate that a person is taken up to another place or sphere of existence The word "rapture,"according to The Random House Dictionary of English Language (New York Random House, 1966), means 1 ecstatic joy or delight, joyful ecstasy, 2 an utterance or expression of ecstatic delight, 3 the carrying of a person to another place or sphere of existence The principal meaning of the word is thus associated with ecstasy By no means do we intend to suggest that the event described in 1 Thess 4 17 is simply a psychic experience or something merely temporary, as in 2 Cor 12 1-4 and Rev 1 10 Although Paul uses the same verb harpazo in 1 Thess 4 17 and in 2 Cor 12 2,4, the two contexts are quite different Only in the latter context does harpaz mean ecstasy The event in 2 Corinthians 12 is depicted as a vision and a revelation granted to Paul during an ecstatic experience, after which the Apostle came to himself and carried on his work on earth

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THE FAITHFUL AND THE RESURRECTION (1 THESS 4:13-18) 275 depth for their interrelationship.2 Most important, scholars have failed to grasp the significance of (3). We shall here attempt to show that a right understanding of (3) yields a more satisfactory explanation of (2) and (1). With respect to (1), B. Rigaux3 in his commentary on the Thessalonian letters observes that, in the past, certain exegetes concluded on the basis of v. 13 that the Thessalonians did not know the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, as evidenced by their pagan-like grief stemming from their ignorance concerning the dead brethren. As Rigaux considers F. Guntermann4 the latest and most influential proponent of this view, he tries to answer him by reducing Guntermann's position to three statements: (a) the Thessalonians who grieved about the dead faithful were in the same condition as pagans who did not know about the resurrection of the dead, since (b) Paul had not preached this because he expected the proximate parousia; accordingly (c) the faithful did not doubt or deny the resurrection; they truly did not know about it. In his response, Rigaux counters this view by stating: (a) the Thessalonians could have known about the future resurrection without realizing its implication in regard to the participation of the dead faithful in the glorious parousia of Christ; (b) since the deaths in Thessalonica were almost certainly not the first Christian deaths known to Paul, he must have heard of Christians dying before the parousia; (c) as 1 Thess 1:10 indicates, the Apostle had already preached the return of the risen Jesus as judge, which implies the resurrection of the dead. Most exegetes would agree with Rigaux regarding (b) and (c).* We may concede that Rigaux's answer meets the objections of Guntermann on the level on which they were given; however, it leaves unexplained how the Thessalonians could have grieved at all or why they feared that their
2 I have broached the subject in my essay, "The Parousia as Implication of Christ's Resurrection (An Exegesis of 1 Thess 4, 13-18)," in Word and Spirit Essays in Honor of David Michael Stanley on his 60th Birthday (ed J Plevmk, Toronto Regis College, 1975) 199-277 3 Saint Paul Les ptres aux Thessaloniciens (Pans Gabalda, Gembloux Duculot, 1956) 526 4 Die Eschatologie des hl Paulus (NAbh 13/4-5, Munster in W Aschendorff, 1932) 38-51 5 Rigaux rightly rejects the opinion of W Lutgert, Die Vollkommenen in Philippi und die Enthusiasten in Thessalonich (BFCT 12, Gtersloh. Bertelsmann, 1909), according to which some in Thessalonica spiritualized the resurrection and the parousia and relegated the two to the present experience in faith A view similar to Lutgert's is that of W Schmithals (Paul and the Gnostics [Nashville Abingdon, 1972] 123-218) and his follower W Harnisch {Eschatologische Existenz Ein exegetischer Beitrag zum Sachanliegen von 1 Thessalonicher 4, 13-5,11 [Gottingen Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1973]) who, on flimsy grounds, regard 1 Thessalonians as a compilation of several letters and thus take the section 4 13-5 11 out of the present context and supply for it, rather arbitrarily, a gnostic context

276 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 46, 1984 dead would be excluded from participating in the parousia. Is the answer to this really in their inadequate understanding of the implication of the future resurrection? We think not. In his basic response in v. 14, Paul does not draw out this implication from the resurrection of the faithful in the future, but from Christ's resurrection in the past. 6 But this response drawn from the traditional credal formula closely resembles that in 2 Cor 4:14, in which the Apostle expresses his reassurance about his own resurrection. The set formu lation in both instances suggests that Paul had made implications from Christ's resurrection leading to the resurrection of the faithful, and, pace W. Marxsen, 7 that he had probably done this also in Thessalonica. The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is not something he developed in 1 Corinthians, for even there (in chap. 15) he recalls his earlier teaching as the essential part of his kerygma. But to return to our point, we suggest that the explanation for the Thessalonians' inadequate understanding of the question of their sharing in the parousia of Christ is located in Paul's presentation of the parousia as an experience of translation. In vv. 16-18, he goes on to depict a scenario of parousia in which the faithful are taken up to show graphically how the already deceased Christians will, after all, share in this glorious and tran scendent gathering around the Lord. As we shall show below, within the traditional context of assumption the death of those who have been prom ised such a participation does raise serious problems. Paul's formulation here seems to be a direct answer to this difficulty among the faithful, and it appears almost certain that Paul must have, prior to his writing 1 Thessalo nians, talked to the faithful about the parousia in similar terms. Unfortu nately, exegetes in the past did not pay much attention to this particular portrayal of the translation in 1 Thessalonians 4.8

6 1 Thess 4 14 "For if we believe, as we do, that Jesus died and rose [then we also believe that] God will in like manner bring forth from the dead those also who have fallen asleep believing in him" (my translation, which is in substantial agreement with that in NAB and Rigaux's exegesis, against the RSV ana Hoffmann, Die Toten in Christus Eine religionsgeschichtliehe Untersuchung zurpaulinischen Eschatologie [NAbh ns 2, Munster in W. Aschendorff, 1966] 213-14) 7 "Auslegung von 1 Thess 4,13-18," ZTK 66 (1969) 23-37 Marxsen, it is true, admits the possibility of Paul's having preached the resurrection of the dead in Thessalonica prior to his writing 1 Thessalonians, but claims that he did not have to do it According to him, Paul did not even bring the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead to Corinth, but only that of the resurrec tion of Christ In Thessalonica the emphasis is on the awaiting of the parousia, and the resurrec tion was not necessary for this (pp 28-29) 8 This holds true also for Marxsen, who mentions prominently the taking up of the faithful, but he is more interested in proving that Paul did not preach the resurrection of the dead in Thessalonica

THE FAITHFUL AND THE RESURRECTION (1 THESS 4:13-18) 277 Regarding the second problem, Rigaux9 does not give a straight answer. On the one hand, he rightly stresses that Paul's affirmation of the equality between the dead and the living Christians at the parousia is still in effect here (v. 16). For that reason Paul emphasizes proton: first takes place a return to life. But what is this life to which the deceased faithful return? If it is a return to equality with the living faithful, as the context suggests, then it must be a return to this life. Yet Rigaux shuns this explanation. Instead, he brings in, through the expression en Christo, Paul's understanding of the resurrection found in 1 Corinthians 15. According to him, this phrase, in the clause hoi nekroi en Christo, indicates those who died dia Jesus. But, he maintains, this means more than "those who died believing in Christ." In the light of 1 Cor 15:51-58 it means: All will be transformed; corruptibility will put on incorruptibility, and mortality will put on immortality; the physical body will become a spiritual body. Rigaux thus understands the rising from the grave, mentioned in 1 Thess 4:16, as a full resurrection in congruence with other statements of Paul on this subject. Yet, does not this exegesis disregard the particular context in 1 Thessalonians 4?10 Does not this overstate the meaning of the expression en Christo in this context? And is there not perhaps another solution, which considers more seriously the taking up of the faithful and its influence on Paul's choice of the words in which he here depicts the "resurrection"? If we take Rigaux's analysis, the deceased faithful come to life in a glorified body and, thus glorified, rejoin the living faithful. Then the glorified faithful and the "unglorified," those still living at the time of the parousia, are jointly caught up by the clouds and lifted to the airy heights where they meet the coming Lord. Yet throughout this section, as Rigaux admits, the Apostle emphasizes the equality of sharing in the parousia. Here again Rigaux11 appeals to Paul's statement in 1 Cor 15:51: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." Accordingly, it is possible to come to the parousia without having tasted death, by "putting on this new garment over the one we already wear" (as in 2 Cor 5:1-5). However, in 1 Thessalonians 4 Paul does not mention any transformation of the living faithful alone.

9 10

Thessaloniciens, 544. Marxsen's objection to this is right, but not for the reasons he gives ("Auslegung," Thessaloniciens, 545-47.

28-31).
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The third point remains largely unexplored by Rigaux12 and others.13 Although he does connect the word harpaz with translations in antiquity and refers also to Rev 12:5 as a parallel, he does not see any significance in the presentation. Again, although Rigaux finds it singular, he does not attach any meaning to Paul's limiting the cloud motif to the section in 1 Thess 4:17 in which the faithful are taken up. In our opinion, the structure inherent in that depiction affects not only Paul's entire scenery in 1 Thessalonians 4, but it also gives us the clue to the actual difficulty of Thessalonians regarding the sharing of the deceased in the parousia We must, therefore, now investigate the presentations of translation in antiquity, in the OT, and in Judaism. The Structure of the Assumption Presentation Fortunately, work on the structure of translation-accounts has been done by G. Lohfink,14 who examined such presentations in connection with the ascension of Jesus in Luke 24 and Acts 1. Among the translations15 in Greek and Roman antiquity he distinguishes two types, (a) the heavenly journey of the soul and (b) the assumption. 16 Type (a) occurs either in a trance or at one's death. The soul leaves the body behind, and the interest of the narrator is focused on the journey itself. Lohfink eliminates this type as a proper parallel to the NT accounts of ascension. In type (b), by contrast, both soul and body are transported from this world of people to that of the gods. Its focus is not on the way or on the journey itself, but on the terminus a quo and the terminus ad quern. The
12 He observes (ibid , 547) that the motif in OT is usually associated with theophanies and later, in Judaism as well as in the NT, with apocalyptic expectations of the Son of Man in dependence on Dan 7 13 (Mark 14 62, Matt 26 64, Mark 13 26 par Matt 24 30 and Luke 21 27, also Rev 1 7, 11 12, 14 14-16) 13 Marxsen does mention it and refers to A Strobel's article, "In dieser Nacht (Luk 17, 34) Zu einer alteren Form der Erwartung Luk 17, 20-37," ZTK 58 (1961) 16-29, but he misses the implications of it for the text at hand 14 Die Himmelfahrt Jesu Untersuchungen zu den Himmelfahrts- und Erhohungstexten bei Lukas (SANT 26, Munich Kosel, 1971) 32-78 15 G Lohfink (ibid , 32) uses the word Himmelfahrt in a general heuristic sense, embracing all types of occurrences where a person, a soul, or a heavenly being leaves the abode of humans and ascends or is taken up into heaven or to some other place, for a time or forever 16 Lohfink uses the word Entruckung which we translate as "assumption" rather than "rapture" (see 1 above) There is a difference between an assumption and an ascension According to these texts, in an assumption, a mortal human being is taken up by the power of god and lives forever in paradise (or in some other place) In an ascension, a heavenly being (e g , an angel) which has appeared on earth, at the close of this appearance goes up to heaven or "ascends "

THE FAITHFUL AND THE RESURRECTION (1 THESS 4.13-18) 279 event is narrated from the earthly vantage point and stresses a sudden disappearance attested to by human witnesses. This is understood as an assumption or an exaltation, granted only to certain extraordinary persons, and it is usually a god who assumes the person. According to Lohfink,17 the presentations of translation in the OT and Judaism can be broken down to four types: (a) the journey to or through heaven; (b) the assumption of the soul after the person's death; (c) the assumption of the entire person; (d) ascension as a conclusion of an appearance. Type (a) in Judaism resembles type (a) in pagan antiquity. It consists of visions and auditions granted in the course of a journey which does not necessarily conclude the earthly life of the person involved. The narration is a personal account, usually in the " I " form. Yet the subject is not merely the soul, as in its pagan counterpart, but the whole person (see T. Abr. 7). Although this journey does not, of necessity, terminate earthly life, it contains concepts and terminology found in the accounts of assumptions. Type (b), the assumption of the soul after death, could be subsumed under type (a) of pagan antiquity but for the fact that the assumption of the soul has a special structure in Jewish accounts (see T. Abr. 14:6). The soul after death leaves the body, while the corpse is buried. Assumption thus means the conclusion of the earthly life. Type (c) represents the assumption of the entire person into paradise as a definitive termination of earthly existence. The translation, as in antiquity, can be also to a place other than heaven. We find this type in 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch. The presentation is associated with such figures as Moses, Enoch, Elijah, Messiah.18 Type (d) deals with the ascension of God or of an angel at the conclusion of an appearance. Among these four types, only the assumption, type (c), is parallel to the accounts of ascensions and assumptions in the NT. The motifs in both the pagan and the OT or Jewish strands are by and large the same.19 In the OT
Ibid, 51-74 Ibid, 55-70 19 Lohfink (ibid , 42-49, 72-74) mentions the following motifs mountain, funeral pyre, lightning, storm wind, wagon, eagle, cloud, heavenly confirmation through subsequent appearances, followed by adoration by witnesses and the institution of a cult The latter motif, the cultic worship of the assumed person, is, of course, totally absent in the OT or Jewish accounts The technical term for assumptions in the OT or Jewish area is the verb lqah Within the Hellenistic strand, Lohfink (ibid , 41-42) distinguishes three groups of verbs The first group is made up of the verbs aphanizo, aphamzomai, aphans gignomai, and aphantos gignomai, which emphasize the disappearance of the person The second set of verbs is made up of the verb harpaz and its compounds anarpaz, exarpazo, and synarpaz According to Lohfink, the verb harpaz is the oldest Greek term for assumption (Entruckung) Its Latin equivalent is rapio
18 17

280 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 46, 1984 and in Judaism as well, God himself takes up the person, although this does not exclude his use of a storm wind, a wagon, a cloud, or angels. For our purposes, which concern 1 Thessalonians 4, the most important observation of Lohfink is that the one who is assumed "did not taste death." 20 This rule is more clearly stated in the OT and Jewish assumptions. To quote Lohfink: "The one who is assumed does not have to taste death, and conversely, the one who is really dead cannot be assumed."21 For this reason, Lohfink remarks, there are no accounts of Abraham's, Isaac's, and Jacob's assumptions. Even the assumption of Moses is undermined by the account of his burial in Deut 34:6. Implications of the Presentation of Assumption 22 in 1 Thess 4:13-18 Strangely enough, Lohfink does not mention the pattern of assumption in 1 Thess 4:16-18 when he discusses the NT parallels. Yet the assumption is clearly stated in the phrase harp agesometha en nephelais eis apantsin tou kyriou eis aera. It indicates the termination of the present earthly existence, which is brought out as the result of this action: "Thus we shall always be with the Lord" (v. 17). The cloud motif, which elsewhere in the eschatological depictions in the NT is found in conjunction with the descent of the Lord or the Son of Man, in dependence on Dan 7:13, is here used uniquely for the assumption. Since the event is eschatological and involves all the faithful, the witness motif is naturally omitted. This is not an assumption of exceptional individuals only, but of all who belong to Christ. The imagery of assumption must have been familiar to Paul, steeped as

or rapior The term occurs frequently within "translations from one earthly abode to another (to another country, to the isle of the blessed, to the fields of Elysium) " It brings out the suddenness and the unexpectedness of the happening The third set consists of one verb, methistamai The corresponding noun forms to these verbs are aphanismos, harpag, and metastasis 20 Ibid , 73 nn 252 and 253 21 Ibid , 74 This, Lohfink notes (n 268), is not an absolutely valid statement After one's entrance in the eschatological function, death is again possible Lohfink refers here to Rev 11 7 But, we point out, even here the rule for the assumption applies, since the two witnesses, who have been murdered, are first brought to life and then taken up 22 At this point we subsume the translation in 1 Thess 4 17 under the category of assumption in agreement with G Lohfink's analysis of such descriptions in biblical and non-biblical literature The happening described in 1 Thess 4 17 has the following features which are characteristic of assumptions the person in question is passive, the object of an action from above, the event terminates the person's earthly existence, the whole living person is taken up and transported to a new place, the new abode is something permanent, the focus is not on the journey but on the terminus quo and the terminus ad quern

THE FAITHFUL AND THE RESURRECTION (1 THESS 4 13-18) 281 he was in Jewish apocalyptic thought At any rate, such presentations were 24 a living tradition before, during, and after the Apostle's ministry Luke was also familiar with it, since he used it for Christ's ascension in Luke 24 and m Acts 1, and suggests it also for the eschatological coming of the Son of Man in Luke 17 34-35 (= Matt 24 40-41) This means that the Q-source also used this presentation, which we find as well in Rev 11 3-13, applied to the two prophetic witnesses, and in 12 5, where the male offspring of the woman crowned with twelve stars is assumed into heaven In all these instances, we are dealing with the assumption of those who are alive In Revelation 11 the two witnesses are taken up after having been brought back to life This presentation in Revelation 11 is the closest parallel to 1 Thess 4 8 In both texts we find the same sequence death, restoration of life, assumption Having established the presence of this concept in 1 Thess 4 16-18, we may now ask How did the structure associated with assumption influence Paul's presentation of the parousia in 1 Thessalonians 4 ? In particular, how did it affect Paul's presentation of the "resurrection"9 In what way did it concern the problem underlying 1 Thessalonians 4? At this point let us recall Lohfink's conclusion "To be assumed, one has to be alive, and conversely, one who is really dead cannot be assumed " 2 5 If, as the tenor of this passage suggests, Paul had already taught the Thessalo nians that at the parousia of Christ they would all be assumed and gathered around the risen Lord forever, then the death of some of the faithful would obviously cause consternation m the community They would naturally think that the dead could not participate in the assumptionone had to be alive to be assumed For the same reason Paul could not effectively reassure the faithful with the argument in 14, in which he states that the presence of the deceased faithful is guaranteed by the Christ-event of the past, by his death and resurrection He had to show them graphically how this would be made possible The Apostle does this by stating that the deceased faithful would be raisedfirst (v 16) And since in the context of the assumption, it is sufficient to show that, in order to qualify, the deceased would be brought back to this earthly life, the Apostle does show just how that occurs God can bring them to life again' The "risen" faithful, m Paul's presentation, rejoin those who are still alive Then only are they all jointly taken up by the cloud to meet the Lord
23 J C Beker brings this out forcefully in Paul the Apostle and Thought (Philadelphia Fortress, 1980) 135-81 24 See G Lohfink, Himmelfahrt, 32, 74
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The Triumph of God in Life

Ibid, 74

282 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 46, 1984 Thus Paul shows that the living faithful will have no advantage over the deceased brethren at the parousia They will all, equally and jointly, share m this joy, e , they will all be taken up and gathered around the Lord The advantage of our exegesis is that it adequately explains the grief in the community over the death of some of its members and lets Paul's presen tation of the "resurrection" in this passage be seen within the structure of assumption, rather than within his later statement in 1 Corinthians 15, where the problem is different The cause of grief in Thessalonica was thus not connected with the absence of the Apostle's teaching of the resurrection of the dead, but rather with a misunderstanding of his unique depiction of the faithful's sharing in the glorious parousia through their assumption Once we admit the pattern of assumption in 1 Thessalonians 4, we can also accept Paul's presentation of the "resurrection" for what it is a return to this life Contrary to Rigaux, the Apostle is not thinking here directly about the glorious transformation, as he does in 1 Corinthians 15 and elsewhere (2 Cor 5 1-10, Phil 3 20-21, Rom 8 23) Yet, is there no hint in the presentation in 1 Thessalonians 4 that the reunion with Christ at his parousia involves at the same time a transforma tion, which implies a change in the physical constitution of a person 9 Paul, of course, does not talk directly about this in 1 Thessalonians 4 Yet the structure of assumption can express something like this in its own terms Through the assumption, wrought by the power of God, the faithful are taken out of the world in which they live and are brought into the exalted world of the risen Lord This is the world of heaven, eternal life with Christ in the presence of God The phrase kai houts pantote syn kyri esometha ( 17) suggests the eschatological existence in which death has no more claim on them Another consequence of this exegesis is that we need not postulate a development of eschatology between 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians 2 6 The difference in the two presentations is not due to Paul's having changed his mind, but rather to the actual problems to which he addresses himself In 1 Thessalonians 4 he affirms that God can, in his power over death, restore the dead to life and so make them share not only in the parousia of Christ but ultimately in life with the risen Lord in his (God's) presence forever 27 In 1 Corinthians 15 he affirms more directly that God will change our mortal bodies through the transformation which will affect both the dead and the living faithful 28

26 27 28

Against W Marxsen "Auslegung " 29 See Thess 4 14 and 2 Cor 4 14 On the contextual exegesis see J C Beker Paul the Apostle 11-131

THE FAITHFUL AND THE RESURRECTION (1 THESS 4.13-18) 283 Finally, Paul's presentation in 1 Thessalonians 4 indicates that he can formulate creatively, even though he depends on available traditions. He can use apocalyptic imagery as well as the structure of assumption to express the truth guaranteed in the death and the resurrection of Christ, i.e., that all the faithful will ultimately share fully the risen life of their Lord.29

If we are right in seeing the structure of an assumption in this text, then it is doubtful that the model of a Hellenistic parousia, suggested by E Peterson and others, had any influence on Paul's depiction in 1 Thess 4 13-18 E Peterson spoke of the Einholung of the Lord ("Die Einholung des Kyrios," ISTI [1929-30] 682-702) In agreement with Peterson, L Cerfaux states "Christians would be transported to heaven to form a guard of honour for Christ and would return to earth with him to act as assessors at the judgment" (The Christian in the Theology of St Paul [New York Herder & Herder, 1967] 158) Our exegesis rather strengthens J Dupont's conclusion that the imagery in 1 Thess 4 13-18 agrees with the OT and Jewish apocalyptic presentations ( L'Union avec le Christ suivant Saint Paul [Louvain Nauwelaerts, Pans Descle de Brouwer, 1952] 39-79)

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