People with Hope

MEMORY SELECTION: “I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” —I Thessalonians 5:23

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: I Thessalonians 4:9-18

TURNING first to our memory selection, we note that Paul makes reference to the “spirit,” “soul,” and “body” of the consecrated child of God. During the Dark Ages of the past, and even unto our present time, many Christian people have believed that man possesses a soul or spirit which is something separate from the body. Although no one has ever been successful in explaining what the soul is, nevertheless the idea has been so entrenched in the minds of men that few attempt to investigate the matter.

We think the apostle, by emphasizing the word spirit, had reference to the disposition and motivating influence in the heart of the consecrated. In much the same way we describe someone as having a loving spirit or a Christlike spirit. The apostle was not teaching that man is a spirit being manifested in the flesh.

Paul’s mentioning of the soul was not intended to convey the thought that it was something apart, yet within the human breast. The word soul refers to the vitalized life principle. When Adam was created, he became a soul after God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.—Gen. 2:7

Reference to the body further emphasizes the whole being. The child of God who has given his life in sacrifice desires to use all his strength and talents in doing the will of God. It implies the whole consecrated life of the Christian and all that he has and is.

Another point of discussion in the text relates to the “coming” of our Lord Jesus Christ. Students of the Bible are aware that the word coming has been translated from the Greek word parousia. A Greek dictionary or Strong’s Concordance of the Bible notes that parousia is from the Greek verb which means “to be present,” and its mistranslation has caused confusion relating to the events during the closing years of the Gospel Age. Prophecies in connection with our Lord’s second advent are concurrent with his presence.

The selected scriptural reading for this week’s lesson contains wise admonition from the great apostle. He reminded the brethren at Thessalonica to be more aware of the need to develop love in their characters: “For ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” (I Thess. 4:9) And again (vs. 10): “We beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more.” Paul was stressing the need to develop the Christlike spirit which is manifested by love. His further counsel in verses 11 and 12 is equally important.

The remainder of the chapter (vss. 13-18) deals especially with those who have been faithful as footstep followers of Christ and have fallen asleep in death. Paul gives assurance of the promised resurrection of the dead that has been made possible through our Lord Jesus: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” (vs. 14) Those who will be with him are the ones who, during the present Gospel Age, have been faithful in laying down their lives and have participated with our Lord in his sacrificial death. They will be resurrected to newness of life on the divine plane.

The apostle explains that the resurrection of those who had fallen asleep in Jesus coincides with his return at the second advent. Here again reference is made to the “coming” of the Lord. And, even as was pointed out in connection with our memory selection, the Greek word from which coming has been translated is in this passage of scripture also parousia—which means “presence.” “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming [parousia—presence] of the Lord shall not prevent [phthano—precede] them which are asleep.”—vs. 15

This means that those who are among the faithful sleeping class will be raised from their condition of death first—at the time of our Lord’s second presence. “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.”—vs. 17

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