Dead in Christ

[Ta-An]

What does it mean to be :"Dead in Christ" ??1 Thess 4:16 For 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:

[TrustingFollower]

It simply means the believers that have died physically already or die physically before Jesus returns. 2 Corinthians 5 helps illustrate this to some degree.

2 Corinthians 5

1 For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven;
3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked.
4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.
6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord --
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight --
8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
9 Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

And also Revelation 20:4-6

Revelation 20

4 ¶And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

[Ta-An]

Thank you TF..... when you translate that directly it says something different...

[bennie]

Thank you TF..... when you translate that directly it says something different...

What does it say?

[Ta-An]

What does it say?

Bennie dit sê: "Dood in Christus" as jy direk vertaal.... and what does that imply..... I dunno
Does is say ... dead in (relationship with /commitment to ) Christ
That is what I wanted to clear out.....

[watchinginawe]

Ta-An, I think the first verses put the verse 16 in consideration into context.

I Thessalonians 4:13 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.

Paul above establishes that he is talking about the physically dead. He is putting forth that we should not be sorrowful for those that die in the sense of "the end", or "finality"; never to see them again. Those who are ignorant of this might seem like unbelievers (those which have no hope) which sorrow after their loved ones in the way of the world.


14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

This verse will leave little doubt about how to understand verse 16. Paul explains the hope we have in Jesus, if we believe; and how we as Christians do not view death as a finality since we know Jesus has conquered death. Also, the class of the dead being talked about is narrowed to those "which sleep in Jesus"; or those who died believing in Christ and God's promises, those "which sleep in Jesus".


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.

Paul is setting forth doctrine regarding the order of events that will take place upon the return of the Lord.


16 For 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:

And this is the verse under consideration. While "dead" above might be said to mean "those who are Spiritually dead", the preceeding verses make it clear that Paul is talking about those who died believing. That we might be sorrowful also implies that these are loved brothers and sisters in Christ, or perhaps family members as well.

It is the dead which died believing which will precede the living, they shall be resurrected 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.

18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

These verses are to be a comfort to us in contemplation of our own death and also the death of brothers and sisters in Christ. Not that we aren't to be sorrowful from those who pass on, but rather that we aren't to be sorrowful as with no hope of the resurrection.

I went through the passage looking up the words in the above translation (KJV) in Greek, and I don't see how the passage says anything about those who are "dead without Christ" or "Spiritually dead" being raised at the Lord's return. However, I am not even a practicing novice at Greek, so maybe someone who can actually just read through it in the Greek will comment.

God Bless!