He exhorts them to purity and mutual charity. He treats of the resurrection of the dead.
He exhorteth them to liue as he taught them: and namely to absteine from al fornicatiō, 9 to loue one an other. 11 to meddle onely vvith their ovvne matters, 12 to behaue them selues vvel tovvard the Infidels. 13 Touching their frendes departed, he comforteth them, shevving that they shal meate againe as the Resurrection, and be vvith Christ for euer.
1For the rest therefore, brethren, we pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus that, as you have received from us, how you ought to walk and to please God, so also you would walk, that you may abound the more.Del rimanente adunque, o fratelli vi preghiamo, e scongiuriamo pel Signore Gesù, che, conforme avete apparato da noi, in qual modo camminar dobbiate, e piacere a Dio, così pure camminiate, onde siate vieppiù doviziosi.FOR the rest therfore, brethren, vve desire & beseeche you in our Lord IESVS, that as you haue receiued of vs hovv you ought to vvalke, and to please God, as also you doe vvalke, that you abounde more.De cetero ergo, fratres, rogamus vos et obsecramus in Domino Jesu, ut quemadmodum accepistis a nobis quomodo oporteat vos ambulare, et placere Deo, sic et ambuletis ut abundetis magis. 2For you know what precepts I have given to you by the Lord Jesus.Imperocché voi sapete, quali precetti io diedi a voi da parte del Signore Gesù.For you knovv vvhat precepts I haue giuen to you by our Lord IESVS.Scitis enim quæ præcepta dederim vobis per Dominum Jesum. 3For this is the will of God, your sanctification: That you should abstain from fornication:Imperocché questa è la volontà di Dio, la vostra santificazione: che stiate lontani dalla fornicazione,For this is the vvil of God, your sanctificatiō: that you abstaine from fornication,Hæc est enim voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra: ut abstineatis vos a fornicatione, 4That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour,Che sappia ciascheduno di voi possedere il proprio corpo in santità, e onestà,that euery one may knovv to possesse his vessel in sanctification and honour:ut sciat unusquisque vestrum vas suum possidere in sanctificatione, et honore: 5Not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles that know not God:Non nelle passioni della concupiscenza, come pur le genti, le quali non conoscono Dio:not in the passion of lust, as also the Gentiles that knovv not God,non in passione desiderii, sicut et gentes, quæ ignorant Deum: 6And that no man overreach nor circumvent his brother in business: because the Lord is the avenger of all these things, as we have told you before and have testified.E che nissuno soverchi, o gabbi il proprio fratello nel mal fare: imperocché di tutte queste cose Dio fu vendetta, come da prima vi dicemmo, e vi protestammo.and that no man ouergot, nor circumuent his brother in businesse: because our Lord is reuenger of al these things, as vve haue foretold you, & haue testified.et ne quis supergrediatur, neque circumveniat in negotio fratrem suum: quoniam vindex est Dominus de his omnibus, sicut prædiximus vobis, et testificati sumus.
7For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification.Imperocché Dio non ci ha chiamati alla immondezza, ma alla santità.For God hath not called vs into vncleannesse: but into sanctification.Non enim vocavit nos Deus in immunditiam, sed in sanctificationem. 8Therefore, he that despiseth these things, despiseth not man, but God, who also hath given his holy Spirit in us.Per la qual cosa chi di tali cose non fa caso, non un uomo disprezza ma Dio: il quale ha pur dato in noi il suo santo Spirito.Therfore he that despiseth these things, despiseth not man but God, vvho also hath giuen his holy Spirit in vs.Itaque qui hæc spernit, non hominem spernit, sed Deum: qui etiam dedit Spiritum suum Sanctum in nobis. 9But as touching the charity of brotherhood, we have no need to write to you: for yourselves have learned of God to love one another.Intorno poi alla carità fraterna non abbiamo necessità di scrivervi; imperocché voi stessi avete apparato da Dio ad amarvi l'un l'altro.But concerning the charitie of the fraternitie, vve haue no neede to vvrite to you: for your selues haue learned of God to loue one an other.De caritate autem fraternitatis non necesse habemus scribere vobis: ipsi enim vos a Deo didicistis ut diligatis invicem. 10For indeed you do it towards all the brethren in all Macedonia. But we entreat you, brethren, that you abound more:Imperocché ciò voi pur fate verso tutti i fratelli in tutta la Macedonia. Ma vi esortiamo, o fratelli, ad essere viepiù eccellenti,Yea and you doe it tovvard al the brethren in al Macedonia. But vve desire you brethrē, that you aboūd more:Etenim illud facitis in omnes fratres in universa Macedonia. Rogamus autem vos, fratres, ut abundetis magis, 11And that you use your endeavour to be quiet: and that you do your own business and work with your own hands, as we commanded you: and that you walk honestly towards them that are without: and that you want nothing of any man’s.E che procuriate di viver quieti, e di fare il fatto vostro, e di lavorar colle vostre mani, conforme vi ordinammo,& that you employ your indeuour to be quiet, & that you doe your ovvne businesse, & vvorke vvith your ovvne handes, as we haue cōmaunded you: and that you vvalke honestly tovvard them that are vvithout: and neede nothing of any mans.et opera detis ut quieti sitis, et ut vestrum negotium agatis, et operemini manibus vestris, sicut præcepimus vobis:
12And we will not have you ignorant brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that you be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope.e che vi diportiate con onestà verso gli estranei: e non abbiate io nulla bisogno di alcuno.And vve vvil not haue you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that sleepe, that you be not sorovvful, as also others that haue no hope.et ut honeste ambuletis ad eos qui foris sunt: et nullius aliquid desideretis. 13For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again: even so them who have slept through Jesus, will God bring with him.Non vogliamo poi, o fratelli, che voi siate ignoranti riguardo a quelli, che dormono, affinché non vi rattristiate, come tutti gli altri, i quali sono senza speranza.For if vve beleeue that IESVS died and rose againe, so also God them that haue slept by IESVS vvil bring vvith him.Nolumus autem vos ignorare fratres de dormientibus, ut non contristemini sicut et ceteri, qui spem non habent. 14For this we say unto you in the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them who have slept.Imperocché se crediamo, che Gesù morì, e risuscitò: nello stesso modo ancora coloro, che in Gesù si sono addormentati, Iddio menerà con esso.For this vve say to you in the vvord of our Lord, that vve vvhich liue, vvhich are remaining in the aduent of our Lord, shal not preuent them that haue slept.Si enim credimus quod Jesus mortuus est, et resurrexit: ita et Deus eos qui dormierunt per Jesum, adducet cum eo. 15For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven with commandment and with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God: and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first.Imperocché sulla parola del Signore, vi diciamo, che noi, che siamo vivi, che siam riserbati per la venuta del Signore, non preverremo quelli, che si addormentarono.For our Lord him self in commaundement and in the voice of an Archangel and in the trōpet of God vvil descend from heauen: and the dead that are in Christ, shal rise againe first.Hoc enim vobis dicimus in verbo Domini, quia nos, qui vivimus, qui residui sumus in adventum Domini, non præveniemus eos qui dormierunt. 16Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ, into the air: and so shall we be always with the Lord.Imperocché lo stesso Signore al comando, e alla voce dell'Arcangelo, e al suono della tromba di Dio scenderà dal cielo: e quelli, che in Cristo son morti, risorgeranno i primi.Then vve that liue, that are left, vvithal shal be taken vp vvith them in the cloudes to meete Christ, into the aire, and so alvvaies vve shal be vvith our Lord.Quoniam ipse Dominus in jussu, et in voce archangeli, et in tuba Dei descendet de cælo: et mortui, qui in Christo sunt, resurgent primi.
17Wherefore, comfort ye one another with these words.Quindi noi, che siam vivi, che siam superstiti, saremo traportati sopra le nubi in aria con essi incontro al Signore, e così col Signore saremo perpetuamente.Therfore cōfort ye one an other in these vvordes.Deinde nos, qui vivimus, qui relinquimur, simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Christo in aëra, et sic semper cum Domino erimus. 18Racconsolatevi adunque scambievolmente con queste parole.Itaque consolamini invicem in verbis istis.
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St. Ambrose
In this chapter the apostle begins to remind them of their obligation of always striving to increase in virtue. Though he praises them through the whole epistle, he still thinks it necessary to warn them not to be surprised in uncleanness. He repeats what he had taught them before; first, that there is vengeance awaiting the workers of evil; and secondly, that the favour of God is the reward of those who deal with the brethren in simplicity, and preserve themselves from the defilements of the Gentiles. (St. Ambrose, Comment., on this place)
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Witham
His vessel. That is, his own body. See 1 Kings 21:5. (Witham)
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Witham
That no man overreach, nor deceive his brother in business.[Ver. 6. Ne quis supergrediatur, neque circumveniat in negotio fratrem, en to pragmati. See St. Jerome: diligenter observa, quia ad castitatem nos provocans, et volens uxoribus tantùm esse contentos, dixerit, ne quis supergrediatur, etc. St. Chrysostom, (log. e. p. 186.) entautha peri moicheias phesin, anotero de peri porneias pases.] The Protestant and Mr. N. even in their translations, add, in any matter, because some expound it of frauds and circumventions in any kind of business. But this addition of any, should be left out, seeing the best interpreters expound it of a prohibition of adultery, and the injury thereby done to another, and of sins of that kind only, which is confirmed by what follows and what goes before. See St. Jerome in 1 Thessalonians 4:ad Ephes. tom. 4. p. 369.; St. Chrysostom serm. 3 on this place. Here, says he, he speaks of adultery, as before of fornication, etc. See Theodoret, Theophylactus, Estius, Menochius, Cornelius a Lapide, etc. (Witham)
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Witham
And that you want nothing of any man's.[Ver. 11. Nullius aliquid desideretis, medenos chreian echete. that is nullius opus habeatis.] This is the sense by the Greek, nor does the Latin here signify to desire, but to want them that are without; that is infidels out of the pale of the Church. (Witham)
Calmet
In regard of brotherly love, he advises them to remain quiet, at peace with every one, troubling nobody, nor interfering with the concerns of others, but each one minding his own work. It had been reported to the apostle that there were some at Thessalonica who made religion a pretest for idleness. It is to reprove such persons as these, that we are given to understand in this place that religion will never excuse the neglect of relative duties, either to our neighbours or to ourselves. It is the duty of all to labour, in order to prevent the evils of poverty; for involuntary poverty is a great snare, and a dangerous temptation against salvation. It exposes to ignorance, to meanness, and low actions; it conducts to fraud, to falsities, to impudence, and forgetfulness of God. Happy are the poor in spirit, but miserable they who are involuntarily so: miserable, not for the wants, the humiliations, or inconveniences of their state, but for the irregularities and disorders of conduct to which they are exposed. It is therefore wise of man to pray, Give me not riches nor poverty, but give me only what is sufficient, etc. (Calmet)
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With commandment.[Ver. 15. In jussu, en keleusmati, from keleuo, in celeusmate, in voce simul clamantium.] God's command will in a moment raise and bring all to judgment.
Witham
And the dead, who are in Christ, in the grace of Christ, shall rise first, not as to time, but in dignity. (Witham)
St. Chrysostom
Shall rise first. Not in order of time, for all shall rise in the twinkling of an eye, but first in order of dignity. St. Chrysostom, however, thinks that the elect rise before the reprobate, to go before the Lord; whereas the latter shall come behind him, only to appear before the tribunal of justice. (St. Chrysostom)
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In the liturgy The Epistle vpon the 2 Sunday in Lent.
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8. Not man but God.] The precepts of the Church. He that despiseth the Churches or her lavvful Pastors precepts, offendeth no lesse then if he contemned Gods expresse commaundements. For they be of the holy Ghost, and are not to be counted among the commaundements of men onely.
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Al Catholike Christians make one fraternitie or brotherhod.
Concordance Io. 13, 34 15, 17.
Concordance Heb 13, 1
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Christian men ought to procede and profite continually in good vvorkes and iustification.
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13. Sleepe.] Some Heretikes peruersly inferred of this that the foules did sleepe til the day of iudgement: vvhere it is meant of the bodies onely.
In the liturgy The Epistle in a Masse for the dead vpon the day of the burial or deposition.
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Concordance 1. Cor. 15, 23.
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He speaketh in the person of those that shal be aliue vvhen our Sauiour returneth to iudgement.
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Concordance Mt. 24, 31. 1. Cor. 13, 52.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 An Exhortation to Theodore After His Fall 2.5
… even so he who is engaged in the service of Christ drawing himself out of the turmoil and stormy billows of life takes his seat upon secure and lofty ground. For what position can be loftier or more secure than that in which a man has only one anxiety, “How he ought to please God?”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 2 Thessalonians 5
See how in the former Epistle indeed he discourses somewhat more mildly concerning these things; as when he says, “We beseech you, brethren,—that ye would abound more and more—and that ye study” (
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.15
… To one and the same Lord, then, belonged Christ and the prophets. What that “sanctification of ours” is, which he declares to be “the will of God,” you may discover from the opposite conduct which he forbids. That we should “abstain from fornication,” not from marriage; that every one “should know how to possess his vessel in honour.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Exhortation to Chastity 1
… which necessity, indeed, may very easily be circumscribed, if the will rather than the indulgence of God be considered. No one deserves (favour) by availing himself of the indulgence, but by rendering a prompt obedience to the will, (of his master). The will of God is our sanctification,
Tertullian † AD 220 On Modesty 17
… “For our consolation (originated) not of seduction, nor of impurity:” and, “This is the will of God, your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication; that each one know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour, not in the lust of concupiscence, as (do) the nations which are ignorant of God.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 61
… Again, not to revile is a very small part of it, nevertheless this too casts out them that have not attained to it. “For he that saith to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Again, even continence itself is a part, but nevertheless, without this no one shall see the Lord. For, “Follow peace,” it is said, “and holiness,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Colossians 8
But why did he begin his list with fornication? For having said, “Mortify your members which are upon the earth” ( c. iii. 5 .), he immediately says, “fornication”; and so he does almost everywhere. Because this passion hath the greatest sway. For even when writing his Epistle to the Thessalonians he did the same. (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 30
[3.] “Follow peace with all men, and holiness.” What does he mean by “holiness”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Marriage and Concupiscence 1.9
… “This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the disease of desire, even as the Gentiles which know not God.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 9.122
… Cleanness also of body is to be guarded in our strivings after well-doing, since, according to the voice of the apostolic preacher, The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are ( 1 Cor. iii. 17 ). And again he says, For this is the will of God, even your sanctification (
Pseudo-Cyprian Of the Discipline and Advantage of Chastity 6
6. Christ gave this judgment when, being inquired of, He said that a wife must not be put away, save for the cause of adultery; such honour did He put upon chastity. Hence arose the decree: “Ye shall not suffer adulteresses to live.” Hence the apostle says: “This is the will of God, that ye abstain from fornication.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 16
… whereas the flesh, being conceived, formed, and generated along with the soul from its earliest existence in the womb, is mixed up with it likewise in all its operations. For although it is called “a vessel” by the apostle, such as he enjoins to be treated “with honour,”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 160.5
… stepmothers begin their hatred after death. The sum of what I say is this. If any one wants to contract a lawful marriage, the whole world is open to him: if he is only impelled by lust, let him be the more restricted, “that he may know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour, not in the lust of concupiscence.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 15
And he said not, “Fornication is perpetrated,” but, “Is reported,—such as is not even named among the Gentiles.” For so continually he makes the Gentiles a topic of reproach to the believers. Thus writing to the Thessalonians, he said, (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 5
Ver. 4, 5 . “That each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles which know not God.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 128.3
… “Is any called in uncircumcision,”—that is, having a wife and enveloped in the skin of matrimony? let him not seek the nakedness of virginity and of that eternal chastity which he has lost once for all. No, let him “possess his vessel in sanctification and honour,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 14.16
… So possessing indeed is this pleasure, that at the moment of time in which it is consummated, all mental activity is suspended. What friend of wisdom and holy joys, who, being married, but knowing, as the apostle says, “how to possess his vessel in santification and honor, not in the disease of desire, as the Gentiles who know not God,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 1.21
… And yet the wife is subject to the husband, because it is fitting that she should be, and so much the more in subjection is she, in proportion to her greater chastity; and the husband for his part loveth his wife truly, as it is written, “In honour and sanctification,”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 1
… They bring down the substance of God into stones and into dogs; but many heretics into fouler things than these. But we could never endure even to hear of these things. But what we say is that of a virgin’s womb the Christ took pure flesh, holy and without spot, and made impervious to all sin, and restored the body
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St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to the Philadelphians: Shorter and Longer Versions 3
… For says [the Scripture], “Thine eye shall not spare him.” You ought therefore to “hate those that hate God, and to waste away [with grief] on account of His enemies.” I do not mean that you should beat them or persecute them, as do the Gentiles “that know not the Lord and God;”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.15
… What that “sanctification of ours” is, which he declares to be “the will of God,” you may discover from the opposite conduct which he forbids. That we should “abstain from fornication,” not from marriage; that every one “should know how to possess his vessel in honour.” In what way? “Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 18
Wherefore also He here brings forward the heathens and the publicans, by the quality of the person putting the disciple to shame. Which Paul too did, saying, “Sorrow not, even as the rest which have no hope;” and, “Even as the Gentiles which know not God.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 5
… And as he always does when discoursing with believers about sins, and wishing to show that they are to be avoided, he brings the Gentiles in, and says, “Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the other Gentiles which know not God.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 12
… But he plainly indicates the same thing, only he brings his example from others. And so in writing to the Thessalonians, he does this very same thing, where he says, “Not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles which know not God.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Good of Marriage 15
… For they had them in the work of begetting children, not “in the disease of desire, as the nations which know not God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin 2.38
But they argue thus, saying: “Is not, then, marriage an evil, and the man that is produced by marriage not God’s work?” As if the good of the married life were that disease of concupiscence with which they who know not God love their wives—a course which the apostle forbids;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Marriage and Concupiscence 2.19
… For what gratification is there (except perhaps for lascivious persons, and those who, as the apostle says with prohibition, “possess their vessel in the lust of concupiscence”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.89
In the first Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians: “That a man do not deceive his brother in a matter, because God is the avenger for all these.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 3.12
76. A man’s disposition ought to be undefiled and sound, so that he may utter words without dissimulation and possess his vessel in sanctification;
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 3
… One is in money affairs, as when any one deals unrighteously by his neighbor in these; and another in regard to women, when a man leaves his own wife, and breaks in upon the marriage of another. For St. Paul calls this also defrauding, saying thus, “That no man go beyond or defraud his brother in the matter.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 5
Ver. 6 . “That no man transgress, and wrong his brother in the matter.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 5
Ver. 7 . “For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 1.16
… And let everyone know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour, not in the lust of concupiscence, as the Gentiles who know not God:
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 3.2
10. But the Holy Spirit also was given, for it is written: “I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete.” And the Apostle says: “Wherefore he that despiseth these things despiseth not man but God, Who hath given us His Holy Spirit.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 14
A matter this more terrible and startling, as he also says in the Epistle to the Thessalonians; for there too he uses an expression of this sort. “He that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 5
Ver. 8 . “Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God, who giveth His Holy Spirit unto you.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans the-argument
… for having written to them before, and having moved the question of alms to them, when he said, “But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 53.3
… The learned teaching of our Lord strikes the Pharisees dumb with amazement, and they are filled with astonishment to find that Peter and John know the Law although they have not learned letters. For to these the Holy Ghost immediately suggested what comes to others by daily study and meditation; and, as it is written,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin 1.14
… Accordingly, the apostle thus speaks to the Thessalonians: “As touching love of the brethren, ye need not that I write unto you; for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 10.7
… “But concerning brotherly charity ye have no need that I write to you: for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another. For this ye do toward all the brethren in the whole of Macedonia.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 44
Now Paul in another place saith, “But we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more, that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business; that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin 1.14
… Accordingly, the apostle thus speaks to the Thessalonians: “As touching love of the brethren, ye need not that I write unto you; for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” And then, by way of proving that they had been taught of God, he subjoined: “And indeed ye do it towards all the brethren which are in all Macedonia.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Idolatry 5
… for there is not any one of us who has not been found as a sinner , since no other cause was the source of Christ’s descent than that of setting sinners free. Again, they say the same apostle has left a precept, according to his own example, “That each one work with his own hands for a living.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 22.2
… The Christian ought not to seek for honour, or claim precedence. Every one ought to put all others before himself. The Christian ought not to be unruly. He who is able to work ought not to eat the bread of idleness, but even he who is busied in deeds well done for the glory of Christ ought to force himself to the active discharge of such work as he can do.
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 226
… They pass sleepless nights to do me mischief. I do not ask this of you. They are taking to a commercial career, and turning their slanders against me into a means of profit. I implore you on the other hand to stop at home, and to lead a decorous life, quietly doing Christ’s work.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 6
Ver. 11, 12 . “To be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged you: that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 2.3
… Further, he is obliged to habituate himself to work and toil, so as to prepare with his own hands, in accordance with the Apostle’s command,
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 10.21
… “The ways of the idlers are strewn with thorns;” i.e., with these and similar faults, which the Apostle above declared to spring from idleness. And again: “Every sluggard is always in want.” And of these the Apostle makes mention when he says, “And that you want nothing of any man’s.”
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St Hippolytus † AD 235 Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 66
… For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice and trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 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.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 101
… If the hope of Christians is limited to this life, it might rightly have been reckoned a bitter lot to be prematurely parted from the body; but if, to them that love God, the sundering of the soul from these bodily fetters is the beginning of our real life, why do we grieve like them which have no hope?
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 2 Thessalonians 5
… iv. 1-11 .)—and nowhere does he say, “we command,” nor “in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” which was fearful and implied danger, but that “ye abound,” he says, and “study,” which are the words of one exhorting to virtue; “that ye may walk honestly” (becomingly), he says. (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 263.3
3. There is nothing in the sorrow of mortals over their dearly beloved dead which merits displeasure; but the sorrow of believers ought not to be prolonged. If, therefore, you have been grieved till now, let this grief suffice, and sorrow not as do the heathen, “who have no hope.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 9.107
… For it is, as it were, a kind of distrust to be tormented by sadness in opposition to what everyone preaches, as the Apostle says, But we would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope (
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Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 24
… 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: 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 be ever with the Lord.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 57
… For, by assigning immortality to the repeating of death, and incorruption to the repairing of the wasted body, he has fitted one to the raising and the other to the retrieval of the body . I suppose, moreover, that he promises to the Thessalonians the integrity of the whole substance of man.
Tertullian † AD 220 On Patience 9
Not even that species of impatience under the loss of our dear ones is excused, where some assertion of a right to grief acts the patron to it. For the consideration of the apostle’s declaration must be set before us, who says, “Be not overwhelmed with sadness at the falling asleep of any one, just as the nations are who are without hope.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Apparel of Women ii.7
… And oh that in “that day” of Christian exultation, I, most miserable (as I am), may elevate my head, even though below (the level of) your heels! I shall (then) see whether you will rise with (your) ceruse and rouge and saffron, and in all that parade of headgear: whether it will be women thus tricked out whom the angels carry up to meet Christ in the air!
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 2.65
… For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them that are asleep.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Mortality 21
… “I would not,” says he, “have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which are asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.59
… My soul desires and hastes to the courts of God.” And in the Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians: “But we would not that you should be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who sleep, that ye sorrow not as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also them which have fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.”
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 8.18
… And concerning Lazarus, He said to His disciples:— Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go to waken him . And the Apostle said:— We shall all sleep, but we shall not all be changed . And again he said:— Concerning those that sleep, be ye not grieved.
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.13
… and what is the sign of Thy coming ?’ And again, hearing from the Saviour the events of the end, they desired to learn the time of it, that they might be kept from error themselves, and might be able to teach others; as, for instance, when they had learned, they set right the Thessalonians
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 28.1
Do not lose that tranquillity now; do not, by extravagant lamentation, and by entirely giving yourself up to grief, put the opportunity for action into the hands of those who are plotting your bane. If lament you must, (which I do not allow, lest you be in this respect like “them which have no hope,”)
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 62
… I feel with you at once in your grief at the event which has befallen you, and in your anxiety at the matter which you have in hand. Concerning all these troubles I can only say, that an occasion is given us to look to the injunctions of the Apostle, and not to sorrow “even as others which have no hope.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 18.17
… and how he called them fools , who believed not; and remember the whole of his teaching there concerning the resurrection of the dead, and how he wrote to the Thessalonians, But we would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as the rest which have no hope
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Funeral Oration on Meletius 1
… He has loosed the sandal of his soul, that with the pure step of thought he may set foot upon that holy land where there is the Vision of God. Having therefore, brethren, this consolation, do ye, who are conveying the bones of our Joseph to the place of blessing, listen to the exhortation of Paul: “Sorrow not as others who have no hope
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homily on the Paralytic Let Down Through the Roof 8
… come here listens to Paul groaning over this present life and longing to see that which is to come, and oppressed by his sojourn in this world, and he will go away with a sufficient remedy for his grief when he has heard him say “Now concerning them that are asleep I would not have you ignorant brethren that ye sorrow not even as others who have no hope.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 18
Wherefore also He here brings forward the heathens and the publicans, by the quality of the person putting the disciple to shame. Which Paul too did, saying, “Sorrow not, even as the rest which have no hope;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 5
… And as he always does when discoursing with believers about sins, and wishing to show that they are to be avoided, he brings the Gentiles in, and says, “Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the other Gentiles which know not God.” ( 1 Thess. iv. 5 .) And again: “sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 6
Ver. 13 . “But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no hope.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 4
And indeed, that women engaged in the affairs of this life should act thus is no way surprising. And yet indeed this even is dreadful; for from them also is the same philosophy required. Wherefore also Paul says, “But concerning them which are asleep, I would not have you ignorant, that ye sorrow not even as the rest who have no hope.” (
Rufinus of Aquileia † AD 411 A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 43
… For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first: then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 3.3
… We had with us also Hylas, the servant of the holy Melanium, who by his stainless conduct had wiped out the taint of his previous servitude. His death opened afresh the wound which had not yet healed. But as the apostle’s words forbid us to mourn for those who sleep,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 39.3
… Jonah, that headstrong prophet, once fled from me, yet in the depths of the sea he was still mine. If you really believed your daughter to be alive, you would not grieve that she had passed to a better world. This is the commandment that I have given you through my apostle, that you sorrow not for them that sleep, even as the Gentiles, which have no hope.
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 60.2
2. What shall I do then? Shall I join my tears to yours? The apostle forbids me for he speaks of dead Christians as “them which are asleep.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 75.1
… For their end is not called death but a slumber and a falling asleep. Wherefore also the blessed apostle forbids us to sorrow concerning them which are asleep,
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Vigilantius 6
… Shall Vigilantius the live dog be better than Paul the dead lion? I should be right in saying so after Ecclesiastes, if I admitted that Paul is dead in spirit. The truth is that the saints are not called dead, but are said to be asleep. Wherefore Lazarus, who was about to rise again, is said to have slept. And the Apostle
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 20.20
But the apostle has said nothing here regarding the resurrection of the dead; but in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians he says, “We would not have you to be ignorant brethren, concerning them which are asleep,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin 4.28
… Now, although even those objects which we suppose to be like bodies are of the same class, yet so far as the dead are concerned, we can form an after guess about them from persons who are asleep. For it is not in vain that Holy Scripture describes as “asleep” those who are dead
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 43.6
… therefore are they told to enter in, as that excellent servant, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” What then is the meaning of they “all slept”? There is another sleep which no one escapes. Remember ye not the Apostle saying, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 49.9
… Hence it was in reference to His own power that He spoke of him as sleeping: for others also, who are dead, are frequently spoken of in Scripture as sleeping; as when the apostle says, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 3.5
… but “I slept, and took rest; and rose, for the Lord will take me up.” Scripture contains numberless instances of sleep being put for death; as the Apostle says, “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 14
… Does not the Apostle say emphatically, “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”?
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 1.9
9. But whither am I going, in my immoderate grief, forgetful of my duty, mindful of kindness received? The Apostle calls me back, and as it were puts a bit upon my sorrow, saying, as you heard just now: “We would not that ye should be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that sleep, that ye be not sorrowful, as the rest which have no hope.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.93
… Rest is good, but life is better. And so the Apostle rouses him that is resting to life, saying: “Rise, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” Therefore he is aroused that he may live, that he may be like to Paul, that he may be able to say: “For we that are alive shall not prevent those that are asleep.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 1
… but say, “He sleepeth and will rise again,” “He is gone a journey and will return with the King.” Who sayeth this? He that hath Christ speaking in him. “For,” saith he, “if we believe that Jesus died and rose again” and revived, “even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 7
Ver. 14 . “For if we believe,” he says, “that Jesus died and rose again,” and lived, “even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 9.9
… For she had “been the wife of one man,” had requited her parents, had guided her house piously, was “well-reported of for good works,” had “brought up children,” as often travailing in birth of them as she saw them swerving from Thee. Lastly, to all of us, O Lord (since of Thy favour Thou sufferest Thy servants to speak), who, before her sleeping in Thee,
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 3
… teaches us when he says “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” And in his letter to the Thessalonians, he strengthens his argument concerning the general resurrection by that of our Saviour in the passage “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4.27
… And if Christ be not raised, our faith is vain: we are yet in our sins . And, Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept , and the first-born from the dead ; and again, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him
4:15
St Melito of Sardis † AD 180 Melito, the Philosopher 9
The trumpet of the Lord —His mighty voice. In the apostle: “At the command, and at the voice of the archangel, and at the trumpet of God, shall He descend from heaven.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.15
… For my hostility is directed against those who are for destroying the God of marriage, not those who follow after chastity. He says that those who “remain unto the coming of Christ,” along with “the dead in Christ, shall rise first,” being “caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 41
… 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: then we too shall ourselves 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.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 5.17
… “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them who are asleep; for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 7
… but forasmuch as they of their own choice gave up their proper benefit, the order of things was inverted. Since not even in this instance should the wise men have come before the Jews, nor should persons from so great a distance have anticipated those who were settled about the very city, nor should those who had heard nothing have prevented
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 3
… Hearken then. Christ said to the dead, “Lazarus, come forth,” ( John xi. 43 .) and straightway he obeyed. Peter said, “Tabitha, arise,” ( Acts ix. 40 .) and she did not refuse. He Himself shall speak the word at the last day, and all shall rise, and that so quickly, that “they which are yet alive, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep,” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 7
Ver. 15 . “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in nowise precede them that are fallen asleep.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 59
(3) Paul says that some shall be “alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord;” and that they shall be “caught up to meet the Lord in the air” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 19
… then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet Christ in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord.”
4:16
Tertullian † AD 220 A Treatise on the Soul 55
… up to heaven, where Christ is already sitting at the Father’s right hand, when as yet the archangel’s trumpet has not been heard by the command of God, —when as yet those whom the coming of the Lord is to find on the earth, have not been caught up into the air to meet Him at His coming, in company with the dead in Christ, who shall be the first to arise?
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.20
… If, however, this is only said of those who shall be found in the flesh at the advent of God, and who shall have to be changed,” what shall they do who will rise first? They will have no substance from which to undergo a change. But he says (elsewhere), “We shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord (in the air).”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 A discourse by the most blessed Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, on the end of the world, and on Antichrist, and on the second coming of our lord Jesus Christ 37
For at that time the trumpet shall sound,
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 5.17
… then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.”
St Methodius † AD 311 The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity 6.4
… But the cry which was made when it was said, “Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him,” is the voice which shall be heard from heaven, and the trumpet, when the saints, all their bodies being raised, shall be caught up, and shall go on the clouds to meet the Lord.
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 6.14
… And when the Watchers shall have opened the doors of heaven before the King,
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 15.19
19. But let us wait and look for the Lord’s coming upon the clouds from heaven. Then shall Angelic trumpets sound; the dead in Christ shall rise first
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 18.17
… and remember the whole of his teaching there concerning the resurrection of the dead, and how he wrote to the Thessalonians, But we would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as the rest which have no hope , and all that follows: but chiefly that, And the dead in Christ shall rise first
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 7.21
… Why am I faint-hearted in my hopes? Why behave like a mere creature of a day? I await the voice of the Archangel,
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 12.1
… For that which has taken place in Christ’s Humanity is a common boon bestowed on mankind generally. For as when we see in Him the weight of the body, which naturally gravitates to earth, ascending through the air into the heavens, we believe according to the words of the Apostle, that we also “shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Making of Man 25.11
… For as in the regeneration of the universe the Apostle tells us that “the Lord Himself will descend with a shout, with the voice of the archangel
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.48
… For the same being will rise again, now more honourable for having paid the tax of death. And then “the dead who are in Christ shall rise first; then, too, we who are alive,” it is said, “shall together with them be caught up in the clouds into the air to meet the Lord, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.108
… the body of Christ, which again the last trump shall reveal; for “the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven at the voice of the Archangel, and at the trump of God, and they that are dead in Christ shall rise again;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 73
4. And why now doth He call them by angels, if He comes thus openly? To honor them in this way also. But Paul saith, that they “shall be caught up in clouds.” And He said this also, when He was speaking concerning a resurrection. “For
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 75
“And about midnight there was a cry made.” Either He was continuing the parable, or again He shows that the resurrection will be at night. But the cry Paul also indicates, saying, “With a shout, with a voice of an archangel, with the last trump, He shall come down from Heaven.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 39
… For as it shall be in the Resurrection, even so, He saith, it shall be “now.” Then too when we hear His voice commanding us we are raised; for, saith the Apostle, “at the command of God the dead shall arise.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 14.11
11. It shall come, it shall come, that day when this corruptible shall put on incorrup tion, and this mortal shall put on immortality. Then shall that servant be blessed whom the Lord shall find watching. Then at the sound of the trumpet
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 12.13
… For once Christ died for our sins; and, rising from the dead, He dieth no more. “Death hath no more dominion over Him; and we ourselves after the resurrection shall be “ever with the Lord,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 144.7
… What in the end? How conquereth the Body of Christ? By heavenly aid. “For the Lord Himself shall come with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God shall He descend from heaven,”
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Tertullian † AD 220 A Treatise on the Soul 55
… How, indeed, shall the soul mount up to heaven, where Christ is already sitting at the Father’s right hand, when as yet the archangel’s trumpet has not been heard by the command of God, —when as yet those whom the coming of the Lord is to find on the earth, have not been caught up into the air to meet Him at His coming,
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.24
… they fly as clouds, and as young doves, unto me” —that is, simply like a dove. For we shall, according to the apostle, be caught up into the clouds to meet the Lord (even the Son of man, who shall come in the clouds, according to Daniel ) and so shall we ever be with the Lord,
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 2.11.5
… and those of a rational kind, as the apostle says, “Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now worketh in the children of disobedience.” And again he says, “We shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
St Methodius † AD 311 The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity 6.4
… and the dead in Christ shall rise first;” that is the tabernacles, for they died, being put off by their souls. “Then we which are alive shall be caught up together with them,” meaning our souls.
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 22.24
… Jesus our Lord said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven . And to one of those who were crucified with Him, who believed on him He swore:— Thou shalt be with Me to-day in the garden Eden . And the Apostle said, When the righteous shall rise again, they shall fly upwards to meet our Redeemer .
St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh 1
… Moses saw Him and Elijah; the meek man from the depth ascended, the zealous from on high descended, and in the midst beheld the Son. They figured the mystery of His Advent: Moses was a type of the dead, and Elijah a type of the living, that fly to meet Him at His coming.
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 28
… It is yours according to your merit to be “ever with the Lord,” and you expect to be caught up “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and to be ever with the Lord.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 14
… keep unshaken and unchanged your hope in Him who rose again; raise you together with Him from your dead sins unto His heavenly gift; count you worthy to be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 18.29
… for with God all things are possible . And that this is possible, and that we may look for eternal life, Daniel declares, And of the many righteous shall they shine as the stars for ever and ever . And Paul says, And so shall we be ever with the Lord
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Making of Man 22.6
… so that the weight of the flesh is no longer heavy, nor does its burden hold them down to earth, but they rise aloft through the air—for, “we shall be caught up,” he tells us, “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.76
… And finally, he who has believed that the dead shall rise again “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump (for the trumpet shall sound),” “shall be caught up amongst the first in the clouds to meet Christ in the air;”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.93
… For, having said, “And the dead which are in Christ shall rise first,” he adds further; “And we that are alive shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet Christ in the air.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Two Homilies on Eutropius 2.13
… For many have risen, and been again laid low, like Lazarus and the bodies of the saints. But in this case it is not so, but the promise is of resurrection, immortality, a place in the joyful company of angels, the meeting of the Son of Man in the clouds, and the fulfilment of the saying “so shall we ever be with the Lord,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 47
And how saith He elsewhere, that “the righteous are caught up first?”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 14
… not with a hundred men for His body-guard, but with thousands, ten thousands of Angels and Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim, and other Powers, and with fear and trembling shall everything be filled, whiles the earth is bursting itself up, and the men that ever were born, from Adam’s birth up to that day, are rising from the earth, and all are caught up; (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 32
… From thence will Paul be caught up, from thence Peter. Just bethink you, and shudder ( φρίξατε ) at the thought of what a sight Rome will see, when Paul ariseth suddenly from that deposit, together with Peter, and is lifted up to meet the Lord. (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 13
… And this is a mark of great honor; for if He came to us when we were enemies, much rather doth He now when we are become friends. He doth not commit this to the Angels, nor to servants, but Himself cometh to call us to His royal man sion. See, we also “shall be caught up in the clouds” (
Rufinus of Aquileia † AD 411 A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 46
46. That the righteous shall ever abide with Christ our Lord we have proved above, where we have shewn that the Apostle says, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 3.4
… Alone upon the island—or rather not alone, for Christ is with him—he sees the glory of God, which even the apostles saw not save in the desert. He beholds, it is true, no embattled towns, but he has enrolled his name in the new city. Garments of sackcloth disfigure his limbs, yet so clad he will be the sooner caught up to meet Christ in the clouds.
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 119
Minervius and Alexander two monks of Toulouse had written to Jerome asking him to explain for them a large number of passages in scripture. Jerome in his reply postpones most of these to a future time but deals with two in detail viz. (1) “we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed,” 1 Cor. xv. 51 ; and (2) “we shall be caught up in the clouds,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 20.24
… As to the expression, “He shall call the heaven above,” as the saints and the righteous are rightly called heaven , no doubt this means what the apostle says, “We shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Good of Marriage 2
… but after that change, which the Apostle signifies, when he says, “Then we living, who remain, together with them, shall be caught up in the clouds, to meet Christ, into the air,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 2.50
… At last, upon some there will be bestowed this blessing at the last day, that they shall not feel death itself in sudden change, but shall be caught up along with the risen in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so shall they ever live with the Lord.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 119.4
26. …The body itself also, because it is of the earth, is reasonably understood by the word pavement; since, because it is still corruptible and weigheth down the soul, we justly groan while in it, and say unto God, “O quicken Thou me.” For we shall not be without our bodies when we shall be for evermore with the Lord;
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 146
… it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” and in another place “We shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.”
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4.14
… And the word “till” signifies the limit of the appointed time but does not exclude the time thereafter. For the Lord says, And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world , not meaning thereby that He will be separated from us after the completion of the age. The divine apostle, indeed, says, And so shall we ever be with the Lord
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1. To walk and to please God. — Thus of Enoch it is said, Genesis v, verse 22: "Enoch walked with God," that is to say, Enoch lived so holily and piously, as if he always had God present before his eyes, and revered Him; and therefore in every work he always proceeded most cautiously, most modestly, most religiously, and was to God, and consenting to God's will in all things, just as a man walking everywhere with a friend or his master undividedly consents to him, conforms himself to him in all things. Whence the Lord took him up and snatched him to Himself, as one higher than the earth, worthy of God and angels, indeed familiar to Him. Hence God commands Abraham, Genesis xvii, 1, saying: "I am God Almighty, walk before me, and be thou perfect." It is a great art and wisdom to know how to walk with God. SO ALSO WALK YE, THAT YE MAY ABOUND MORE. — that is to say, I beseech you that you so conduct yourselves, that you may make progress day by day in the way begun, namely that you strive daily to surpass yourselves, to advance and excel in Christian life and virtues. Thus Anselm. The Greek texts do not have τὸ sic et ambuletis, but only ἵνα περισσεύητε μᾶλλον, that is, that ye may abound more, supply, in this walking and pleasing (so to speak) of God. Chrysostom and Theophylactus explain it thus: "That ye may abound more, that is, they say, that you may desire to do something beyond the commandment, that you may exceed what is commanded; for just as the earth does not merely return and produce the seeds which it received: so the soul ought not to rest in what is received, but also to transcend it." Note: It is the mark of a Christian not to stand still, but always to walk and make progress in virtue and Christian life, so that he may daily say to himself that word from Psalm lxxvi, 11: "I said: Now have I begun;" and that from Psalm lxxxiii, 8: "They shall go from virtue to virtue;" in Hebrew מחיל אל חיל mechail el chail, that is, as Jerome translates it, they shall go from strength to strength, because namely they shall become day by day stronger by the grace of God, that they may ascend into Sion, that is into heaven, where they shall see God of gods openly. Beautifully St. Bernard to Drogo, epistle 34: "No one," he says, "is perfect who does not desire to be more perfect; and he proves himself more perfect in this very thing, that he strives toward greater perfection."
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2. FOR YOU KNOW WHAT PRECEPTS I HAVE GIVEN YOU THROUGH THE LORD JESUS, — that is through the authority and commandment of the Lord Jesus, I Paul as it were a legate of Jesus have given you precepts, that is to say, The precepts which I have commanded are not mine, but Christ's; Christ is the legislator, I am Christ's herald: for many commandments of faith, virtues and Sacraments in particular Christ has entrusted to me to be proposed and promulgated to you and to other Christians, and has committed to me the rest to be sanctioned by me, and has commanded that I prescribe to Christians those laws which I should judge to be fitting for them according to the exigency of things. Thus commonly a court or parliament says it bears a law or edict par le Roi, that is through the king, because in the king's stead, in the king's name and authority it bears and sanctions the law or edict.
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3. FOR THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD, YOUR SANCTIFICATION, THAT YOU SHOULD ABSTAIN FROM FORNICATION. — Note first: The will of God is here understood not as that which is called the will of good pleasure, by which God creates and does whatever pleases and delights Him, but as that which is called the will of sign, by which namely God signifies what He wills and commands us to do, namely that we should strive for holiness. Second, entire "holiness," says St. Dionysius, both in God and in us and in angels, "is free from all defilement, most uncontaminated and most perfect purity." And thus holiness is opposed to any sin whatsoever, and is the completion of all virtues. Here however, and in I Cor. vii, 34, chastity alone is called holiness; for it is opposed here and in verse 7 to fornication and uncleanness. Whence also he adds: "That each one of you know how to possess his vessel in sanctification," that is in purity and chastity, as I shall presently say. The reason for this nomenclature is this, that, just as lust is bestial, shameful and the greatest impurity: so on the contrary chastity is the highest and greatest purity, which makes man angelic; nay, it makes him a temple of the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle hints, verse 8. Hence also the Poet, Aeneid XI: And thou, O most holy spouse, Happy in thy death. "Most holy," that is most chaste; and Aeneid XII: A holy soul shall I descend to you, and ignorant of this guilt. "Holy," that is pure and chaste. Most excellently St. Cyprian, in the tract On the Lord's Prayer, explaining that passage, Thy will be done: "The will," he says, "of God is that which Christ both did and taught: humility in conversation, steadfastness in faith, modesty in words, justice in deeds, mercy in works, discipline in morals, not to know how to do injury, and to be able to bear it when done; to keep peace with the brethren, to love God with all one's heart, to love in Him what is Father, to fear what is God; to prefer nothing whatsoever to Christ, because neither did He prefer anything to us; to adhere inseparably to His charity, to stand by His cross bravely and faithfully: when there is a struggle for His name and honor, to show constancy in speech, by which we confess; confidence in questioning, by which we contend; patience in death, by which we are crowned. This is to will to be a co-heir with Christ, this is to do the commandment of God, this is to fulfill the will of the Father."
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4. THAT EACH ONE OF YOU KNOW HOW TO POSSESS HIS VESSEL IN SANCTIFICATION AND HONOR. — The question is raised, what is this vessel? St. Augustine, in book I On Marriage and Concupiscence, chapter VIII, and in book IV Against Julian, chapter X, and in book V, chapter IX, understands by vessel a wife, as if to say: Let each one use his wife honestly and chastely. Thus in Proverbs v, 15, it is said: "Drink water from thy cistern." Where the Septuagint translates: son, drink water from thy vessels, the sense of which passage is this: draw the chaste, pure and fruitful pleasure of marriage from thy wife, who should be to thee like a cistern and a pure vessel lacking the mud of fornication, jealousy, moroseness, etc. Thus Bede, Jansenius and others on that passage. Thus St. Peter, in his first epistle, chapter III, verse 7, admonishes husbands to deal with their wives as with the weaker vessel and to condescend to them. In like manner the Apostle seems here to command men, not only to abstain from another's wife, but also to use their own, as a holy vessel, chastely and moderately: "It is commanded," says Jerome, or rather Rabanus on chapter 1 of Lamentations, "to men, that they know certain times of intercourse. For, as Ecclesiastes says, there is a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing. Let the wife beware, therefore, lest overcome by lust she allure her husband; and let the husband not use force upon his wife, thinking that the pleasure of marriage should be subject to him at all times. Whence also Paul says: That each one of you know how to possess his vessel in holiness. For, as the philosopher Xystus well says: 'He who loves his wife too ardently is an adulterer.' But because among the Thessalonians many, especially the younger, were still unmarried and without a wife, and the Apostle assigns this vessel to each one; more generally and better, with Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Ambrose, Oecumenius, Anselm, we shall understand by vessel the body, which in the Hebrew phrase is generally called a vessel, that is, an instrument of man: for just as a craftsman uses his rule or trowel as an instrument for all his work, so the soul uses the body as an instrument and organ for all its actions, so much so that it cannot even understand without senses and bodily phantasms. Thus Plato said the body is the vessel of the soul. Thus Paul is called a vessel of election, that is, an instrument chosen by God for the conversion of the Gentiles. Thus in Genesis XLIX, Simeon and Levi are called vessels, that is, instruments, of iniquity, that is, of the wicked slaughter and devastation of the Shechemites. Or secondly, the body is called the vessel of the soul specially and properly, because just as a vessel receives and contains wine, so the body receives and contains the soul. And just as a foul and putrid vessel affects and corrupts the wine itself, so the filth, pollutions and lusts of the body defile the soul. Hence comes that saying of the Apostle, I Corinthians vi, 18: "Every sin that a man commits is outside the body; but he that commits fornication sins against his own body:" because it pollutes, soils and contaminates it. Thus David, I Kings xxi, asking the priest to give him and his men the shewbread in the necessity of hunger, when the priest asked: "If the young men are clean, especially from women?" answered: "We have abstained from yesterday and the day before; and the vessels of the young men have been holy," that is, bodies unpolluted. "Moreover this way is unclean," as if to say: This lay and unclean use is such, that I and my companions, who are laymen, may eat the shewbread, which it is lawful for priests alone to eat; "but it shall be sanctified in the vessels," that is, this bread shall not be polluted, but shall be received holily in our holy and pure bodies, in this necessity of hunger, in which it is also lawful for laymen to eat holy bread. Thus Abulensis there. The Apostle therefore wills here, that "each one his vessel," that is, his body, "possess" as a master (not however as a slave serve the lusts of the body) "in sanctification and honor," that is, holily, that is, chastely and honestly, "not in the passion of desire," that is, not in the affection of lust, so that the mind does not serve the desires of the flesh, but the flesh serves the right will of the mind, says Anselm. Thus that Philosopher said to a certain dissolute youth: Are you not ashamed, since you are of noble birth, to make yourself a slave of your body? Anacharsis also had inscribed on his statues: The tongue, the belly, the shameful parts must be restrained; for an unbridled tongue is the cause of the greatest evils, and nothing is more shameful than luxury, and lust makes a beast of a man: witness Laertius, book I, chapter IX. Otherwise Chrysostom and Theophylact understand by the passions of desire, delights, riches, idleness, sloth, and whatever inflames concupiscence: for when these are cut away, chastity both of mind and of body is secure.
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6. AND LET NO ONE TRANSGRESS, NOR CIRCUMVENT HIS BROTHER IN BUSINESS. — Note: The Apostle does not speak of fraud, avarice and injustice concerning wealth, but of injustice and fraud of the marriage bed, that is of adultery; for he speaks of lust and uncleanness. He therefore calls adultery a transgression and circumvention. Transgression, that is a violation and oppression, by which someone invades the marriage bed of his neighbor by overstepping it (for this is the Greek ὑπερβαίνειν) and committing adultery: he calls the same thing circumvention, by which someone fraudulently usurps the wife of another, which in Greek is here called πλεονεξία, that is an excessive desire to have not wealth, but concubines: for he who is not content with his own wife, but desires and invades others, is a πλεονέκτης. Thus Chrysostom, Theodoret and Jerome, in chapter IV of Ephesians, verse 19; for there the Apostle uses πλεονεξίαν, or, as our author translates it, "avarice," for illicit and immoderate desire for sexual things, as I said there. When therefore he says here: "in business," understand fornication. Thus πρᾶγμα is called fornication by the Greeks, just as by the Latins, as when they say to have dealings with a harlot: thus the same is called by the Italians negotium, by an honest aposiopesis. Thus St. Clement, book III of the Apostolic Constitutions, chapter II: "Younger widows," he says, "should not be admitted to the rank of widowhood, lest, excusing themselves as unable to contain the fervor of youth, sometimes marrying again, they become involved in business (that is in lust and intercourse, as Turianus explains there). Hence explaining further he adds: "They must be helped, lest excusing themselves as abandoned, marrying again they become entangled in shameful business."
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7. FOR GOD HATH NOT CALLED US UNTO (to) UNCLEANNESS, BUT UNTO (to) SANCTIFICATION, — that is chastity. For Christianity is a profession of chastity and a detestation of lust, so that the Gentiles addicted to lusts ought to renounce them and embrace chastity when they receive baptism and Christianity; and therefore in baptism God gives them the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle subjoins.
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9. CONCERNING THE CHARITY OF BROTHERHOOD, — that is fraternal. It is a Hebraism: for the Hebrews call all of their nation brothers. Hence in like manner Christians ought to address and embrace each other as brothers, both by other names, and especially by this one, because they have the same father, namely Christ, and the same mother, namely the Church. This was once and ought to be the φιλαδελφία of Christians. Zeno, when asked who was a Friend, answered: Another self. Alexander to the mother of Darius, who by mistake had honored Hephaestion for Alexander, said: It is nothing, O mother, that troubles you: for this too is Alexander. What shall the Christian say? YOU YOURSELVES HAVE LEARNED IT FROM GOD. — In Greek it is said more beautifully in one word, θεοδίδακτοί ἐστε, as if to say, You are taught of God, just as we say God-given: for God through the law of Christ, and through the internal grace and instinct of Christ has taught you to love one another.
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10. FOR YOU DO THIS (love, and show signs of love) toward all the brethren.
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11. AND THAT YOU MAY STUDY TO BE QUIET. — For study, the Greek is φιλοτιμεῖσθαι, that is, strive studiously and ambitiously, says Erasmus; and, as Ambrose says, endeavor; and, as the Syriac, you shall apply diligent labor; Theophylactus indeed translates it, that you may be generous: for he separates this from what follows; but others commonly join it with them, and it is plain that it should be joined. THAT YOU DO YOUR OWN BUSINESS, — πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια, that you attend to your own affairs. He notes the idleness and curiosity of certain Thessalonians: for these two things are connected: and from this arises restlessness, vain and various desires, appetite for the things and happiness of others, and other evils, which disturb homes and commonwealths. Euclides, when once asked by someone what the gods were like, and in what thing especially did they rejoice? "Truly I know nothing else," he said, "but that the curious are hateful to them, I know for certain." When someone inquired whether the world were animate? and again, whether it were spherical? "You," said Demonax, "are concerned about the world, and you do not care for your own filthiness." An Egyptian porter carrying something covered, when asked by someone what he was carrying? "For this reason," he said, "it is covered, that you might not know: but why do you curiously seek what has been hidden?" To Socrates curiously investigating the stars: "What is above us," he said, "concerns us not." Again he was accustomed to object to the curious that Homeric line: In our homes, what things are done wrongly or rightly. Xenocrates said it mattered nothing whether one brought feet or eyes into another's house. Crates the Theban was commonly called θυρεπανοίκτης, that is, an opener of doors: because he would burst into all houses, and if anything displeased him, he would reprove it with cynic freedom. Thales, looking up to heaven and the stars, and having fallen into a pit, a maidservant seeing this rightly said it happened to him: who, when he was ignorant of what was before his feet, contemplated heaven that he might know it. Zeno, to a youth asking questions too curiously, led him to a mirror, and admonished him to contemplate himself; and then asked whether such questions seemed fitting to propose to one of such a countenance? Finally, the curious are moles to themselves, but lynxes to others, And the wallet is looked at on the back that precedes. Let the curious therefore think that Christ said to him what He said to Peter, who was inquiring too curiously about John: "What is that to thee? thou follow me." AND THAT YOU MAY WALK HONESTLY (εὐσχημόνως, that is, decorously) TOWARD THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT. — That is, conduct yourselves decorously with the Gentiles, lest namely, idle and inactive, you beg indecorously among the Gentiles to the reproach of the Church, when they see you healthy and strong idling and begging; but rather that you may decorously procure your sustenance by honest labor and work. Thus Theophylactus; for all these things aim at the flight of idleness and sloth, at the study of labor and work. Whence it follows: And that you be in want of nothing, — that is to say, Lest the want which is wont to follow from idleness, compel you to desire the things of others. "For the slothful," says the wise man, "is always in desire." In Greek it is, καὶ μηδενὸς χρείαν ἔχητε, that is, that you may need nothing: for idleness begets want and penury, penury makes thieves or beggars.
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12. WE WOULD NOT HAVE YOU IGNORANT, BRETHREN, CONCERNING THOSE WHO ARE ASLEEP, — namely that mystery of the resurrection, which I shall presently explain, verse 15. Note with St. Augustine, sermon 32 On the Words of the Apostle, vol. X: Scripture calls those who are dead asleep on account of the hope of resurrection, by which they will very quickly awake from the sleep of death and from their bed, that is, their sepulchre. Thus Daniel, chapter xii, verse 2, calls the dead ישנים (those who sleep). Hence it was a pious custom of Christians, and still is, that when someone had died, they would not say: This one is dead, but, He has fallen asleep in the Lord; and this was for the consolation of friends, and so that they might mutually stir one another up to contempt of the present life and hope of resurrection. Thus Christ speaks of Lazarus dead, saying: "Lazarus our friend sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep," John xi, 11. Secondly, because there is great affinity between sleep and death: for sleep is a certain shorter death, while death is a longer sleep. Hence the Poet: Fool, what is sleep but the image of cold death? Hence also it is called "the kinsman of death, sleep." THAT YOU MAY NOT BE MADE SORROWFUL, EVEN AS THE REST WHO HAVE NO HOPE. — St. Augustine notes, sermon 32 On the Words of the Apostle, that the Apostle does not forbid all sorrow at the death of deceased friends; for this is natural: but only that sorrow which the Gentiles and the impious have, "who, as he himself says, have no hope." We are made sorrowful, therefore, says Augustine, in the deaths of our own by the necessity of losing them, but with the hope of receiving them again; from this we are sorrowful, from this we are consoled; from this human weakness affects us, from this faith restores us; from this the human condition grieves, from this divine promise heals. Again, from this hope of resurrection and heavenly glory, St. Augustine infers that it is a pious tradition of the Church that we sacrifice for the dead, pray for them, and give alms. "For this," he says, "handed down from the Fathers, the whole Church observes, that for those who have died in the communion of the body and blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their place at the same sacrifice, prayer be made, and it be commemorated that this is offered for them. But when works of mercy are celebrated for the purpose of commending them, who would doubt that they are helped by prayers which are not vainly alleged to God?" Let the Novatians note these things, and let them learn from Augustine that the Mass is a sacrifice, and in it prayer is customarily made for the dead, namely that they may be freed from the pains of Purgatory, and this from the tradition of the whole Church.
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13. IF INDEED WE BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN, SO (supply, likewise we ought to believe that) GOD WILL BRING WITH HIM THOSE WHO HAVE SLEPT THROUGH JESUS, — or certainly by hypallagis the words are to be arranged thus: "If (that is, as) Jesus died and rose again, as we believe, so also God will bring with him those who have slept through Jesus." Theophylactus notes that τὸ per Jesum can be taken in two ways: first, so that it refers to will bring with him, as if to say, Through the grace of Jesus Christ we shall rise; secondly and better, so that it refers to those who have slept, and it is a periphrasis of the faithful dead: for the faithful, who die having Christ in themselves, sleep through Jesus, that is, in Jesus, namely in Jesus faith, charity and hope of resurrection. Thus they take διά for in, verse 16, and Rom. xiv, 14; Apocalypse xiv, 13. God will "bring" these, namely called forth from the sepulchres to new and glorious life, and to blessed immortality, as is said I Cor. xv, 53. Paul here proves that we shall rise by the example of Christ, and this by a twofold title and argument, as if to say, Christ rose, therefore we too shall rise: both because Christ was a man like us, and died as we too shall die; and because Christ as our head pours forth the power of rising into us as his members, so that just as in him and in his faith and hope we lived and died, so also in him we shall rise.
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14. For this we say unto you in the word of the Lord, — that is, by the word, revelation and doctrine of the Lord, as if to say: Not what from myself, but what I have learned from Christ, do I speak and teach, namely the mystery of the resurrection, which follows. BECAUSE (that) WE WHO LIVE, WHO ARE LEFT, AT THE COMING OF THE LORD. — In Greek εἰς τὴν παρουσίαν, that is, at the advent, and thus the Roman Bible reads it, as if to say: We who remain surviving until the advent of the Lord, so that in that advent we may be found living. Where note: Paul speaks of himself as if he were to live until the advent of the Lord, that is, until the day of judgment; not that he thought it would be so, but that he might impress upon us and instill in us perpetual fear of that terrible and uncertain day, so that we always await that day in suspense and prepare ourselves for it. There is therefore here an enallage of person: "We who live," that is, whosoever shall live, whether from us or from our posterity, whose person I here assume and take upon myself, so that I may speak of them in my own person. Thus St. Augustine, book XX of the City of God, chapter XX. We Shall Not Prevent (in the resurrection, from the preceding verse) Those Who Have Slept. — In Greek κοιμηθέντας, that is, those lulled in sleep (namely of death); Augustine, book XX of the City of God, xx, reads it, who slept before. Here in the Greek he appears to have read not κοιμηθέντας, but προκοιμηθέντας, as if to say: We who still live, and whosoever shall live on the day of judgment, shall not rise first, or be clothed with glory, before those rise to glory who died long before us and have already decayed, as if to say: See therefore how easily and suddenly God will raise up those sleeping ones, whom I have mentioned, though they be rotten and turned to ashes: do not therefore, brothers, mourn much for the dead and be grieved for them, as I said in verse 12. Whence Theophylactus notes that the Apostle tacitly says here the same thing he said in the first epistle to the Corinthians xv, namely that in a moment and in the twinkling of an eye we shall rise. "For because," says Theophylactus, "it seemed difficult that those who had decayed should rise, hence Paul says that the living shall by no means go before them (because namely all shall rise in a moment), and just as it is easy for God to bring the living and whole to Christ, so also those corrupted." Therefore those who died first are not further distant from the resurrection than those who die later, or those who live: for both shall rise together. Otherwise St. Methodius interprets this passage according to Theophylactus: We, he says, who remain, that is, immortal souls, shall not go before bodies in the resurrection; but the body shall rise together with the soul to immortal life. But this is not according to the mind of the Apostle; for thus he ought to have said: "We shall not prevent them," namely bodies; but now he says them, namely the sleeping men.
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15. FOR THE LORD HIMSELF (Christ the judge) SHALL DESCEND FROM HEAVEN WITH COMMANDMENT AND WITH THE VOICE OF AN ARCHANGEL, AND WITH THE TRUMPET OF GOD. — Theophylactus distinguishes the commandment from the voice: "The commandment," he says, "of God will cause the earth to give back bodies, and will raise them up and transform them into immortality; but the voice of the Archangel, with other angels administering, will effect that all the raised up, scattered through diverse places, are gathered together into one." But this is not said with sufficient solidity: for the voice of the Archangel will not only gather together, but will also raise up the dead, as I said on I Corinthians xv, 52, and here the Apostle hints at it, when he adds: "And the dead who are in Christ shall rise first." Secondly, the same Theophylactus more rightly, with Chrysostom, takes these things by way of epexegesis, or hendiadys: "With commandment and with voice," that is, with a commandment which is a voice, or with the commandment of the voice of the Archangel. Again, "with commandment," that is, with commandment; with voice, that is, with voice: for the Hebrews often use beth, that is, in, for im, that is, with. Note: For "with commandment," in Greek it is ἐν κελεύσματι, that is, in (with) a celeusma; but a celeusma is an outcry of sailors encouraging one another, so that with one as it were concerted effort and endeavor all together at once lift their oars and begin to row. It seems therefore that such a common celeusma will be of the other angels: who, with the Archangel blowing, will themselves at the same time with their voices or trumpets in individual parts of the world likewise cry out together, so that everywhere at once all may rise again. Thus Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylactus, Anselm. With the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God. — It is an epexegesis, or hendiadys, as I said, as if to say: With the voice of the Archangel, which is the trumpet of God, or with the voice of a trumpet, or of God's trumpet: therefore the voice of the Archangel will be the same as the trumpet of God. It is called of God by Hebraism, that is, the greatest and most sonorous, so that it may be heard throughout the whole world. Thus mountains and cedars are called of God, that is, the greatest and the highest: for all things that are of God are the greatest. Secondly, it is called of God, because it will precede God the judge, as a trumpet is accustomed to precede a king or Emperor. Thirdly, it is called the voice of God, because it will be magnificent and terrible like thunder, and such as befits divine majesty, so that it is as it were proportioned to it. Whence the type of this trumpet was that trumpet of the angel proclaiming the Decalogue to the Jews on Sinai, Exodus cap. xx, vers. 18. Thus from Chrysostom, Theophylactus. Hence note first, that this trumpet will not be the spiritual empire of Christ, as some wished from St. Gregory; but it will be a sensible blast and trumpet-like voice formed by an angel in the air either from the mere collision of air, or rather through a real trumpet, as Anselm wishes in the Elucidarium, and others; for Christ, Paul and the Fathers always call it a trumpet, and a trumpet is most suitable also for an angel, so that it may produce a very loud voice, from the impulse and collision of air at the sides of the trumpet. From what matter this trumpet will be made, whether from silver, or from bronze, as Francis Suarez thinks, or from cloud and meteors, or from some other matter more sonorous than men know, but which angels know, is uncertain. Note secondly: For this purpose will this trumpet sound: first, so that it may rouse all men from the dead, and summon them to judgment, as is sufficiently clear from John v, 28; secondly, so that it may call the elect to the solemnity and joy of blessed eternity, like the trumpet which called the Hebrews to feasts, Numbers x, 8 and 10: thus Anselm; thirdly, so that it may terrify the reprobate and call the elect to battle, so that they may hurl the reprobate down into hell. Thus Anselm: for it will be as it were a military trumpet. Note thirdly: I Corinthians xv, 52, this trumpet is called the last, because after the seven trumpets of the angels, by which before the day of judgment they will bring the greatest plagues upon the whole world, of which Apocalypse cap. viii and ix, this will follow as the last, and will cry out and thunder: "Rise, ye dead, come to judgment," as Chrysostom and Theophylactus indicate, and St. Thomas teaches, in IV, dist. CXIII, Question I, art. 4. Note fourthly: This trumpet of the Archangel, John v, 28, is called "the voice of the Son of God," because although it will be formed by the ministry of angels, yet by the commandment of the Son of God, and from Him it will receive the power of raising up the dead: "There cometh," He says, "an hour, in which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that have done good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil things, unto the resurrection of judgment (of eternal damnation)." You ask: How can the dead hear this voice? I answer: They will hear, that is, they will feel the force of this voice; or they will hear, that is, they will obey by rising just as if they heard the voice of the Son of God, who calls those things that are not as though they were: so that it is a catachresis. For this trumpet will be, as many Fathers and Doctors teach, at least a moral instrument of resurrection, through which Christ will work the resurrection: just as the words of consecration are an instrument of transubstantiation. Whence St. John adds: "And they that have heard (this voice) shall live." I say moral, for it does not seem necessary, or sufficiently fitting, to attribute to this trumpet a physical power of raising the dead. Add secondly, the dead will hear this voice after they have risen: for the resurrection will happen in an instant, when the trumpet sounds or "Rise." So that with this voice drawn out and sounding, those rising can still hear it, or certainly that which the trumpet will add: "Come to judgment." Thus Francis Suarez, III part., Question LV, art. 1. For this trumpet will be as it were a summons calling all to judgment. Whence the Church sings: "The trumpet, spreading a wondrous sound through the sepulchres of the regions, will compel all before the throne." OF THE ARCHANGEL. — Not of Christ, as Ambrose holds, but, as St. Thomas holds, of Michael, who by the command and in the place of Christ presides over the Church, as he once did over the Synagogue, Daniel XII, 1; or certainly of Gabriel, who presides, as many wish, over the second order, which is that of the Archangels: so that, just as Gabriel first announced Christ's coming to the Blessed Virgin, so he announces the second coming to the world. Therefore when the Archangel sounds this trumpet of his, as if stirred by the command of his superior, the angels will be present; the trumpet therefore will cry out to them first, says Chrysostom: "Make all ready, the judge is at hand." And this is what Christ says, Matthew XXIV: "(The Son of Man will send not only the Archangel, but) his angels with a trumpet and a great voice." Whence secondly, it appears that when the Archangel sounds his trumpet, the other angels with a great, slow and prolonged voice will cry out together: "Rise, ye dead;" and at the same time to gather the ashes of men each in their places they will run most swiftly. Thirdly, God will then compose these ashes, organize them, animate them, so that they rise in a moment in the manner which I said I Corinthians XV, 52. Moreover each will rise where his body or ashes will be. Then the angels will snatch them up into the valley of Josaphat near Jerusalem, where the judgment will take place, as it is said in Joel III, 2; "I will gather," he says, "all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Josaphat, and I will plead with them there." And Christ signified this, Matthew XXIV, 31, when he says: "And (the angels) shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the ends thereof."
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15 and 16. AND THE DEAD WHO IN THE FAITH AND GRACE OF CHRIST, that is, the faithful and friends of Christ, SHALL RISE FIRST: THEN WE, WHO LIVE, WHO ARE LEFT, SHALL BE CAUGHT UP TOGETHER WITH THEM IN THE CLOUDS. The same Jerome, to Heliodorus: "That day will come," he says, "in which this corruptible and mortal thing shall put on incorruptibility and immortality. Then at the sound of the trumpet the earth shall tremble with peoples; and you shall rejoice. When the Lord is about to judge, the world shall roar mournfully: tribe shall strike breast with tribe. The most powerful kings once shall palpitate with bare breast. Venus shall be exhibited then with her offspring: then burning Jupiter shall be brought forth; and Plato with his foolish disciples: arguments shall not profit Aristotle. Then the rustic and the poor shall exult and laugh, and shall say: Behold my God crucified, behold the judge, who wrapped in swaddling clothes cried in the manger; this is he, the son of a laborer and a harlot; this one, who carried in his mother's womb, God fled into Egypt with man; this one clothed in scarlet, this one crowned with thorns. Behold your hands, O Jew, which you fixed; behold your side, O Roman, which you pierced: see the body, whether it be the same which you said in secret by night the disciples carried away." Morally St. Chrysostom here, hom. 8, page 1370: "When therefore those things shall have been done, then there shall be the voice of the Archangel heard here commanding and crying out to the other angels; then shall trumpets be heard, nay the sound of trumpets. What therefore trembling, what fear shall seize those who shall then be on earth, who shall await the judge! One shall be taken up, and one shall be left; and one shall be received, and one shall be left. What then shall be the mind of those who saw these ones lifted up, but themselves left behind? Shall not any hell be able to render them thus cast down and dismayed more terribly? Let us therefore imagine in discourse that it is already present: for if sudden death, or the shaking of cities, and other threats so shake our minds; when we shall see the earth torn asunder, and filled with all these things, when we shall hear the trumpet, when we shall perceive that voice of the Archangel clearer than any trumpet, when we shall see this heaven lifted up on all sides and contracted, when we shall see God himself coming, the king of all, what then shall be our mind?" And below: "I have heard many, who after being led to death had been recalled to royal benevolence and clemency, saying that they had not seen men as men, because their mind had been exceedingly disturbed, struck and stupefied when they were being taken away. If therefore bodily death so terrifies us, when that eternal one shall have come, what shall we suffer?" Hence also St. Jerome is said to have observed this saying with care, and to have handed it down to others: "Whether you drink, or eat, or watch, or sleep, let this trumpet sound in your ears: Arise, you dead, come to judgment." Although in the works of Jerome this saying is no longer found, yet something similar is found in the Rule of Monks, vol. IV of the works of St. Jerome, which was collected from St. Jerome, and written by the Superior of the Hieronymian Order, which Martin V the Pontiff approved, as is had at the beginning of the Rule.
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TO MEET CHRIST IN THE AIR. — The question is raised here whether some will rise first and others later? For this seems to be what the Apostle is saying here. First, Sedulius responds that the order signified here is not of time, but of dignity: for those who died in the faith and grace of Christ will rise first, not in time, but in dignity. Second, Chrysostom and Theophylactus: The just, they say, will rise before the impious, so that they are first in resurrection not only in dignity, but also in time, inasmuch as they are to be caught up into the air, so that they may meet Christ the Judge coming with honor. But the impious will rise later, those who are neither to be caught up into the air, nor to meet Christ. But this seems to be contrary to the mind of the Apostle: for the Apostle does not here set forth an order between the just and the impious, but between those dead in Christ and those still living with him. Whence third, Theodoret explains more literally thus, as if to say: So quickly will those rise who died long ago and many centuries before, that they will precede those who will then be found surviving and alive; for these must first die before they rise: therefore with these dying, those who died long ago will rise first, and consequently will precede them in resurrection. Fourth, others think that here is signified not order and consequence, but only accompaniment, so that "then" is the same as "moreover." But truly fifth, this passage is to be explained genuinely thus: "The dead who are in Christ will rise first," in Greek πρῶτον, that is, first, namely before they are caught up to meet Christ in the air; "then we who live, together with them (who have risen from the dead) will be caught up to meet Christ." For here is set forth an order not of those rising, nor of resurrection to resurrection, but an order of resurrection to rapture and meeting with Christ, namely that first those who were dead will rise, then that these same together with others then living will be caught up together to meet Christ. Thus Anselm, St. Thomas and others. Note: The Apostle does not mention here the resurrection of the impious and reprobate, but only of the dead in Christ, that is, in the faith and grace of Christ: for he wishes to console the faithful pious and good only with this hope of resurrection. WE WHO LIVE. — That is, we who will then live, namely those of us, or of our descendants who are just will then live, and perhaps I myself, because it is uncertain when the day of judgment will be, and each one ought to be prepared for it at every hour; for it will come as a thief in the night, as he will say in the following chapter. Whence prudently each one can fear and persuade himself that perhaps this day is at hand, says Anselm. Thus throughout the Apostle assumes the person of those who will then live, and transforms them into himself, as I noted at verse 14. WE SHALL BE CAUGHT UP, — then by angels, then by the power of Christ through the gift of agility, which he has already given to each blessed Saint: for the Saints will not rise first to life, then later to glory; but together with resurrection they will receive the glory of the body; for they will rise in a body not mortal and passible, but immortal, impassible and glorious. You will ask, whether those who will be found alive on the day of judgment will not die, or will be caught up alive to meet Christ, so that without death they become immortal and glorious? Justin asserts this, Question CIX, and Augustine, book II On the Merit of Sins, chapter xxxi, Cajetan and others: for these think that those who will be found alive at the end of the world are to be excepted from the common law of death, and that these are those living ones of whom it is said in the Creed, that Christ will judge the living and the dead. But this exception from the plainly universal law of death rests on a weak foundation. Whence afterwards, the matter being better examined, St. Augustine, retracting his opinion, book XX On the City of God, chapter xx, teaches that all men without exception will die and rise again. Ambrose, St. Thomas and others teach the same throughout. Those therefore who will be found alive on the day of judgment will die in the air and in the rapture, says St. Augustine and Anselm; or rather, as St. Thomas and Oecumenius, on the earth, which is the place of the dying, before they are caught up: for all will rise at the sound of the trumpet, as Paul says 1 Cor. XV, 52. You will say: Who then are those living ones whom Christ is said in the Creed to judge? I answer: They are those who shall be found alive and surviving on the day of judgment; for these in the briefest and shortest time will die (so that they may pay the common debt of nature and original sin, to which all are bound); for immediately after death they will rise again. Whence they are reckoned not so much dead as living: just as Christ said of Lazarus, because he was soon to be raised, that he was not dead but living and sleeping, John xi, 11. And this is the reason why the Apostle made mention neither of their death nor of their resurrection, but called them living, and reckoned them among the living, as if those who die in such a way that they scarcely seem to die always remain living: so that their death does not appear to be death, but a passage to a better and eternal life. Christ is therefore said to be judge of the living and the dead, that is of all men, both of those who have lived and are dead, and of those who are living when Christ comes to judgment: otherwise indeed in the judgment itself there will be no dead, but all living, and Christ will judge only the living properly. That this is so is evident from the fact that Paul, 1 Corinthians xv, 51, expressly asserts: "We shall all rise," or, as others read: "we shall sleep, but we shall not all be changed;" and verse 22: "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive;" and verse 36: "That which thou sowest is not quickened, unless it die first." The same is evident from the fact that here in verse 14 he said: "We who live, shall not prevent, by rising, those who have slept;" because namely we shall rise together with them, and then together with them shall be caught up to meet Christ: if we rise with them, therefore we shall first die; he therefore tacitly signifies that they will die; yet he says: "We who live," lest, if he call them sleeping, that is dead, he sadden them, and reopen their wound, which he touched in verse 12, saying: "But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that you be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope." TO MEET CHRIST IN THE AIR. — In Greek, εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα, that is to meet Christ in the air. Whence it appears that, just as citizens going forth to meet a king coming to them do so for the sake of honor: so also the Saints going forth to meet Christ coming to judgment in the air will meet him. Thus Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact. There will therefore be this meeting of the Saints before the universal judgment, when namely Christ the judge descends from heaven to it. And this is what is said in Matthew chapter xxv: "Behold the bridegroom comes, go forth to meet him." For this is required by the dignity of Christ, this by the reverence of the Saints and their love toward Christ, this finally by the glory, both of Christ and of the Saints: for the Saints, as I have already said, will be blessed before the judgment, and will rise in a glorious body; and so with great glory both their own and Christ's, they will meet the glorious Christ; yet afterwards in the judgment they will receive the sentence (the same which they received privately in death and particular judgment) publicly of eternal happiness, so that thus before all their sanctity and glory may be praised and honored. Note secondly: The Saints will be caught up to meet Christ in the air, so that there in a most splendid cloud as if on a throne sitting to conduct the judgment, all the Saints in splendid clouds, as if on thrones will assist, and as if sit, as Francis Suarez teaches, III part., disp. LVII, sect. II, tom. II, at the end; yet so that each according to his order and degree sits according to his merits. Whence in the more splendid and nearer to Christ thrones will sit the Apostles and Apostolic men, who will properly judge with Christ, as is said in Matthew xix, 28. Hence it is evident thirdly, how the valley of Josaphat in which the judgment will take place, together with the neighboring fields and places (which can extend very far, and can be leveled, if need be), will be able to hold all men, who ever have been, are, or will be: for the reprobate in this valley will stand on the earth crowded together on the left of the judge round about; but the Saints will stand on the right not on the earth, but higher and nearer to the judge in the air; yet so that, just as in amphitheaters there were various orders of spectators by means of tiers and platforms some higher than others: so also let there be various orders of Saints, some according to their merits above others as if sitting on an aerial platform higher; yet so that the lowest far exceed the reprobate and the earth (which in life they trampled and despised), and approach Christ. "And thus always," namely both in the judgment and in heaven, to which they will soon ascend, "they will be with the Lord (Christ)," as is said here.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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Supra commendavit apostolus fideles de constantia in tribulationibus et aliis bonis, hic in futurum monet ad bene agendum. Et primo proponit generalem admonitionem; secundo specificat, ibi ut abstineatis. Circa primum duo facit, quia primo proponit intentum, secundo rationem monitionis assignat, ibi ut abundetis, et cetera. Dicit ergo: audivi bona vestra praeterita, sed in futurum rogamus, et cetera. Inducit autem eos primo ex parte sua. Et ideo dicit rogamus. Ps. CXXI, 6: rogate quae ad pacem sunt, et cetera. Item ex parte Christi, et sic dicit obsecramus, et cetera. Obsecrat autem, quia erant perfecti. I Tim. V, 1: seniorem te ne increpaveris, sed obsecra ut patrem. Sed quid rogat? Ut quemadmodum, et cetera. Docuerat eos apostolus quomodo oporteret eos ambulare in via communi iustitiae, quae est per mandata. Unde dicit: accepistis, et cetera. Ps. CXVIII, 32: viam mandatorum tuorum, et cetera. Item quomodo placerent Deo in via consiliorum. Sap. IV, 10: placens Deo factus est dilectus. Vel quomodo ambuletis, scilicet per rectam operationem. Io. XII, 35: ambulate dum lucem habetis. Quomodo placeatis, scilicet per rectam intentionem. Sic et ambuletis, id est, ut servetis primam doctrinam non recedendo ab ea. Gal. I, 8: sed licet nos aut Angelus de caelo evangelizet vobis praeter quam quod evangelizavimus vobis, anathema sit. Ratio monitionis accipitur primo ex fructu servatae monitionis; secundo ex ipsa monitione, ibi scitis enim quae, et cetera. Dicit ergo: licet sitis boni, tamen per exercitium mandatorum et consiliorum abundabitis et proficietis. II Cor. IX, 8: potens est Deus omnem gratiam abundare facere in vobis. Est enim charitas tam magna, quod semper restat quo proficiendum sit. Item quae ex monitione accepistis, honesta sunt et utilia. Ps. XVIII, 8: lex domini immaculata, et cetera. Prov. VI, 23: mandatum lucerna est, et lex lux et via vitae. Ideo dicit quae praecepta, id est, qualia. Et hoc per dominum Iesum accepta ab eo. I Cor. c. XI, 23: ego enim accepi a domino quod et tradidi vobis, et cetera. Hebr. II, 3: quae cum initium accepisset enarrari per dominum ab his, qui audierunt, et cetera. Et haec sunt ista.
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Haec est voluntas Dei sanctificatio vestra, quasi dicat: omnia praecepta Dei sunt ad hoc quod sitis sancti. Sanctitas enim dicit munditiam et firmitatem. Et omnia Dei praecepta inducunt ad ista, ut quis mundus sit a malo, et firmus in bono. Rom. XII, 2: probetis quae sit voluntas Dei, scilicet explicata per praecepta. Deinde cum dicit ut abstineatis, monet in speciali. Et primo corrigit eos de quibusdam inordinationibus inter eos; secundo promovet ad observantiam bonorum, V cap., ibi de temporibus. Tres autem inordinationes erant inter eos, scilicet carnalium vitiorum quantum ad quosdam, item curiositatis, item tristitiae de mortuis, et ideo de istis agit. Secunda, ibi de charitate autem. Tertia, ibi nolumus vos. Circa primum duo facit, quia primo monet abstinere ab immoderato appetitu carnalium; secundo ponit rationem, ibi quoniam vindex. Iterum prima in duas, quia primo prohibet luxuriam; secundo avaritiam. Et coniungit haec semper: quia utrumque est circa obiectum corporale, licet hoc compleatur in delectatione spirituali. Item, primo docet cavere luxuriam quantum ad non suam, secundo quantum ad uxorem propriam, ibi ut sciat. Dicit ergo ut abstineatis a fornicatione. Voluntas enim Dei est abstinere a fornicatione, ergo est peccatum mortale, quia est contra praeceptum et voluntatem Dei. Tob. IV, 13: attende tibi ab omni fornicatione. Sed et respectu uxoris abstineatis honeste, ut sciat unusquisque vas suum, id est, uxorem, possidere in sanctificatione, cessando ad tempus, et in honore, non in passione, ut scilicet passio praecedat; sicut et gentes, quia hoc est gentilium quaerere delectationes praesentes, non autem futurae vitae.
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In sanctificatione et honore, quia hic est debitus usus matrimonii, quia est ad bonum prolis, vel ad reddendum debitum, et sic potest esse sine peccato; sed aliquando est veniale peccatum, si non efferatur concupiscentia ultra limites matrimonii, scilicet quando licet concupiscentiam habeat, non tamen uteretur ea nisi esset uxor sua. Sed quando est extra limites matrimonii, sequitur mortale, et hoc quando si non esset sua uxor, adhuc uteretur ea, et libentius cum alia. Hebr. ult., 4: sit honorabile connubium, et thorus immaculatus. Fornicatores autem et adulteros iudicabit Deus. I Petr. III, 7: viri similiter cohabitantes secundum scientiam quasi infirmiori vasculo muliebri impartientes honorem, tamquam cohaeredibus gratiae et vitae, ut non impediantur orationes vestrae. Deinde cum dicit et ne quis, prohibet avaritiam.
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Unde dicit et ne quis supergrediatur, id est, violentiam inferat auferendo aliena per potentiam. Iac. II, 6: nonne divites per potentiam vos opprimunt? Neque circumveniat per dolum. Ier. V, 27: sicut decipula plena avibus, sic domus eorum plenae dolo. Deinde cum dicit quoniam vindex, etc., ponitur ratio monitionis, quam primo assignat ex divina ultione; secundo ostendit hanc ultionem esse iustam, ibi non enim vocavit. Dicit ergo: abstineamus ab his, quia dominus est vindex. Gal. V, 21: praedico vobis sicut praedixi, quoniam qui talia agunt, regnum Dei non consequentur. Nam certe iuste ulciscitur, cuius una est ratio ex Deo vocante, secunda ex contrarietate doni. Si dominus vocat te ad unum, et tu agis contrarium, dignus es poena. Et ideo dicit non enim vocavit, et cetera. Eph. I, 4: elegit nos in ipso ante mundi constitutionem, ut simus sancti et immaculati in conspectu eius in charitate. Rom. VIII, 30: quos vocavit, hos et iustificavit, et cetera. Ideo dicit itaque, etc.; quasi dicat: haec est una ratio specialis quam dixi. Alia est ratio, quia contrariantur haec vitia spiritui, qui datus est nobis. Unde qui haec agit, iniuriam facit spiritui sancto. Ideo dicit qui etiam, et cetera. Hebr. X, 28: irritam quis faciens legem Moysi sine ulla miseratione duobus, vel tribus testibus moritur, quanto magis putatis deteriora mereri supplicia, qui filium Dei conculcaverit et sanguinem testamenti pollutum duxerit in quo sanctificatus est, et spiritui gratiae contumeliam fecerit? Deinde cum dicit de charitate autem, etc., retrahit ab otiositate. Sciendum est autem, quod sicut dicit Hieronymus in epistola ad Galatas, Thessalonicenses erant liberales, et erat consuetudo apud eos divites dare multum; et ideo pauperes otiose inhaerebant beneficio eorum, non curantes labores, sed discurrere per domos. Et ideo primo commendat liberalitatem dantium; secundo otium accipientium dissuadet, ibi et operam detis. Dicit ergo primo, quod non indigent moneri ad charitatem; secundo monet quod in ea proficiant, ibi rogamus autem.
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Dicit ergo de charitate autem fraternitatis, id est, quod diligatis fratres, non est necesse scribere vobis. Rom. XII, 10: charitate fraternitatis invicem diligentes. Hebr. ult.: charitas fraternitatis maneat in vobis. Et ratio est quia ipsi didicistis a Deo, scilicet praeceptum in lege. Lev. XIX, 18: diliges amicum tuum sicut teipsum. Item in Evangelio. Io. XIII, 34: mandatum novum do vobis, ut diligatis invicem, et cetera. Vel didicistis interiori disciplina. Io. VI, 45: omnis qui audivit a patre et didicit, venit ad me, et cetera. Et hoc addiscit per spiritum sanctum. Deinde cum dicit rogamus autem, hortatur eos ad proficiendum in charitate, dicens: et quia habetis charitatem ad omnes, ideo rogamus ut proficiatis. Et licet alii abutantur, vos tamen insistatis. Prov. XV, 5: in abundanti iustitia virtus maxima est. Deinde cum dicit et operam detis, arguit otiosos, et primo eorum inquietudinem; secundo ostendit quomodo eam reprimant; tertio quare. Dicit ergo: operam detis, ut quieti sitis. Prov. VII, 10: garrula et vaga, quietis impatiens, nec valens pedibus suis in domo consistere, et cetera. II Thess. III, 7: non inquieti fuimus inter vos, neque gratis panem manducavimus ab aliquo, sed in labore et fatigatione nocte et die operantes, et cetera. Otium reprimentes exercendo negotia.
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Unde dicit et ut vestrum negotium agatis. Prov. XXIV, 27: diligenter exerce agrum, ut postea aedifices domum tuam. Dicit autem vestrum, sed numquid non alienum negotium est agendum? Et videtur quod sic. Rom. ult.: assistatis ei in quocumque negotio. Respondeo. Dicendum est, quod omnia possunt inordinate fieri, si fiant praeter ordinem rationis, tunc scilicet quando aliquis se improbe gerit, et ordinate, scilicet quando servatur ordo rationis, et in necessitate, et hoc est commendabile. Et operemini manibus vestris, id est, operando manibus vestris. Eccli. XXXIII, 29: multa mala docuit otiositas, et cetera. Ez. XVI, 49: haec fuit iniquitas Sodomae sororis tuae, superbia, saturitas panis, et abundantia, et otium ipsius et filiarum eius, et manum egeno et pauperi non porrigebant, et cetera. Et hoc est in praecepto omnibus illis, qui non habent alia unde licite vivere possunt; quia de praecepto naturae est, quod homo corpus sustentet, II Thess. III, 10: qui non vult operari, nec manducet. Huius est duplex ratio. Prima propter exemplum aliorum. Unde dicit ut et honeste, et cetera. Infideles enim videntes conversationem vestram sic otiosam, detestantur vos. I Tim. III, 7: oportet autem illum testimonium habere bonum ab his qui foris sunt, et cetera.
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Secunda ratio, ut non desideretis ea quae sunt aliorum; unde dicitur et nullius aliquid desideretis. Prov. XXI, 25: desideria occidunt pigrum. Eph. IV, 28: qui furabatur, iam non furetur, et cetera. Et ideo haec inquietudo si reprimatur, est in bonum exemplum, et in repressionem desiderii.
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Supra induxit ad continentiam a cupiditatibus, et compescuit ab otiositate, hic compescit ab inordinata tristitia. Primo praemittens monitionem, secundo assignat rationem, ibi si enim credimus. Prohibentur ergo, ne scilicet inordinate tristentur, unde dicit sicut et caeteri. Videtur autem apostolus bene concedere tristari pro mortuis, aliquid tamen prohibere, ne scilicet inordinate tristentur, unde dicit sicut et caeteri. Quod enim aliquis tristetur, scilicet de mortuis, habet pietatem. Primo propter defectum corporis deficientis. Debemus enim eos diligere, et corpus propter animam. Eccli. XLI, v. 1: o mors, quam amara est memoria tua homini pacem habenti, et cetera. Secundo propter discessum et separationem, quae dolorosa est amicis. I Reg. XV, 32: siccine separat amara mors? Tertio quia per mortem fit commemoratio peccati. Rom. VI, 23: stipendia peccati mors. Quarto quia fit commemoratio mortis nostrae. Eccle. VII, 3: in illa enim finis cunctorum admonetur hominum, et vivens cogitat quid futurum sit, et cetera. Sic ergo tristandum, sed moderate. Unde Eccli. XXII, 11: modicum plora supra mortuum, quoniam requievit, et cetera. Et ideo dicit sicut et caeteri qui spem non habent, scilicet quia isti credunt huiusmodi defectus perpetuos, sed nos non. Phil. III, 20-21: salvatorem expectamus dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, qui reformabit corpus humilitatis nostrae, configuratum corpori claritatis suae. Unde signanter dicit de dormientibus. Io. XI, v. 11: Lazarus amicus noster dormit. Dormiens enim tria facit. Cubat in spe surgendi. Ps. X: numquid qui dormit non adiiciet ut resurgat? Sic et qui moritur in fide. Item in dormiente anima vigilat. Cant. c. V, 2: ego dormio, et cor meum vigilat, et cetera. Item postea homo resurget magis refectus et vegetus. Sic sancti resurgent incorruptibiles, I Cor. XV, 52. Deinde cum dicit si enim credimus, ponitur ratio monitionis. Et primo astruit resurrectionem; secundo excludit dilationis suspicionem, ibi hoc enim vobis; tertio ponit resurrectionis ordinem, ibi quoniam ipse dominus. Sciendum est autem quod apostolus I Cor. XV, 12 ex resurrectione Christi astruit nostram, quia illa est causa nostrae, unde arguit per locum a causa. Et resurrectio Christi non est causa solum, sed etiam exemplar: quia verbum caro factum suscitat corpora, verbum vero simpliciter animas. Etenim eo quod Christus accepit carnem, et in ea resurrexit, est exemplar nostrae resurrectionis. Nec solum hoc est, sed et causa efficiens: quia quae humanitate Christi gesta sunt, non solum sunt gesta secundum virtutem humanitatis, sed virtute divinitatis sibi unitae. Unde sicut tactus suus curabat leprosum inquantum instrumentum divinitatis, sic resurrectio Christi causa est nostrae resurrectionis non inquantum corporis, sed inquantum resurrectio corporis uniti verbo vitae. Et ideo apostolus, hoc firmiter supponens, sic arguit: si enim credimus, firmiter, quod Christus resurrexit, ita et eos qui dormierunt, et cetera.
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Illi dormierunt per Iesum, qui facti sunt conformes morti eius per Baptismum. Vel per Iesum, quos secum adducet, scilicet cum ipso Christo. Zac. XIV, 5: et veniet dominus Deus meus omnesque sancti eius cum eo, et cetera. Is. III, 14: dominus ad iudicium veniet cum senibus populi sui et principibus eius. Deinde cum dicit hoc enim, excludit dilationem resurrectionis; quasi dicat: scimus quod resurgent et venient cum Christo, ideo non debemus tantum dolere. Non enim illi, qui invenientur vivi, prius consequentur resurrectionis gloriam, quam mortui.
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Et ideo hoc enim vobis dicimus, non ex coniectura hominis, sed in verbo domini, cuius verba non deficient, quia nos qui vivimus, id est, illi, qui sunt vivi, non prius sortientur consolationem ex adventu Christi, quam mortui. Et ideo dicit nos qui vivimus. Ex quo videtur non intelligentibus, quod apostolus hic dicat, quod adhuc apostolo vivente hoc fieret, et hoc etiam Thessalonicensibus videbatur. Et ideo scribit eis aliam epistolam, in qua dicit, II Thess. II, 2: non moveamini a vestro sensu, et cetera. Sed non loquitur ex persona sua, et tunc existentium, sed eorum qui tunc vivi reperientur. Qui residui sumus, id est, erunt residui post persecutionem Antichristi. Non praeveniemus eos, id est, non prius recipient consolationem. I Cor. XV, 52: in momento enim, in ictu oculi, in novissima tuba, et cetera. Deinde cum dicit quoniam ipse, etc., ostendit ordinem resurrectionis et modum. Primo proponit resurrectionis causam; secundo eius ordinem et modum, ibi et mortui; tertio concludit eorum consolationem, ibi itaque consolamini invicem. Primum ostendit dicens ipse dominus. Ubi notandum est, quod, sicut dictum est, causa communis resurrectionis est resurrectio Christi. Sed si dicas, quod iam fuit, quare ergo non sequitur effectus eius? Respondeo. Dicendum est, quod est causa resurrectionis nostrae secundum quod operatur in virtute divina. Deus autem operatur per ordinem suae sapientiae. Tunc ergo erit nostra resurrectio, quando hoc disposuit ordo divinae sapientiae. Ut ostendat quod Christus sit causa, ostendit quod ad praesentiam Christi omnes mortui resurgent. Ad resurrectionem autem communem faciendam triplex causa concurrit. Una principalis, scilicet virtus divinitatis; secunda instrumentalis, scilicet virtus humanitatis Christi; tertia quasi ministerialis, scilicet virtus Angelorum, qui habebunt aliquem effectum in resurrectione. Augustinus enim probat, quod ea quae fiunt nunc per creaturas corporales, fiunt a Deo eis mediantibus; in resurrectione vero aliqua per eos sunt agenda, sicut collectio pulveris; sed reintegratio corporum, et unio animae ad corpus, erit immediate per Christum. Has ergo tres causas ponit. Primo humanitatem Christi gloriosam, dicens ipse dominus, et cetera. Act. I, 11: quemadmodum vidistis eum ascendentem in caelum, ita veniet. In iussu. In primo adventu venit ut obediens. Phil. II, 8: factus est obediens usque ad mortem. Et hoc, quia ille fuit adventus humilitatis, sed iste erit gloriae. Lc. XXI, 27: venit cum potestate magna et maiestate. Secundo virtutem Angelorum, cum dicit in voce Archangeli. Non quod operetur in voce eius, sed ministerio eius. Et dicit Archangeli, quia omnes Angeli sub uno Archangelo ministrant Ecclesiae. Apoc. XII, 7: hic est Michael princeps Ecclesiae. Vel in voce Archangeli, id est, Christi principis Angelorum. Is. c. IX: magni consilii Angelus. Et in voce eius corporali, vel spirituali erit resurrectio. Io. V, 28: audient vocem filii Dei, scilicet: surgite, mortui, et venite ad iudicium, et illi voci corporali obedient. Tertio virtutem divinitatis, cum dicit in tuba Dei. Haec est virtus divina, quia dicitur vox Archangeli, inquantum fiet ministerio Archangelorum, et tuba Dei, inquantum virtute divina fiet. Et dicitur tuba propter eius sonoritatem, quae provenit a Deo suscitans mortuos. Item tuba congruit ad officia, cuius usus fuit multiplex in veteri testamento, ut ad bellum: et tunc pugnabit pro eo orbis terrarum, Sap. V, 21. Item fiebat usus eius ad solemnitates, sic ista ad caelestem Ierusalem. Item ad movendum castra, et tunc sancti movebunt castra. Unde si sit vox corporalis, dicitur tuba propter has rationes; vel non erit vox corporalis, sed virtus divina Christi praesens et manifesta toti mundo. Deinde cum dicit et mortui, ponitur ordo resurrectionis, et circa hoc tria facit, quia primo ponit resurrectionem mortuorum; secundo occursum vivorum, ibi deinde; tertio beatitudinem sanctorum utrorumque, ibi et sic semper. Occasione horum verborum crediderunt aliqui quod futuri in fine numquam morerentur, ut dicit Hieronymus in epistola, propter hoc quod dicit deinde nos, etc.: alias enim frustra distingueret viventes a morientibus. Sed contra I Cor. XV, 51: omnes quidem resurgemus. Item: sicut in Adam omnes moriuntur, etc., ut habetur Rom. V, 12 ergo mors ad omnes pertransit. Dicendum est ergo, quod aliqui invenientur vivi in tempore illo, quo Christus veniet ad iudicium; sed in illo momento temporis morientur et statim resurgent. Et ideo propter modicam interpolationem reputantur viventes.
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Sed tunc est quaestio, quia dicitur hic et mortui, qui in Christo sunt, resurgent primi, et deinde nos, et cetera. Ergo prius resurgent mortui, quam vivi occurrant Christo, et in hoc occursu morientur. Ergo prius aliqui resurgent et sic non erit omnium resurrectio simul, quod est contra illud I Cor. XV, 52: in momento, in ictu oculi, in novissima tuba, et cetera. Respondeo. Dicendum est, quod duplex est hic opinio: quidam enim dicunt quod resurrectio non erit simul, sed primo mortui venient cum Christo. Et tunc, in adventu Christi, vivi rapientur in nubibus, et in illo raptu morientur et resurgent. Et ideo quod dicitur esse in momento, intelligitur, quia in modico tempore fiet. Et si dicatur, quod erit in instanti, tunc non est hoc referendum ad totam resurrectionem omnium, sed ad resurrectionem singularium, quia singulus resurget in instanti. Alii vero dicunt quod omnes simul et in instanti resurgent. Quod ergo dicit: resurgent primi, denotat ordinem dignitatis, non temporis. Sed videtur hoc difficile, quia de vivis multi erunt probati in persecutione Antichristi, qui dignitate praecellent multos prius defunctos. Et ideo videtur aliter esse dicendum, quod omnes morientur et omnes resurgent, et quod simul. Nec apostolus dicit hic quod illi prius resurgent, quam isti, sed quod illi prius resurgent, quam isti occurrant. Apostolus enim non ponit ordinem resurrectionis ad resurrectionem, sed ordinem ad raptum, vel ad occurrentiam. Nam primo veniente domino morientur qui invenientur vivi, et tunc statim cum illis, qui prius mortui fuerant resurgentes rapientur in nubibus, etc., ut apostolus hic dicit. Est autem haec inter bonos et malos differentia, quia mali remanebunt in terra, quam dilexerunt, boni rapientur ad Christum, quem quaesierunt. Matth. XXIV, 28: ubi fuerit corpus, ibi congregabuntur et aquilae. In resurrectione etiam sancti conformabuntur Christo, non solum quantum ad gloriam corporis, Phil. III, sed etiam quantum ad situm, quia Christus erit in nube. Act. I, 9: et nubes suscepit eum; et: quemadmodum vidistis eum, et cetera. Sic et sancti a nubibus rapientur. Et quare hoc? Ad ostendendum eorum deiformitatem. In veteri enim testamento gloria domini apparuit per modum nubis. III Reg. VIII, 10: dominus venit in nebula. Hae nubes erunt praeparatae virtute divina ad ostensionem gloriae sanctorum. Vel ipsa fulgentia corpora gloriosorum videbuntur malis quaedam nubes, qui erunt in terra. Matth. c. XXV, 6: ecce sponsus venit, exite obviam ei. Deinde cum dicit et sic semper, ostendit beatitudinem sanctorum, quia semper erunt cum domino, eo fruentes. Io. XIV, v. 3: iterum veniam et accipiam vos ad meipsum, ut ubi ego sum, et vos sitis. Hoc sancti desiderant. Phil. I, 23: desiderium habens dissolvi et esse cum Christo. Deinde cum dicit itaque, etc., concludit consolationem habendam esse de mortuis, dicens: ex quo sancti resurgunt, et nullum detrimentum consequuntur, ergo de mortuis consolamini. Is. XL, 1: consolamini, consolamini, popule meus, dicit dominus Deus vester.
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Ut quemadmodum accepistis a nobis, quomodo oporteat vos ambulure et placere Deo. Ut, hoc loco redundat, nec est in Graeco; nam postea exprinritur, ut abundetis. Sensus est: Sicut a nobis didicistis, quemadmodum conversari vos ororteat, et quibus actionibus Deo placere, Deumque promereri: Sicut et ambulatis. Multi codices legunt, sic et ambuletis; quanquam praestantiores id habent, quod prius diximus. At in Graeco et Syriaco textu, et apud Graecos interpretes, nihil est quod huic parti respondeat; ut prorsus appareat, a quopiam adjectam esse in favorem Thessalonicensium, ne viderentur nihil adhuc praestitisse eorum, quae hic ab Apostolo praecipiuntur; qua ratione in capite sequenti dicit, aedificate ulterutrum sicut et factis. Verum id hoc loco opus non erat; continetur enim in eo, quod sequitur: Ut abundetis magis. Dependet hoc a verbis, rogamus et obsecramus. Et sensus est: Ut in eo quod dixi, magis magisque proficiatis: exigens profectum, utique jam coepisse agnoscit.
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2. Scitis enim, quae praecepta dederim vobis per Dominum Jesum. Gruece et Syriace, dederimus, numero multitudinis, quemadmodum et habent LatLia quaedam MSS. Hactenus enim de se pluraliter lcquitur Apostolus; partim quod Silam et Timotheum initio nominatos comprehendat, partim humilitatis causa, ne singulari suae personae quicquam arrogpre videatur. Probat autem haec pars ad laborem, quo vitam transigant. Consolatur docet, simul resurrectionis modum exponens. illam praecedentem, quemadmodum accepistis a nobis; quasi dicat: accepisse vos a nobis dico; nam ipsi scitis ac meministis, quae praecepta bene sancteque vivendi nos vobis, quum istic essemus, tradiderimus; non ut nostra, sed ut Christi Domini praecepta; hanc enim vim habet quod ait, per Dominum Jesum; juxta id quod alibi dicit: praecipio non ego, sed Dominus 1 Cor. 7. Et quidem ipsius Christi praecepta significari, planum est ex sequentibus.
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3. Haec est enim voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra. Voluntatem intelligit eam, quae in praeceptis consistit, quam Theologi voluntatem signi vocant. Nam praeceptum Dei est, ut sancti simus. Sanctificationem nonnulli interpretantur activam, qua nhrirum fideles seipsos sanctificant, a^jstinentes ab omni immunditia, prout sequitur. Alii passivam intelligunt, secundum id quod dicitur 1 Cor. 7. Sanctificatus est vir infidelis per mulierem fidelem etc. At magis verisimile est, Hebraea phrasi sanctificationem positam esse pro sanctitate; quomodo Graeci exponunt: sicut justificatio saepe pro justitia sumitur in scripturis; ut Luc. 1. incedentes in omnibus mandatis et justificationibus Domini, id est, justitiis a Domino praeceptis. Certe sanctificationem pro sanctimonia accipi, manifestum est in eo, quod paulo post sequitur, in sanctificatione et honore. Atqui sanctimonia sive sanctitas, in genere, puritatem et munditiam significat eam, quae hominem Deo commendat: sed hic Apostolus respicit ad munditiam peccatis impudicitiae contrariam; veluti probat explicatio^subjuncta: Ut abstineatis vos a fornicatione: Nomine fornicationis scriptura accipit omnem concubitum viri et mulieris extra conjugium; ut etiam adulterium et '"ncestum comprehendat. Unde Matth. 5. Qui dimiserit uxorem suam excepta causa fornicationis, id est adulterii, et 1 Cor. 5. auditur inter vos fornicatio; cum de incestu loqueretur.
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4. Ut sciat unusquisque vestrum vas suutn possidere in sanctificatione et honore. Pergit explicare sanctiHcafionis ltraeceptum. Vasis sui nomine plerique proprium corpus intelligunt; sic enim accipitur 1 Reg. 21. et fuerunt vasa puerorum sancta. Alii vero nonnulli, cum quibus sentit S. Thomas in commentario, et ante eum S. Augustinus lib. 1. de nupt. et conc. cap. 8. et lib. 4. contra Julian. cap. 10. propriam uxorem seu corpus uxoris eo nomine significari putant. Pro quibus facit locus huic similis 1 Petri 3. quasi infirmiori vasculo muliebri impertientes honorem. Simile et illud Proverb. 5. secundum LXX. bibe aquas de vasis tuis. Quanquam ibi Graece non est oxsuog sed ayyeTov. Re bene expensa videtur utrumvis dictorum recte intelligi. Nam pro eo, quod hic dicit vas suum, alibi iicit corpus suum aut corpora saa: ut Rom. 1. corpora sua afficere dicuntur contumelia; sicut hic contra, possidere in honore. Et omnis fornicator dicitur peccare in corpus suum 1 Cor. 6. et Rom. 12. Exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam sanctam et 1 Cor. 12. honorem circumdamus membris nostris inho?testis. Multum etiam urget locus 1 Reg. 21. Nec facit admodum in contra/tum locusPetri: quia non dicit vasculo suo, sed vasculo muliebri. Accedit, quod hic sequitur, non in passione desiderii, quod non ita commode videtur quibusdam posse referri ad concubitum cum uxore: sed magis pertinet ad alias libidines infandas et innaturales: sicut Rom. 1. ef Ephes. 4. Huc etiam facit illud 2 Cor. 4. Habemus thesaurum istum in vasis fictilibus. Corpus enim est vas et instrumentum animae. Lyranus quoque et glossa interlinealis de proprio corpore exponunt. Meminerunt posterioris illius expositionis etiam Theodoretus et Oecumenius: sed eam rejiciunt hac ratione, quia non solum, inquiunt, iie qui uxores habent, praecipit Apostolus, verum etiam innuptis ef viduis. Sed haec ratio non convincit: saepe enim in scripturis particularia praecepta dantur, ex quibus generalia debent intelligi. Proinde sensus etiam esse videtur: Item ut noverit unusquisque vestrum propria sua uxore uti cum sanctitate et honore, id est, caste et honeste. Nam et natura nos monet honorem adhibere inhonestis, ipso Apostolo teste 1 Cor. 12. Quae putamus, inquit, ignobiliora esse membra corporis, his honorem abundantiorem circumaamus; et quae inhonesta sunt nostra, abundantiorem honestatem habent etc. Significat enim, id nos facere impulsu quodam naturae. Annotant Graeci, Apostolum dicere, ut sciat; ad insinuandum, qucd castitas et continentia opus habeant exercitio et disciplina. Caeterum in eo quod ait, possidere, id est, uti tanquam re sua, significatum est virum jure conjugii habere potestatem corporis uxoris suae: quod et vicissim aeque de muliere, respectu viri, fatendum est; quemadmodum aperte docet idem Apostolus 1 Cor. 7. dicens: Mulier sui corporis potestatem non habet, sed vir. Similiter autem et vir sui corporis putestatem non habet, sed mulier. Porro quid sit quod dixit, in sanctificatione et honore, consequenter declarat ex opposito.
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5. Non in passione desiderii. Erasmus vertendum putavit, non cum affectu concupiscentiae. Sed revera nomen passionis hoc loco significantius est, idemque etiam Latinis auctoribus usurpatum in ea significatione, quam hic Apostolus attendit, quemadmodum et admonuimus ad eum locum Rom 1. tradidit eos in passiones ignominiae; Latine etiam, et significanter, pro passione, morbus verti poterat: quomodo locum hunc legit Augustinus lib. 1. de nupt. et concup. cap. 8. Non in morbo desiderii. Sive autem morbum sive passionem legas, significare voluit Apostolus motum libidinis adeo vehementem atque eflfraenem, ut erumpat in actus, quibus dignitas conjugalis dehonestetur: cujusmodi quidem actus mortalia peccata sunt in conjugibus. Qui vero conjuges a talibus abstinent, neque tamen solius generationis causa commiscentur, sed voluptatem in eo opere quaerunt; intra limites conjugalis oastitatis se interim cohibentes: nisi gravior accedat circumstantia, non plus quam venialiter peccant; juxta doctrinam Apostoli 1 Cor. 7. dicentis, revertimini in idipsum, propter incontinentiam vestram. Hoc autem dico secundum indulgentiam, non secundum imperium: qui proinde, juxta mentem ejusdem Apostoli, vas suum adhuc possident in sanctificatione et honore; licet minus perfecte, quam si solius causa generationis convenirent.
Sicut et gentes,'quae ignorant Deum. Graece, quae non noverunt Deum, nam ipsum non nosseDeum, homici ratione utenti peccatum est. Significat autem, Dei ignorantiam fuisse causam, cur gentiles sese in omne genus turpium voluptatum immergerent. Nam ignorantia Dei tollit timorem Dei, qui vindex est talium peccatorum, uti statim post dicitur. Similis est locus Ephes. 4., ubi de gentibus loquens alienatis a vita Dei per ignorantiam et caecitatem cordis ipsorum, ita sr.bjungit: Qui desperantes semet ipsos tradiderunt impudicitiae, in operationem immunditiae omnis in avaritia.
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6. Et ne quis supergrediatur, neque circumveniat in negotio fratrem suum. Partem hanc Ambrosianus, Anselmus, Aquinas et alii plerique Latini interpretes intelligunt de fraude et injuria, quae fit in mercimoniis aliisve contractibus; id quod Erasmi quoque versio sonat, quae sic habet: Ne quis opprimat ac fraudet in negotio fratrem suum. Verum Hieronymus in comment. epist. ad Ephes. exponens iJlud modo citatum cap. 4. in operationem immunditiae omms in avaritia, docet hunc locum, perinde ut illum, ageie de avaritia turpium voluptatum. Nam pro co, quod Latine redditum est, circumveniat, aut, ut legit Hiercnymus, circumscribat, in Graeco verbum est rcXeovexxeTv, a quo 7tXeove£i'a, id est, avaritia; quo vocabulo usus est ad Ephes. Apostolus, et cujus ibi significationem explicuiraus. Itaque secundum Hieronymum sensus est: Ne quis terminos sui conjugii transgrediens, alienum torum invadat ac violet, atque ita amplius quam fas sit appetendo, proximum suum in hujusmodi negotio frandet, iojuriaque afficiat. Quae descriptio est adulterii. Nam et verbum Graecum, quod supergredi, sive transgredi, sive transcendere significat, apprime quadrat huic significato: proprium enim adulterorum est (quod et Latinum nomen importat) ad alteram, id est, alienam uxorem transire. Porro negotivm, Graece TEpayjia, quod generalem habet significationem, verecunde dixit Apostolus pro concubitu. Quod insinuat articulus praofixus, ev to> 7ipayj*aTi, tanquam referendum sit ad rem seu negotium aliquod certum; videlicet de quo jam dixerat, ut abstineatis vos a fornicatione; cujusmodi usum hujus vocabuli observare est etiam apud Clementem Romanum, si tamen is auctor, lib. 3. constitut. Apostol. cap. 2., ubi inter ecclesiae viduas cooptari prohibenturadolescentiores viduae; ne, excusando so ferre non posse fervorem aetatis, aliquando iterum nubentes in negotio sint; id est, in illicito concubitu versentur. Id quod clarius explicant verba ibidem sequentia: Subveniendum vero et opitulandum est illis, ne, excusando se derelinqui, turpi negotio implicentur. Pcrro sensum praesentis loci, quem attulimus ex Hiercnymo, tradunt omnes Graeci tractatores: quibus subscribit Cajetanus et alii quidam recentiores; denique et Erasmus in paraphrasi. Nec alio referri partem hanc patitur paulo post subjuncta ratio totius exhortationis, cum ait: Non enim vocavit nos Deus in immunditiam, sed in sanctificationem. Dicit autem, fratrem suum, id est, Christianum, a parte totum intelligens, hoc est quemvis proximum. Non enim ita fratris prohibet injuriam, ut extranei per mittat, sed fratrem nominavit, quia de eo magis erat metuendum.
Quoniam vindex est Dominus de his omnibu8. Dominum more suo Christum dicere videtur, de cujus adventu ad judicium eos commonefecit in fine capitis praecedentis, quasi dicat: Christus Dominus, quem judicem omnes expectamus, horum omnium, quae dixi, vindex adveniet: secus quam gentes existimant, quae Deum judicem ignorantes, talia sine timore perpetrant. Sicut praediximus vobis et testificati sumus. Graece et Syriace: Sicut et praediximus etc. Consonat Ambrosiana versio, cum nostris quibusdam MSS. Sensus: Sicut jam ante, quum apud vos essemus, contestando ac denuntiando vobis diximus: ut fieri solet in re gravi. Nam alioqui gentiles hujusmodi libidinis peccata fere pro nihilo ducebant.
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7. Non enim vocavit nos Deus in immunditiam, sed in sanctificationem. Graeca volunt ablativos, in immunditia, in sanctificatione: sed ita, ut utraque praepositio (sunt enim in Graeco diversae praepositiones, eitt et iv) serviat causae significandae: quam et Graeca scholia explicant, et Erasmus sua versione expressit hoc modo: Non enim vocavit nos Deus immunditiae causa, sed ad sanctificationem, hoc est, non vocavit nos Deus ad cultum et religionem suam, non fecit nos Christianos, ea lege atque eo fine, ut viveremus in immunditia, ac turpibus voluptatibus operam daremus; sed ut ab impuritate vitae prioris emundati, sanctimoniae studeremus. Nam pro sanctificatione sanctimoniam hic legit Ambrosianus. Adhibet ergo Apostolus argumentum ductum a causa finali vocationis ad Chiistianismum.
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8. Itaque, qui haec spernit, non hominem spernit, sed Deum. Graeca et quaedam Latina non addunt, haec; quod tamen supplendae sententiae gratia recte a Latino interprete potuit addi. Loquitur enim Apostolus de praeceptis jam datis, et respicit ad ea, quae dixit sub initium exhortationis: Scitis, quae praecepta dederim vobis per Dominum Jesum, et iterum: Haec est enim voluntas Dei etc. Quibus utique verbis significavit, se proponere Dei praecepta; quoniam et Christus Deus est. Igitur, qui spernit ac rejicit illa praecepta, non tam spernit hominem Dei ministrum, a quo proponuntur; quam ipsum Deum, a quo data sunt. At mhilominus etiam ille non hominem spernit, sed Deum, qui recusat obedire legibus ac mandatis ab humana legitima potestate profectis; sive ea potestas sit Ecclesiastica, sive politica. Non est enim ulla hujusmodi potestas nisi a Deo; proinde, qui resistit potestati, Dei ordinationi resistit; qui autem resistunt, ipsi sibi damnationem acquirunt, Apostolo teste Rom. 13. Unde et Dominus ad discipulos suos: Qui vos audit, me audit: et qui vos spernit, me spernit; qui autem me spernit, spernit eum, qui misit me. Luc. 10. Qui Ecclesiam non audierit, sit tibi sicut ethnicus et publicanus. Matth. 18. Tale est et illud Mosis ad populum adversum se muimurantem: Non contra nos est murmur vestrum, sed contra Dominum. Exod. 16. Et quamvis Apostolus hoc loco respiciat, ut dixi, ad praecepta divina, quae praeposuerat; sententia tamen generalis est, eademque, ex ipsius etiam Apostoli mente, patens ad Apostolica praecepta, qualia Timotheo, Tito, Corinthiis dedit. Ob hanc enim fortasse causam indefinite locutus est: Itaque, qui spernit, non addito pronomine.
Qui etiam dedit Spiritum suum sanctum in nobis. Juxta hanc nostram lectionem pars ista pertinere videtur ad commendandum hominis praecipientis auctoritatem, quasi dicat: Qui spernit ea, quae nos Apostoli praecipimus, non nos homines spernit, sed Deum, qui per Spiritum sanctum, quem nobis impertivit, nos fecit verbi sui ministros, ac potestatem dedit praecipiendi. Sunt enim haec Spiritus sancti dona. Congruit cam hoc sensu, quod ait 1 Cor. 7. Puto, quod et ego Spiritum Dei habeam. At in Graeco sic legitur, qui dat, vel secundum alios codices, qui dedit Spiritum S. suum in vos, et codex Latinus Laudensis habet, in vobis. Hoc est juxta Graecorum expositionem: Qui per Spiritum suum, quem vobis dedit in baptismo, vos sanctificavit, et in vobis habitat. Quapropter injuria ejus, qui memorata Dei praecepta spernit, polluens se per immunditiam, peculiariter etiam redundat in Spiritum S., quem peccando expellit et contumelia afficit. Ad eundem modum Cajetanus exponit. Nonnulli quidem Graeci codices pronomen habent primae personae, in nos, atque ita legisse videntur interpretes quidam Graeci: sensum tamen eundem reddunt, quem caeteri. Nam et paulo ante sub prima perso^a Thessalonicenses comprehendit Apostolus, dicens: Non enim vocavit nos Deus in immunditiam. Ambrosianus quoque, licet legat uti nos habemus, excepta vocula etiam; intellectu tamen cum Graecis convenit.
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9. De charitace autem fraternitatis non necesse habemus scribere vobis. Huc usque sanctificationis praecepta: sequitur nunc exhortatio de charitate fra terua, quam Paulus una composita dictione cpiAaSeAcptav, nominat, id est, amorem fraternum. Sic enim mutuum Christianorum inter ipsos amorem Apostoli vocitabant: estque idem vocabulum Rom. 12. et Hebr. 13. Quo utroque loco Latine legitur, ut hic, charitas fraternitatis. Nec in Graeco est, non necesse habemus; sed non necesse habetis scribere vobis, id est, ut scribam vobis. Igitur sensus est: De charitate fraterna, qua nimirum vos invicem Christiani diligatis, non admodum opus habetis, ut hac Epistola vos admoneam. Tacite significat, eos omnino opus habuisse admonitione superiori, quae erat de sanctimonia seu munditia vitae: difficile enim erat, homines gentiles immunditiae peccatis assuetos, a talibus subito revocare. Unde praecepta ejus generis fere per singulas Epistolas inculcat Apostolus.
Ipsi enim vos a Deo didicistis, ut diligatis invicem. In Graeco nomen est compositum, $eo5i£axTOi, id est, a Deo docti vel edocti, ut legit Ambrosianus, sive divinitu8 docti, ut vertit Erasmus, pro quo apud Joan. 6. etiam in Graeco duae voces leguntur ex Jes. 54. secundum LXX. 6Y§axxoi Osou, id est, dociles Dei, ut vu!gatus interpres reddidit; vel melius, docti a Domino, ut Hieronymus in Jes. Probat Apostolus id, quod dixit, nempe Thessalonicenses opus non habere, ut ab ipso de charitate fraterna admoneantur; utpote praeoccupatos a Deo doctore et magistro, a quo jam edocti erant, se invicem diligere; qui enim doctus est a Deo, ad eandem rem non indiget hominis magisterio. Similis plane consequentia est Hebr. 8. ex Jer. 31. Non docebit unusquisque proximum suum, dicens, cognosce Dominum; quoniam omnes scient me, scilicet a me docti. Nam praecedit, dabo leges meas in mente eorum. Simile et illud 1 Joan. 2. Non necesse habetis, ut aliquis doceat vos: sed sicut unctio ejus docet vos de omnibus, hoc est, quod ibidem superius dicit, vos unctionem habitis a sancto, et nostis omnia. Sed quia bifariam accipi potest, doctum esse a Deo: vel solummodo secundum intellectum, quomodo docti sunt, qui sciunt et non faciunt; vel etiam secundum affect\'.m, quomodo docti sunt omnes et soli, qui faciunt, quod faciendum noverunt: de posteriori modo sine dubio praesens locus, ut et alter apud Jeremiam, accipiendus est, non de priori; quomodo Pelagius accipit in hujus loci commentario, referens hanc doctrinam ad mandatum dilectionis a Christo generatim omnibus datum. Nam qui hoc tantum modo doctus est a Deo, adhuc opus habet admonitione humana, qua excitetur et urgeatur, ut faciat, quod facere didicit. Et prior quidem modus filiorum est veteris testamenti, posterior autem filiorum novi testamenti, ad quos pertinet illa promissio prophetica a Claisto apud Joannem a]legata: Ponam universos filios tuos doctos a Domino Jes. 54., quam promissionem et in se cupiebat impleri, qui dicebat ad Dominum: Doce me facere voluntatem tuam, Psalm. 142. Ejusdem fteo<5i<5aaxaA''ac egregia laus est in alio Psalmo: Beatus homo, quem tu erudieris Domine, et de lege tua docueris eum. Vide Augustinum lib. de gratia Christi cap. 13. et 14. et super illud Psalm. 118. Bonitatem et disciplinam et scientiam doce me. Denique, quos intelligat Apostolus doctos a Deo, declarant sequentia ejus verba:
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10. Etenim illud facitis in omnes fratres in universa Macedonia. Clarius ita vertas ex Graeco: Etenim facitis haec erga omnes fratres, qui sunt per universam Macedoniam; id est, passim erga eos exercetis opera dilectionis, laigiendo ac benefaciendo. Ex quo non solum probat, eos diligere fratres, curu juxtaGregorium probatio dilectionis exhibitio sit operis; verum etiam ostendit, eos a Deo doctos esse, ut id facerent juxta sensum supradictum; nam ad eam doctrinam pertinet ipsum velle et facere, quod Deus in eo, quem sic docet, efficaciter operatur. Quocirca non est audiendus Joan. Cassianus, qui lib. 10. institut. mon. cap. 7. excutiens hunc Apost jli locum, vult majus aliquid esse hoc posterius illo priori, quasi sint, qui didicerint a Deo diligere invicem, nec tamen id praestent, qui vero praestant, aliquid suum adjiciant beneficio doctrinae a Deo acceptae. Verum id rejiciendum ad errores illius auctoris haeresi Pelagianae affines, de quibus a B. Prospero notatus est. Certe Christus ipse Joan. 6. sensum ejusmodi manifeste destruit, ubi cum ex propheta citasset illud: Et erunt omnes docibiles Dei; exponendo subjunxit: Omnis, qui audivit a Vatrr, et didicit, venit ad me. Id est, omnes docti a Deo veniunt ad me per fidem et charitatem: quod est facere. Est igitur in his duobus reciproca consequentia: Doctus est a Deo, ergo facit; et contra: Facit, ergo doctus est a Deo. Haec enim est Apostoli hcc loco; illa Domini in Evangelio.
Rogamus autem vos fratres, ut abundetis magis. Id est, ut in hac fraterna charitate, quam a Deo didicistis, eodem doctore studeatis proficere. Id admonet, ne, quia laudavit eos, existiment, sibi in eo genere jam nihil deesse. Quod interpres nunc vertit, rogamus, idem verbum initio capitis veiterat, obsecramus: nec male quadrat utrique loco verbum hortamur, quod hic est apud Ambrosianum.
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11. Et operam detis, ut quieti sitis. Superius commendavit Thessalonicensium charitatem ac beneficentiam in fratres: hac eorum liberalitate quidam pauperiores abutentes otio et inertiae vacabant, discurrentes per domos, et inhiantes mensis divitum, atque in res alienas curiosi, adeo ut hoc nomine etiam apud infideles male audirent. Igitur hujusmodi vitia Apostolus et hoc loco, et acrius in 2. epist. cap. 3. castigat. Graecum verbum, pro quo nos habemus, operam deiis, significat eniti, quomodo legit Ambrosianus; id est, magno conatu quippiam agere; translatum a more hominum ambitiosorum, qui summo studio et animi contentione nituntur ad honores. Hortatur ergo Apostolus, sedulo dent operam, ut quieti sint, id est, placHe et sine tumultu agant, aliorum quietem non turbent, alienis officiis et negotiis non se misceant, sed propiia curent. Id enim est, quod sequitur: Et ut vestrum negotium agatis. Graece, et agatis res proprias. Vult unumquemque suae vocationi et opeii intendere, non alienis rebus sese ingerere. Prohibet ergo duo vitia plerumque conjuncta, otiositatem et curiositatem. Eodem pertinent, quae sequuntur:
Et operemini manibus vestris. Graece propriis manibus vestris. Qui sermo videtur emphasim habere. Quum autem nominat opus manuum, ex specie genus vult intelligi: maxime, quia ad populum scribit, in quo plurimorum est, ea quae manibus fiunt opera exercere: sub quibus omne opus servile intelligitur. Nam in 2. epist., ubi vehemantius hanc rem urget, non addit, manibus. Objicere solent hujusmodi Scripturas adversarii monachis mendicantibus, velut cogendis ad opus manuum: cum nec ipsi, qui haec objiciunt, manibus operentur. Neque enim omnibus omnino praecipitur, ut cperentur manibus, aut mechauicum aliquid exerceant: sed iis, qui egent, ac sublimioribus functionibus non sunt addicti. Atqui religiosi mendicantes student et vacant praedicationi verbi Dei, aliisque id genus actionibus, quibus salus populi Christiani promovetur: cumque ratione hujus ministerii possent a populo exigere vitae stipendia, juxta id, quod Christus ordinavit, ut qui Evangelium annuntiant de Evangelio vivant, huic tamen potestati renuntiantes, rogare malunt et mendicare, neque cogentes quenquam ad tribuendum, neque jus obtendentes. Quod utique magnae perfectionis est, qui nec ipsi tamen opus manuum, ubi tempus suppetit, ac res postulat, ad exemplum Pauli Apostoli subterfugiunt aut praetermittunt, quo minus graventur ii, quibus ad salutem subserviunt.
Sicut praecepimus vobis; quum apud vos essemus; jam tum enim coeperat haec vitia in eis observare.
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Et ut honeste ambuletis ad eos, qui foris sunt. Conjunctionem et Graeca non addunt, ut nec Ambrosianus. Etenim secundum Graecam lectionem pars non peiidct a verbo rogamus, sive hortamur, ad quod suporiora referuntur, quasi sensus sit, rogamus etiam, ut honeste ambuletis etc., sed praecedentium causam quandam finalem significat hoc sensu: Ad ea, quae dixi, studiose facienda, vos cum obsecratione cohortor, ut iis observatis decenter atque honeste vos geratis erga eos, qui non sunt Christiani, sed adhuc a Christi fide et vestra societate alieni: apud quos mendicare, aut propter inopiam impudentius agere, scandalosum sit ac vestrae professioni dedecorosum.
Et nullius alijuid desideretis. Rer jm alienarum concupiscentia vitiosa est, etiamsi res illae per injustitiam non quaerantur: vetatur enim hoc concupiscentiae vitium postremo decalogi praecepto: Non concupisces rem proximi tui, contra quod peccavit Achab volens emere justo pretio suamque facere vineam Naboth, 3 Reg. 21. Tale igitur alienae rei desiderium hic ab Apostolo notari putant plerique Latinorum: de quo et scriptum sit Prov. 21. desideria occidunt pigrum. fioil. Eitti Coniui. Tom. II. Agit enirc Apostolus de hominibus otiosis, qui cum propria negotia negligant, animus eorum semper versatur in rebus alienis aut scrutandis aut concupiscendis. Verum Graeca alium sensum postulant. Sic enim habent: et nullo opus habeatis, id est, nulla re indigeatis, quasi dicat Apostolus: et ut quisque de suo habeat unde vivat, nec otio suo fratribus oneri sit, et infidelibus scandalo. Ex quo tamen sensu etiam id consequimur, quod nostra lectio sonat, ut per suam inertiam egentes inordinate atque inhoneste res alienas appetant.
12. Nolumus autem vos ignorare fratfes de dormientibus. Graece, de iis qui dormierunt: quemadmodum etnoster interpres panlo post vertit somel et iterum: pro quo recte Erasmus et alii, obdormierunt, id est, somno sopiti sunt. Vide quae diximus ad illud 1 Cor. 15. Quidam autem dormierunt. Non dubium quidem, quin Thessalonicenses, inter alia religionis Christianae mysteria, fuerint etiam de resurrectione mortuorum, deque adventu Christi judicis coram ab Apostolo diligenter instituti; nam hujus adventus tanquam ab illis crediti et exspectsti jam bismeminit superius, scilicet in fine primi et tertii capitis. Verum quia nondum haec fides satis eorum animis erat infixa, fiebat, nt pro veteri consuetudine, quasi adhuc gentiles essent, spem resurrectionis non habentes, mortuos suos immoderatius lugerent; hoc igitur vitium in eis nunc corrigit Apostolus; ac statim ipso vocabulo, quo mortuos vocat dormientes, resurrectionis ingerit cogitationem, quasi dicat: Mors, ob quam caros vestros velut extinctos et amissos lugetis, tantum somnus quidam est. a quo sint ad vitam excitandi. Ita passim Scriptura de mortuis loquitur, bonis ac malis, idque in testimonium futurae resurrectionis. Argumento est, quod de brutis animalibus nusquam ita loquatur, sed de solis hominibus, nimirum significans, homines morte non penitus, nti bestias, extingui; sed, ut in iis, qui dormiunt, animas interim vivere, corpora vero e somno mortis aliquando ovigilatura. Unde est, quod a primis Ecclesiae temporibus loca deputata sepulturae mortuorum coemeteria, id est, dormitoria, fuerint appellata.
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Ut non contristemini, sicut et caeteri, qui spem non habent. Illud et quoad sensum redundat. Nondum dicit, quid nolit eos ignorare, id est, quid velit eos scire de dormientibus, sed prius causam interponit, propter quam dc illis docendi sint. Ea est, ut de mortuis non doleant sicut gentiles, qui destituti lumine fidei, spem resurrectionis ac vitae post mortem secuturae nullam habent. Non igitur prohibet Apostolus, ne contristentur supei mortibus amicorum, sed ne more infidelium contristentur. Nam ut ait B. Augustinus serm. 32. de verbis Apostoli, quem totum in sua collectanca hujus loci transcripsit venerabilis Beda: De mortuis iis, qui diliguntur, est quaedam tristitia quodammodo naturalis: mortem quippe horret non opinio, sed natura, et infra: Permittantur itaque pia corda de carorum suorum mortibus contristari, dolore sanabili, et consolabiles lachrymas fundant, conditione mortali, quas ciio reprimat fidei gaudium, qua creduntur fideles quando moriuntur paululum a nobis abire et ad meliora transire. „ Sic ille. Certe et Paulus ipse tristitiam super tristitiam habiturus erat de morte Epaphroditi, ut ipse testatur ad Phil. 2., sed non ut ii, qui epem non habent.
13. Si enim credimus, quod Jesus mortuus est et resurrexit. Hic jam incipit dicere, quid scire eos velit, non tamen quasi novum aliquid et prorsus iis inauditum docens, sed eadem, quae docuerat, repetens et explicans. Conjunctio si non dubitantis est, sed praesupponentis; adfert enim, quod dicit, pro firmissimo fundamento certissimoque argumento ejus. quod sequitur: Ita et Deus eos, qui dormierunt per Jesum, adducet cum eo. Illud per Jesum, non liquet, quo referatur, utrum ad praecedens verbum, an ad subsequens, hoc est, an sensus sit: qui dormierunt per Jesum, id est, qui mortui smit in fide Christi Jesu; an vero sit sensus hujusmodi: per Jesum, id est, per meritum Christi Jesu, adducet eos. Utriusque constructionis Graeci interpretes meminerunt, sed prior magis esse videtur ex mente Apostoli; sic enim nominat hoc loco dormientes per Christum, quomodo 1 Cor. 15., ubi de eadem re multo fusius agit, dormientes in Christo nominavit; Cyprianus quoque in serm. 1. de mortal. locum hunc citans legit, qui dormierunt in Jesu. Addit autem Apostolus per Jesum, ut de sola fidelium ac piorum resurrectione se loqui significet, quemadmodum et de ea sola disserit in prima ad Cor. Hasc enim pertinebat ad consolationem ridelium. Quod igitur Apostolus dicit, ejusmodi est: Quandoquidem credimus ac certissime tenemus, Jesum Christum mortuum esse atque a morte resurrexisse: sane nec dubitare debemus, futurum, ut Deus eos, qui in Christo mortui sunt, una cum eo redivivos adducat, sistatque in ipsius adventu. Nam oportet membra capiti suo conformari, eoque adduci, ubi caput est. Simili ratiocinatione utitur ad Corinthios, dum ex Christi resurrectione nostram probat resurrectionem, ea scilicet ratione, quod Christi resurrectio sit nostrae resurrectionis exemplar et forma, quodque Christus resurrexerit ut primitiae dormientium. Hujus probationis vim plenius expositam require in comment. loci memorati ad Cor.
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14. Hoc enim vobis dicimus in verbo Domini. Modum resurrectionis descripturus fidem conciliat, affirmans se non suum, sed Domini verbum proferre in medium. Et sensus est: Hoc, quod dicturus surr, annuntio vobis tanquam verbum Domini, id est, tanquam doctrinam a Christo Domino acceptam. Nam Apostolus Evangelium suum, in quo et moituorum resurrectio continetur, non ab homine, sed a Christo Jesu per revelationem acceperat, Gal. 1.
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Quia nos, qui vivimus, qui residui sumus in adventu Domini, non praeveniemus eos, qui dormierunt. Graeca habent in adventum Domini, quibus applaudunt MSS. Latina, surTragante etiam editione Clementina. Accedunt item Ambrosianus et Primasius, quorum prior sic legit: Qui subrelicti sumus in adventum Domini. Qua lectione constituta, dubitatur, utrum illa pars in adventum Domini cum praecedentibus cohaereat, an cum sequentibus. Verum plerique omnes recte praecedentibus adjungunt. Sensus enim est: Hoc vobis dico, quod nos, qui vivente3 erimus ac relicti sive superstites usque in adventum Christi Domini, non solum non glorificabimur et regnabimus cum Christo sine illis, qui jam obdormierunt, sed nec eos ad Christi occursum praeveniemus. Loquitur Apostolus in prima persona, dicens: Nos, qui vivimus, qui residui sumus etc, non velut dubius aut incertus, ut nonnulli suspicati sunt, an forte se vivo futurus esset Dominiadventus; nam hujusmodi opinionem instantis diei Domini, natam cx suis verbis, diserte in 2. Epist. rejicit, docens quaenam et quanta sint, quae illum diem adhuc praecedere debeant: sed ita loquitur, partim quidem ut Thessalonicensium animos in exspectationem adventus Domini teneat erectos atque suspensos, quo diem illum quasi brevi venturum semper habeant prae oculis, semperque ad eum parati sint, id enim admonet eos mox cap. seq.; partim vero, quod personam induat electorum, qui in adventu Dominico residui sive superstites erunt, id est, vivi reperientur, nolens explicare, num iidem illi, an alii futuri sint ab iis, qui tunc vivebant.
15. Quoniam ipse Dominus in jussu et in voce Archangeli et in tuba Dei descendet de coelo. Describit adventum Domini magnificum et gloriosum a circumstantiis quibusdam, quae potentiam et majestatem venientis commendent. Descendet, inquit, de coelo ipse Dominus Jesus, non per nuntium aut vicarium, quomodo Deus per angelum, etsi maximo terrore immisso, dedit legem in monte Sina, sed in sua persona atque in suo corpore, cum quo ascendit in coelum. Sic enim de eo angeli testantur Act. 1. Hic Jesus, qui assumptus est a vobis in coelum, sic veniet, quemadmodum vidistis eum euntem in coelum. Descendet autem in jussu, quod Erasmus vertit cum hortatur. Nam Graece vox xeXsuaua apud auctores profanos significat exhortationem, qua nautae seu milites se mutuo cum clamore vel cantu solent incitare ad rem strenue gerendam. In qua significatione etiam Hieronymus eo vocabulo usus est iu vertendo Jeremia cap. 25. 48. et 51. Hoc si placeat. intelligipoteritclamor ille, de quo apudMatth. 25. in parabola decem virginum: Ecce sponsus venit, exite obviam ei. Verum Graeci interpretes vocem hanc acceperunt secundum primam et propriam ejus significationem, qua procul dubio jussum, mandatum, imperium significat; intelligunt autem imperium ipsius Domini, quo repente jubebit omnes ministros suos praesto esse et comites ad suum descensum. Alii referunt ad illam vocem, de qua Joan. 5. dicitur, quod omnes, qui in monumentis sunt, cudient vocem filii hominis, scilicet Christi, ipsos a mcrte ad vitam revocantis. Vox enim Christi hominis de coelo descendectis ita erit instrumentum excitationis omnium mortuorum, sicut ejusdem vox in terra agentis instrumentum fuit resuscitandi Lazari, quando clamavit: Lazare, veni foras. Item descendet in voce Archangeli, id est, Archangelo Michaele velut praecone Domini adventus clarissimum sonitum quaqua versum edente. Nomine archangeli significatur omnium angelorum princeps, hunc autem non alium esse, quam Michaelem, tum ex Epist. Judae, tum ex Apoc. Joan. cap. 12. manifeste patet. Eundem vero toti Ecclesiae custodem a Deo praefectum esse, justa ratione creditur, ut qui tempore etiam veteris testamenti dux ac princeps populi Dei fuerit, quemadmodum ex DanieJe cap. 10. et 12. et aliunde potest doceri. Jam quod addit in tuba Dei, quam 1 Cor. 15. vocat tubam novissimam, videtur esse ejusdem emphatica repetitio, ut non aliud sit tuba Dei, quam vox archangeli, quae per metaphoram hoc nomine vocetur a claritate et magnitudine soni, penetraturi, ut ita dicam, usque ad aures mortuorum dormientium in sepulchris. Cum enim divinae virtutis sit mortuos excitare, merito vox illa, qua id fiet, tuba Dei nominatur. Hujus tubae ac vocis meminit etiam Dominus apud Matth. 24., cum de suo ipsius adventu ita loquitur: Et mittet angelos suos cum tuba et voce magna, et congregabunt electos ejus a quatuor ventis etc.
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Et mortui, qui in Christo sunt, resurgent prittii. Nimirum continuo ad vocem archangeli et ad sonitum tubae. Sic enim et in loco allegato Matthaei significatur, tuba et voce magna sonante resuscitandos electos, ut deinde ministeiio angelorum congrrgentur in unum locum. Sic et Apostolus 1 Cor. 15., cum dixisset tubam canturam, mox adjecit: et mortui resurgent incorrupti. Mortuosautem, qui in Christo sunt, sive, ut est in Graeco: mortuos in Christo, nunc vocat, quos paulo ante: dormientes per Jesum, id est, mortuos in fide et societate Christi, quos eosdem Matthaeus electos vocat. Etenim, ut jam supra dictum est, de sola justorum sive electorum resurrectione agit Apostolus hoc loco. Porro quod nos habemus: resurgent primi, Graece est primum, quomodo et S. Augustinus legit de civit. lib. 20. cap. 20. Qaem vero ordinem insinuet ea dictio, sequentia docebunt.
16. Deinde et nos, qui vivimus, qui relinquimur. In Graeco sunt eaedem voces, quae supra, qui vivimus, qui residui sumus. Ubi etiam expositum est, qua ratione loquatur Apostolus in prima persona. Non est autem hic supplendum: resurgemus, quasi dicere velit, illi primi resurgent, deinde nos resurgemus, sed orationem perficit pars sequens:
4:17
Simul rapiemur cum illiif in nubibus obviam Christo in aern. Graece: simul cum illis rapiemur in nubibus in occursum Domini in aera. Circa hunc locum multa quaeruntur, breviter a nobis expedienda. Primum, cum dicat Apostolus 1 Cor. 15., in momento et in ictu oculi futuram omnium resurrectionem, aut secundum Graecos codices, omnium immutationem, quomodo hic dicit aliquos resurrecturos primos, scilicet eos, qui praemortui fuerint in Christo? Nam inde consequens videtur, caeteros, id est eos, qui vivi reperientur, posterius resurrecturos, et proinde etiam posterius immutandos. Respondao, id ex hoc loco non esse consequens, nam ordo temporis significatus his vocabulis primum ec deinde, non est inter resurrectionem aut immutationem horum et illorum, sed inter resurrectionem aliquorum et raptum omnium. Td quod verba ipsa plane significant: primum, inquit, morlui, qui in Christo sunt, resurgent, deinde nos una cum illis rapiemur in aera, quem ordinem etiam B. Thom. in comment. declarat. Relinquit autem Apostolus intelligendum id, quod ad Corinthios scribens exprimit, nempe eos, qui superstites erunt, eodem momento ad beatam immortalitatem immutandos, quo mortui ad eam resurgent. Sed hinc jam oritur secunda quaestio: Num igitur superstites illi sine morte media transmutandi sint et transituri ad statum incorruptionis? Nam neque mortis neque resurrectionis eorum hic ulla fit mentio. De hac quaestione Graecorum sententia est affirmativa, quam et Caj etanus seq u.itur: atque ea sane tam ex hoc loco, quam ex 1 Cor. 15. et 2 Cor. 5. multum accipit probabilitatis. Origenes sane lib. 2. contra Celsum intelligit vivos et immutandos diversos ab iis, qui resuscitabuntur. Et Epiphan. haeresi 64. tractans hunc locum, ait: Qui rapitur, nondum mortuus est; et hinc docet, quod in resurrectione erunt eadem corpora, quae nunc: quia sicut rapti et non mortui habebunt eadem corpora, sic mortui et resuscitati; erunt enim utrique in eodeai statu felicitatis. Augustinus quoque ad Dulcitium quaest. 3. ait: Ipsa verba Apostoli hoc loco clamare videntur, quod non morientur hi, de quibus dicit: Deinde nos, qui vivimus etc. Videatur et venerabilis Beda hic Sed quoniam etiam in contrarium multa et magna sunt argumenta, partim ex variis Scripturae testimoniis, quae mortem omnibus communem faciunt, partim ex ratione petita, quae Latinos Patres plerosque in diversam sententiam adduxerunt; ideo diximuein comment. utriusque Epist. ad Cor., quid ad memorata Apostoli loca responderi possit. Cujus responsunis summa est: Eos, qui vivi reperientur in adventu Domini, morituros quidem. non tamen censendos in eorum numero, quos Apostolus ad Corinthios et hoc loco dormientes vocat. Dicuntur enim Apostolo dormientes, quos Christus Joan. 5. vocat eos, qui in monumentis sunt, qui et Dan. 12. dicuntur dormire in terrae pulvere, ut nimirum ea voce significetur somnus seu quies aliquanti temporis, qualis est mcrtuorum in sepulchris, non autem eorum, qui morientes paulo post reviviscunt potius, quam resurgunt. Nam resurgere more Scripturae dicuntur, qui e sepulchris surgunt, atque e somno mortis excitantur. Tali igitur modo non resurgent, qui vivi tunc reperientur, quia beatam illorum immutationem somnus mortis et sepulturae quies non praecedet, sed tantum modica quaedam ac brevissima dormitatio. Pleniorem hujus difficultatis explicationem petat, qui volet ex commentariis nostris in 4. distinct. 43. Vide etiam,- quae dicimus ad hujus epistolae cap. 5. vers. 3. Tertio, de iisdem illis quaeritur, si morituri sunt, quando morituri, quando item revicturi? Quidam dicunt id futurum in raptu, quo in sublime ferentur obviam Christo; putant enim totam eorum immtitationem, qua vitam accipient immortalem, in ipso raptu perficiendam. Ita sentiunt Augustinus lib. 20. de civit. cap. 20. et Ambrosianis in hujus loci comment. Horum opinionem refert Magister sent. lib. 4. dist. 43., nihil tamen ipse definiens. Neque enim satis consistere videtur ea opinio cum Apostolo 1 Cor. 15., dicente secundum Latinorum quidem lectionem, quod omnes simul resurgent; secundum Graecam vero, quod omnes simul immutabuntur; videlicet in momento et ictu oculi. Quorum neutrum secundum dictam opinionem futurum esset, non ergo in raptu aliqui morientur aut reviviscent. Adde, quod raptus ille fiet non solum post mortuorum resurrectionem, verum etiam post judicis sententiam, dicentis: Venite benedicti etc. Prius enim est, ut venire jubeantur, deinde ut veniant, quod erit per raptum in sublime. Quocirca longe verisimilius est, eos, qui vivi reperientur, morituros esse, dum adhuc in terra erunt; et quidem per ignem conflagrationis, qui secundum scripturas praecedet ame faciem, id est, conspectum et adventum judicis; resuscitandos autem et immutandos simul cum caeteris antea mortuis: quemadmodum ostendimus in 4. dist. 47. Quaeres, quomodo ergo dicit Apostolus, qui vivimus rapiemur? Respondeo non dicere Apostolum: Qui vivi reperiemur, quando incipient apparere signa Dominici adventus, postea, audita Judicis sententia nos ad se vocantis, rapiemur una cum caeteris electis in ejus occursum: sed morte ac suscitatione inter illam vitam et hunc raptum media. Quarta quaestio est de ipso raptu. Nam quomodo rapientur illi, quorum corporibus inerit, virtus agilitatis, qua se ipsa possint ad nutum animae in omnem partem facillime movere, cum raptus motum significet violentum? Respondeo, motum, quo sancti ferentur in sublime obviam Christo, raptum vocan, ncn ob violentiam, quae ibi nulla futura est: sed vel propter celeritatem, q.iomodo dicit poeta: Quo nunc se proripit ille? qua ratione etiam de Christo intelligi potest illud Apoc. 12. Et raptus est filius ejus ad Deum et ad thronum ejus, id est, celerrime sublatus; nam et quae celeriter fiunt, raptim fieri dicuntur: vel quia motus ille, quamvis non contra naturam futurus sit, utpote procedens ab interna virtute seu dote agilitatis, erit tamen supra naturam; quemadmodvm et ipsa dos futura est supernaturalis: v3l denique raptus idcirco vocatur, quia non ita fiet ab interna virtute, quin etiam magnum momentum adferat externum illud objectum, quodammodo trahens et rapiens ad se beatos, ipse nimirum Christus, ad quem in sublimi conspectum et gloriosum, tanquam ad caput suum, omnia membra, velut ab ipso attracta, sese quam celerrime movebunt; nam ab objecto trahi et rapi quippiam, notum est; ut ovem a ramo viridi sibi ostenso, puerum a pomo, filium a matre conspecta, ac vicissim matrem a filio; quae tamen omnia moventur etiam ab interna quadam et insita virtute. Pcstremo quaeritur, quomodo dicat Apostolus, nos in nubibus obviam ituros Christo, cum post sui innovationem nulla mixta corpora (homine excepto), nc quidem imperfecta, cujusmodi sunt nubes, habiturus sit mundus. Eadem quaestio est ex tribus evangelistis Matthaeo, Marco et Luca testantibus, Christum in nuoibus venturum ad judicium. Quidam per nubes intelligunt ipsa beatorum gloriosa corpora; sed minus recte, nam ut aliquo modo possit ea expositio praesenti loco accommodari: minime tamen congruit ei sententiae, quam ex evangeliis aliegavimus. Adde, quod ita dicuntur hoc loco sancti in nubibus obviam ituri Christo, sicut Act. 1. de Christo in coelum ascendente dicitur: Et nubes suscepit eum ab oculis eorum, ubi nubem interpretari ipsum corpus Christi res ipsa non patitur. Alii nullum incommodum putant si dicantur verae nubes, per Dei providentiam ad momentum illic adfnturae, in ministerium electorum; scilicet ut eos statim suscipiant et abscondant a conspectu reproborum: sicut vera fuit nubes, quae Christum suscepit ac submovit ab oculis mortalium. Nam omnia propter electos. Tertio, dici potest, per nubes in his omnibus locis intelligi constitutionem quandam aeris densam et splendidam, nubi candidae similem, quae id officii praestitum sit, ui et Christum venientem comi tetur et sanctos ei occurrentes subvehat, atque impiorum oculis subducat. Sic enim et locum Act. 1. intelligi nihil prohibet.
Et sic semper cum Domino erimus. Id est, omnes simul, illo raptu aggregati Christo Domino in excelso aere, atque inde in coelum una cum eo subvecti, perpetua ejus praesentia fruituri sumus, semperque cum eo regnaturi, ac bonorum humanitatis ejus, tanquam membra capiti sociata, participes fr.turi: quorum quidem bonorum maximum est, videre Deum facie ad faciem. Haec quippe complectitur illa locutio: Esse cum Domino. Hinc vero consequens non est, animas sanctorum ante diem extremi judicii non visuras es sentiam Dei, ut perperam docent haeretici; quos satis redarguunt alia Apostoli loca 2 Cor. 5. et Philip. 1., et illud Christi ad latronem, hodie mecum eris in paradiso} Lucae 20. Non enim de animabus loquitur nunc ApostDius, sed de hominibus; qui profecto non ante cum Christo futuri sunt, quam a morte revixerint ad vitam immortalem. Caeterum ex hoc loco manifeste duo refelluntur errores: Origenis et Chiliastarum; nam si semper cum Christo futuri sumus: non magis nostra, quod voluit Origenes, quam Christi felicitas aliquando finem habebit. Et si statim a resurrectione Christo occurremus in coelum, semper cum eo mansuri; falluntur Chiliastae, qui regnum mille annorum post resurrectionem nobis in terra promittunt, quo demum finito cum Christo regnaturi simus in coelis.
17. Itaque consolamini invicem in verbis istis. Conclusio est, qua monet, ut hujusmodi sermonibus de Christi adventu et piorum resurrectione, regnique perpetua cum Christo societate futura, sese rautno consolentur, ac dolorem leniant eorum, qui caros suos lugent amissos. Quanquam illud, in oerbis istis, juxta phiasim Hebraeam, qua verbum pro re saepenumero accipitur, sic exponi potest: Itaque vos invicom consolamini in iis rebus, quas jam dixi; nimirum earum commemoratione mutuam fidem et spem excitando.
4:1
Especially in the Pauline epistles, both the Good News in its generality (Rom. 6, 17; Gal. 1, 9-12; I Tim. 6, 20; II Tim. 1, 13 ff.) and specifically the precepts of Christian life (Phil. 4, 9; I Thess. 4, 1; II Thess. 2, 15; 3, 6), or even individual doctrines such as the Eucharist and the Resurrection of Christ (I Cor. 11, 23 ff.), are presented with a similar term and an equivalent expression. …
Ember Days (Ieiunium Quattuor Temporum)
… The T. of Pentecost, of autumn and of December are older, introduced by Callistus; those of spring, already existing in the time of Leo, receive their liturgy perhaps from Gelasius, their readings (I Thess. 4, 1-7; 5, 14-23) having been transferred from the original place of Advent to that of Lent. …
2. The term παραλαμβάνεων occurs many times in the Pauline epistles (I Cor. 11:23; 15:1-3; Gal. 1:2, 9, 12; Philip. 4:9; Col. 2:6; 4:17; I Thess. 2:13; 4:1; II Thess. 3:6) and, except for Col. 4:17, it is always used to signify a religious knowledge that is received. …
4:2
… and hold fast to the traditions (κρατειτε τὰς παραδόσεις) in which you were taught, whether by word or by our letter" (II Thess. 2, 15). Indeed, before appealing to what is written, he appeals to his living voice (cf. I Cor. 10, 2; 11, 23; 15, 3; I Thess. 4, 2), and admonishes Christians to beware of those who teach differently "from the doctrine in which you were instructed" (Rom. 16, 17). In the pastoral letters tradition is compared …
4:3
In Scripture the texts abound in which, while the inexhaustible expansive virtue of the Infinite Good is magnified, it is at the same time noted that God has created all things for His glory (Is. 43, 6-7; Ps. 115, 2-3; I Thess. 4, 3). "Thus, therefore, God wills Himself and other things. …
4:4
… Already St. Paul alludes to the negative effect of the moderation of concupiscence: "To avoid immorality, let each man have his own wife, and each woman have her own husband" (1 Cor. 7:2; cf. 1 Thess. 4:4-5). The Council of Trent further recalls, among the effects wrought by the sacrament, the perfecting of natural love and the consolidation of the indissoluble unity, by which the spouses …
4:6
… paganism God's punishment for the sin of idolatry (Rom. 1, 18) and reminds the new converts that formerly they were «without hope and without God (ἔθεσι) in this world» (Eph. 2, 12) and that the Gentiles do not know God (τὰ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ εἰδότα τὸν θεόν; I Thess. 4, 6). Men, however, even in paganism could have risen to God from the creatures in which he had manifested himself, and therefore the sin of idolatry was inexcusable (Rom. 1, 19-20). At …
4:8
… terms, which express God's dwelling as actually present in the soul, there are others that rather indicate either its coming to be (the Holy Spirit sent to us: ibid. 14:26; Gal. 4:6; given to us: Io. 7:39; 14:16; Act. 5:32; 8:18; Rom. 5:5; I Thess. 4:8; I Io. 3:24; 4:13; received as a gift: Act. 2:38; I Cor. 2:12), or our transformation, soul and body, into a temple of God (ibid. 3:16 ff.; 6:19; II Cor. 6:16).
4:9
… each virtue (for example, ch. 7 De Caritate is composed thus: Rom. 5:5; 8:28, 35-39; 13:8-10; 12:9-11; I Cor. 6:17; 8:3, 11; 10:24; 12:31; 13:1-8, 13; 14:1; 16:14, 20, 22, 24; II Cor. 6:11-13; 8:24; 11:2; Gal. 5:13-14; Eph. 5:1; Col. 3:14; I Thess. 4:9-10; I Tim. 1:5-6; Hebr. 10:24-25; Phil. 2:4).
4:11
Epistles I-II to the Thessalonians
… Finally, it is an arbitrary assumption to connect the most natural recommendation against the idle (which returns, for example, in Eph. 4:28; 1 Tim. 5:13) "We beseech you, brethren, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, etc." (1 Thess. 5:14; cf. 4:11 ff.) to the alleged expectation of the imminent end. St. Paul will repeat it with energy in 2 Thess. 3:6-12: "If anyone refuses to work, let him not eat." In Thessalonica idlers must have …
4:12
the body falls asleep, not the soul (cf. Deut. 31:16; Jn. 11:11-12; I Cor. 7:39; 11:30; 15:18; I Thess. 4:12 ff.; II Pt. 3:4).
4:13
… "Fortune" (v.) and "chance" (v.) — that is, the absence of any structure in both the positive and the negative of existence — divide the vicissitudes of history between themselves, and no one has any longer the right to hope or to grieve (the pagans are for St. Paul "οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα": I Thess. 4, 13). Even the gods must bow to the ineluctability of fate: Aeneas, on his arrival in Italy after the fall of Troy, is described by the Stoic Virgil: "Ilium in Italiam portans victosque …
Nor does the text of I Thess. 4:13-18 (whose theme is "the p. of Our Lord Jesus Christ and our reunion in him": II Thess. 2:1) prove that St. Paul cherished the very strange illusion of escaping death, even if... he did …
… governor Felix (ibid. 24:15), before Agrippa (ibid. 26:8, 23); he vindicated its somatic meaning against Hymenaeus and Philetus (II Tim. 2:18); he used it as an indisputable truth to console the Thessalonians saddened by the death of their loved ones (I Thess. 4:13); he demonstrated its credibility from the Resurrection of Jesus (I Cor. 15:12-19).
4:14
… named (8:10; 9:21; 10:13). In Tob. 12:15 a third is mentioned, Raphael, as "one of the seven who stand before the Lord" (cf. Apoc. 1:4; 4:5). In the Greek version of Dan. 12:1, Michael is called ἀρχάγγελος; the "archangel" (v.) occurs in I Thess. 4:14 and in Iud. 9. Besides the cherubim and the seraphim known from the Old Testament, the New Testament alludes to classes called thrones, dominions, virtues, principalities and powers …
… The proof of this was seen in: Mt. 10:2 ff.; 16:27 f.; 19:28; 24 (especially v. 34); 26:63 f., and parallel passages: Lk. 17:20-18:8; to which would correspond Paul's clear persuasion that he and his contemporaries would witness the parousia (v.) of Christ (I Thess. 4:14-17; I Cor. 15:51) and the morbid expectation of the faithful. …
… Cor. 10:11 "the ends of the ages have come upon us") as "first fruits," then it will mark the end in the full attainment of the goal (ibid. 15:23-28), when Jesus will reappear in the glory in which he will introduce all the elect (I Thess. 3:13; 4:14-17; II Thess. 1:7-10; cf. St. Ignatius, Ad Eph. 15:3).
4:15
… Dom., 14 [1934], pp. 328-36) must guide the exegesis of I Thess. 4:15 and I Cor. 15:51. "We the living, who survive, at the parousia of the Lord will not arrive before our dead. …
… He further specifies that St. Paul always "taught that the last generation of the just will be clothed with immortality without passing through death" (p. 90) and invokes in support of this "the clear affirmations, three times repeated" of I Thess. 4:15-17; I Cor. 15:51; II Cor. 5:3. For the most part Catholic authors today follow this opinion. …
4:16
ARCHANGEL. - The term occurs only twice (I Thess. 4:16; with the article: Jude 9) in the New Testament, in the singular, and designates Michael (v.), called haš-šar hag-gādhōl ("the great prince") in Dan. 12:1. The prefix ἀρχι, much in …
… Theol., 1ª, q. 95, a. 4), that is, in the joy of the perfect union of all the members with their head, Jesus Christ (cf. John 14, 3; I Thess. 4, 16; II Cor. 5, 8), in the affectionate companionship with the Virgin and with the Angels, in the sublimation and strengthening of the bonds of kinship and friendship (cf. St. Cyprian, …
… M. is generally identified with the archangel who in I Thess. 4:16 is described as the great summoner of the dead on the day of resurrection and judgment. …
4:17
… heaven, preceded by the Cross (Mt. 24, 30), surrounded by hosts of angels and saints (Mt. 24, 31; Mk. 8, 38; Lk. 9, 26; I Thess. 3, 13; II Thess. 1, 7), in a luminous halo of clouds and fire (Mt. 25, 30; 26, 64; Mk. 13, 26; 14, 62; Lk. 21, 27; Acts 7, 30; I Thess. 4, 17; II Thess. 1, 8), seated on a throne of majesty (Mt. 19, 27; 25, 31; Rev. 20, 11-12), assisted in the act of judging by the Apostles (Lk. 22, 2), by the martyrs and by those who observed …
… (Mt. 25:31-46), there will come the reunion of those whom death had separated: "together" (ὅμα σόνο) they will shine in the procession of the divine King, with whom they will rejoice in his love and in that of the dear ones found again (I Thess. 3:13; 4:17; Apoc. 7:4-17; 14:1-5; cf. Dante, Paradiso, XXII, 97-110). The precursor sign of the parousia is the Antichrist (v.), working "the mystery of iniquity" that sweeps people into "apostasy": …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.