Background:
Paul told the Thessalonians how he wanted to come and see them yet he had been stopped by the Enemy! Still, from a distance, he had continual concern for them and felt a kindred bond. Though he could not be there in person he was with them in spirit. But someday they would all be in glory with Christ and God the Father when the rapture takes place!
Free Greek Translation:
[We want to come back to you] … for who is our anticipation or joy or crown of exultation? Are not in fact even you [when we face Him] our Lord Jesus at [the time of] His Coming? (1 Thess. 2:18-19)
… so that [He may] firm up the hearts of you faultless, [by your living] in holiness [when you appear] in the [very] presence of the God and Father of us and with the arrival of the Lord of us, Jesus, accompanied by all the holy ones of Him! (1 Thess. 3:13)
1 Thessalonians 2:19:
FOR WHO IS OUR ANTICIPATION. (gar) "Of course we want to come back, for (gar) etc." (The Expositor's Greek New Testament) In the verses before Paul made it clear he wanted to see the Thessalonian Christians face to face. He was most eager to do this.
ARE NOT IN FACT EVEN YOU. "In fact" is the emphatic use of the conjunction kai. "Are not in fact (kai) you [these things]?" (Dana & Mantey) To Paul the Thessalonian church is in fact his "hope, joy, and crown" when he arrives in heaven. This was a hallmark congregation that in the good sense Paul was proud of because of their witness to the world.
This is a rapture passage because they will be Paul's joy when they arrive in glory and stand before the Lord Jesus. How do they get to heaven and stand before His presence? When He comes for them in the rapture: "At His coming." And even though they would not live to experience the rapture (and not experience) death, their souls would return with Him and they would be given their new, eternal bodies. Then all the church saints ("Those in Christ," not the Old Testament saints), both those whose souls have been waiting in heaven who come down and then receive their new bodies, and those of us who are alive when this happens get our new bodies, together then both groups will stand before the Lord in glory!
BEFORE. (emprosthen) The word means "in front of, ahead, before, in the presence of, in the sight of, in the face of."
"In the presence of" means "in front of, standing before someone, a face to face encounter." This is not about standing before Christ when He comes down to earth to judge the world but it is a standing before Him in glory—clearly a rapture passage. It parallels the idea of the church saints going to heaven as seen in 3:13.
THE COMING. (parousia) The parousia must be interpreted by context. There is (1) the coming of Christ to reign on earth and (2) there is the rapture coming. Context determines the difference. Here it is the rapture because He comes to take us home. Parousia is a compound word. para=alongside, ousia=a participial form of the "to be" verb eimi. It can be translated "the coming alongside." In Classical Greek the verb is pareimi. A.T. Robertson says en ta parousia is a Locative of "Expression of Time" and can be translated: "at the time of His coming."
It must always be remembered that Paul did not know God's timetable for the rapture. The rapture did not come and take away the Thessalonian believers but it certainly could have happened at any moment. It will now be some future generation that will experience this "blessed hope"—of not experiencing death.
1 Thessalonians 3:13:
SO THAT HE MAY FIRM UP THE HEARTS. (starizo) From this word we get the word steroids. "To make something hard or firm, to fix, establish, strengthen." As a Present Infinitive in the LXX it is used as a Hebraism translated "to SET one's face." (Arndt & Gingrich) Or, to have one's emotions made strong with a firm resolve!
Paul wants the hearts of these believers, while waiting for the coming of Christ, to be hardened, made firm, in their moral and spiritual convictions while waiting to go home to be with Christ in the rapture. They will then at the BEMA judgment face God with unblemished holiness for their labors here below!
HEARTS OF YOU FAULTLESS IN HOLINESS. "Fautless because of [experiential, living in time] holiness." (Dana & Mantey) If because of is correct, Paul is arguing for the believer's mature walk, daily spirituality and morality, so that "the saint in Jesus" may stand before God uncensored by the way he lived. "Mature and settled sanctification in the eyes of God [as we stand before Him] is the object in view." (Ellicott) Paul does not want the believer to be ashamed when those believers, the children of God, stand before the Bema judgment for their Christian works.
Since there is now no salvation or judicial judgment for the believers in regard to their eternal destiny (Rom. 8:1), this "standing before Him" has to do with rewards.
BEFORE THE GOD AND FATHER OF US AT THE COMING. When will believers face (come before) both Christ (1 Thess. 2:19) and God the Father? Robert Thomas notes:
The final accounting Paul alludes to will take place in the personal "presence of our God and Father." The local force of 'in the presence of' obtains whenever this preposition relates appearance before a judge (Matt. 27:11; 25:32; Luke 21:36; 2 Cor. 5:10; contrast 1 Thess. 1:3; 3:9; 1 John 3:19) (cf. BAG p. 256). Earlier, Paul has made 'our Lord Jesus' the judge at this scene (1 Thess. 2:19). This is no contradiction. The unity of the Father and Son, just seen in v. 11, allows a joint judgeship. The BEMA of Christ is with the Father in His heavenly throne (Rev. 3:21; cf. Rom. 8:34; Heb. 1:3; 10:12). This hearing will take place at the future 'visit' ('in the parousia, the coming') of the Lord Jesus (cf. 2:19).
WITH ALL HIS SAINTS. This ties directly to 1 Thessalonians 4:14 where Paul says Christ returns, for "even so God will bring with Him (with Christ) those who have fallen asleep in Jesus." There are two events that happen here at once. (1) The souls of the departed are brought back with Christ and given their new bodies. (2) And a split second later "we who are alive and remain until the rapture coming (parousia) of the Lord, shall not precede (go before) those who have fallen asleep" (vv. 14-15). Those who come with Christ from heaven are instantly given first their new, eternal bodies.
Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. (v. 16)
Even one of the amillennial guys, William Hendriksen, has to admit that these verses sound like what dispensationalists/premillennialists are saying. He writes in his commentary:
One sometimes wonders whether the difficulty of conceiving the saints as coming with the Lord has led to the unnatural construction. Whether or not one happens to belong to the camp of the Premillennialists, in all fairness to them, one must admit that when they link with all His saints with the immediately preceding words so that we get "at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints" they are intirely correct! As we see it, they [Premillennialists] (as well as others who do not share their millennial views) are also correct in interpreting the term saints (hagios) as referring to the redeemed and not to the angels.
CONCLUSION. Thank you amillennial guy Dr. William Hendriksen!
