1 Thessalonians 4:15 — By a Word of the Lord

15 “For this we are saying to you by the word of the Lord…”

What Paul is about to communicate concerning the parousia of the Lord is not based on human reasoning. He speaks by a word of the Lord. By this he does not mean that he is quoting something Jesus once said during His earthly ministry. What Paul makes known here is not found, for example, in Jesus’ discourse on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24).

Paul received this word personally from the Lord. This is also evident from what he writes elsewhere about the same event. In 1 Corinthians 15:51 he announces, “Lo! a secret to you am I telling!” He then explains that not all will fall asleep, but all will be changed, in an instant, at the last trumpet. There the emphasis is on the transformation of the living, while here Paul also describes their snatching away. This concerns a truth that was previously hidden and is now being revealed by Paul.

The fact that Paul makes this mystery known fits his special ministry. The risen and glorified Lord taught him directly and revealed mysteries to him (Galatians 1:12). Here, too, Paul speaks on the basis of a word that he personally received from the Lord, rather than from tradition. What he communicates about the future of those who have fallen asleep and those who are alive thus carries the authority of the Lord Himself.

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