4:13 {9} But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, {10} concerning them {11} which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
(9) The third part of the epistle, which is mixed in among the former exhortations (which he returns to afterwards), in which he speaks of mourning for the dead, and the manner of the resurrection, and of the latter day.
(10) We must take heed that we do not immoderately mourn for the dead, that is, as those do who think that the dead are utterly perished.
(11) A confirmation: for death is but a sleep of the body (for he speaks of the faithful) until the Lord comes.
4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren. It seems that the Thessalonian brethren, expecting the speedy coming of the Lord, mourned over some of their number who had died, counting it a great loss that they did not live to meet Jesus.
Concerning them who are asleep. What we call death is only falling asleep in the arms of our Lord.
4:13 Now - Herein the efficacy of Christianity greatly appears, - that it neither takes away nor embitters, but sweetly tempers, that most refined of all affections, our desire of or love to the dead.
4:13-18 Here is comfort for the relations and friends of those who die in the Lord. Grief for the death of friends is lawful; we may weep for our own loss, though it may be their gain. Christianity does not forbid, and grace does not do away, our natural affections. Yet we must not be excessive in our sorrows; this is too much like those who have no hope of a better life. Death is an unknown thing, and we know little about the state after death; yet the doctrines of the resurrection and the second coming of Christ, are a remedy against the fear of death, and undue sorrow for the death of our Christian friends; and of these doctrines we have full assurance. It will be some happiness that all the saints shall meet, and remain together for ever; but the principal happiness of heaven is to be with the Lord, to see him, live with him, and enjoy him for ever. We should support one another in times sorrow; not deaden one another's spirits, or weaken one another's hands. And this may be done by the many lessons to be learned from the resurrection of the dead, and the second coming of Christ. What! comfort a man by telling him he is going to appear before the judgment-seat of God! Who can feel comfort from those words? That man alone with whose spirit the Spirit of God bears witness that his sins are blotted out, and the thoughts of whose heart are purified by the Holy Spirit, so that he can love God, and worthily magnify his name. We are not in a safe state unless it is thus with us, or we are desiring to be so.
