Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
1 Thessalonians 4:13
There are 26 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 562, footnote 13 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
On the Resurrection of the Flesh. (HTML)
Other Passages Quoted from St. Paul, Which Categorically Assert the Resurrection of the Flesh at the Final Judgment. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7449 (In-Text, Margin)
... Jesus shall God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of our Lord, shall not prevent them that 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; 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.”[1 Thessalonians 4:13-17] What archangel’s voice, (I wonder), what trump of God is now heard, except it be, forsooth, in the entertainments of the heretics? For, allowing that the word of the gospel may be called “the trump of God,” since it was still calling men, yet they ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 590, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
On the Resurrection of the Flesh. (HTML)
Our Bodies, However Mutilated Before or After Death, Shall Recover Their Perfect Integrity in the Resurrection. Illustration of the Enfranchised Slave. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 7725 (In-Text, Margin)
... propounds the two clauses, that “this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality,” he does not repeat the same statement, but sets forth a distinction. 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.[1 Thessalonians 4:13-17] So that for the great future there need be no fear of blemished or defective bodies. Integrity, whether the result of preservation or restoration, will be able to lose nothing more, after the time that it has given back to it whatever it had lost. ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 713, footnote 1 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Patience. (HTML)
Of Patience Under Bereavement. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 9108 (In-Text, Margin)
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.”[1 Thessalonians 4:13] And justly; or, believing the resurrection of Christ we believe also in our own, for whose sake He both died and rose again. Since, then, there is certainty as to the resurrection of the dead, grief for death is needless, and impatience of grief is needless. For why should you grieve, if you believe that (your loved one) is ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 22, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On the Apparel of Women. (HTML)
II (HTML)
Of Elaborate Dressing of the Hair in Other Ways, and Its Bearing Upon Salvation. (HTML)
... all the most skilful manufacturers of false hair. God bids you “be veiled.” I believe (He does so) for fear the heads of some should be seen! 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![1 Thessalonians 4:13-17] If these (decorations) are now good, and of God, they will then also present themselves to the rising bodies, and will recognise their several places. But nothing can rise except flesh and spirit sole and pure. Whatever, therefore, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 458, footnote 5 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Chapter LXV (HTML)
... different words, he says, that they who sleep are not the same as those who are alive; his language being, “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who 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 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.”[1 Thessalonians 4:13-15] The explanation which appeared to us to be appropriate to this passage, we gave in the exegetical remarks which we have made on the first Epistle to the Thessalonians.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 474, footnote 3 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
On the Mortality. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3508 (In-Text, Margin)
21. Finally, the Apostle Paul reproaches, and rebukes, and blames any who are in sorrow at the departure of their friends. “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.”[1 Thessalonians 4:13] He says that those have sorrow in the departure of their friends who have no hope. But we who live in hope, and believe in God, and trust that Christ suffered for us and rose again, abiding in Christ, and through Him and in Him rising again, why either are we ourselves unwilling to depart hence from this ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 548, footnote 13 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
... change his understanding; for his soul was pleasing to God.” Also in the eighty-third Psalm: “How beloved are thy dwellings, Thou Lord of hosts? 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.”[1 Thessalonians 4:13-14] Also in the first Epistle to the Corinthians: “Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened except it have first died.” And again: “Star differeth from star in glory: so also the resurrection. The body is sown in corruption, it rises without ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 439, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Of the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)
What the Same Apostle Taught in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians Regarding the Resurrection of the Dead. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1408 (In-Text, Margin)
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,”[1 Thessalonians 4:13-16] etc. These words of the apostle most distinctly proclaim the future resurrection of the dead, when the Lord Christ shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 366, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin. (HTML)
Book IV. (HTML)
Is the Soul Deformed by the Body’s Imperfections? (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2497 (In-Text, Margin)
... you to be rescued from this error, unless with God’s help you fully and calmly examine the visions of those who dream, and from these convince yourself that some forms are not real bodies, but only the semblances of bodies. 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[1 Thessalonians 4:13] were it only because in a certain sense “sleep is akin to death.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 403, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xxv. 1, ‘then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3102 (In-Text, Margin)
... crept over them, in them love did not wax cold; but preserves its glow even unto the end. And because it glows even unto the end, therefore are the gates of the Bridegroom opened to them; 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,”[1 Thessalonians 4:13] that is, concerning them which are dead? For why are they called “they which are asleep,” but because they are in their own day? Therefore “they all slept.” Thinkest thou that because one is wise, he has not therefore to die? Be the virgin foolish, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 273, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter XI. 1–54. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 974 (In-Text, Margin)
... to the Lord he was asleep. He was dead to men, who could not raise him again; but the Lord aroused him with as great ease from the tomb as one arouseth a sleeper from his bed. 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.”[1 Thessalonians 4:13] Therefore he also spoke of them as sleeping, because foretelling their resurrection. And so, all the dead are sleeping, both good and bad. But just as, in the case of those who sleep and waken day by day, there is a great difference as to what they ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 5, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 52 (In-Text, Margin)
... “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” Therefore, saith He, you have not taken Me as though against My will, and slain Me; 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.”[1 Thessalonians 4:13] Nor need we make any question why it is added, “took rest,” seeing that it has already been said, “I slept.” Repetitions of this kind are usual in Scripture, as we have pointed out many in the second Psalm. But some copies have, “I slept, and was ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 220, footnote 3 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Homily on the Paralytic Let Down Through the Roof: and Concerning the Equality of the Divine Father and the Son. (HTML)
Homily on the Paralytic Let Down Through the Roof. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 738 (In-Text, Margin)
Another perhaps has lost a little daughter or a son, or one of his kinsfolk, and he also having 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.”[1 Thessalonians 4:13] He did not say concerning the dying, but “concerning them that are asleep” proving that death is a sleep. As then if we see any one sleeping we are not disturbed or distressed, expecting that he will certainly get up: even so when we see any one dead, let us not be ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 254, footnote 5 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)
Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus. (HTML)
To Alexandra. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1633 (In-Text, Margin)
... excuse for despondency will be left us if we take to heart God’s own promises and the hopes of Christians; the resurrection, I mean, eternal life, continuance in the kingdom, and all that “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him”? 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”?[1 Thessalonians 4:13] I have known many men who even without hope have got the better of their grief by the force of reason alone, and it would indeed be extraordinary if they who are supported by such a hope should prove weaker than they who have no hope at all. Let us ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 561, footnote 5 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
Life and Works of Rufinus with Jerome's Apology Against Rufinus. (HTML)
A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed. (HTML)
Section 43 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3420 (In-Text, Margin)
... through Jesus shall God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain at the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them that sleep. 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.”[1 Thessalonians 4:13-17]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 338, footnote 4 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Discourse I (HTML)
Texts Explained; Thirdly, Hebrews i. 4. Additional texts brought as objections; e.g. Heb. i. 4; vii. 22. Whether the word 'better' implies likeness to the Angels; and 'made' or 'become' implies creation. Necessary to consider the circumstances under which Scripture speaks. Difference between 'better' and 'greater;' texts in proof. 'Made' or 'become' a general word. Contrast in Heb. i. 4, between the Son and the Works in point of nature. The difference of the punishments under the two Covenants shews the difference of the natures of the Son and the Angels. 'Become' relates not to the nature of the Word, but to His manhood and office and relation towards us. Parallel passages in which the term is applied to the Eternal Father. (HTML)
... the lesson unsuitably to the person, he should wander from the right sense. And the disciples, wishing to learn the time of what was foretold, besought the Lord, ‘Tell us,’ said they, ‘when shall these things be? 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[1 Thessalonians 4:13], who were going wrong. When then one knows properly these points, his understanding of the faith is right and healthy; but if he mistakes any such points, forthwith he falls into heresy. Thus Hymenæus and Alexander and their fellows were beside the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 5, footnote 9 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rufinus the Monk. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 37 (In-Text, Margin)
... Innocent, the half of my soul, was taken away from me by a sudden attack of fever. The one eye which I now enjoy, and which is all in all to me, is our Evagrius, upon whom I with my constant infirmities have come as an additional burden. 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,[1 Thessalonians 4:13] and as my excess of grief has been tempered by the joyful news that has since come to me, I recount this last, that, if you have not heard it, you may learn it; and that, if you know it already, you may rejoice over it with me.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 51, footnote 11 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Paula. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 825 (In-Text, Margin)
... tears the call will come, and you, too, must die; yet you flee from me as from a cruel judge, and fancy that you can avoid falling into my hands. 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.[1 Thessalonians 4:13] Blush, for you are put to shame by the example of a heathen. The devil’s handmaid is better than mine. For, while she imagines that her unbelieving husband has been translated to heaven, you either do not or will not believe that your daughter is at ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 124, footnote 1 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Heliodorus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1805 (In-Text, Margin)
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.”[1 Thessalonians 4:13] So too in the gospel the Lord says, “the damsel is not dead but sleepeth,” and Lazarus when he is raised from the dead is said to have been asleep. No, I will be glad and rejoice that “speedily he was taken away lest that wickedness should alter his understanding” for “his soul pleased the Lord.” But though I am loth to give way and combat my feelings, tears flow down my cheeks, and in spite of the teachings of virtue and the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 155, footnote 7 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Theodora. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2275 (In-Text, Margin)
... of the Holy Spirit the fountains of lust and to sing in the words of the psalm: “as in a dry and pathless and waterless land, so have I appeared unto thee in the sanctuary.” Thus when we have to face the hard and cruel necessity of death, we are upheld by this consolation, that we shall shortly see again those whose absence we now mourn. 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,[1 Thessalonians 4:13] telling us to believe that those whom we know to sleep now may hereafter be roused from their sleep, and when their slumber is ended may watch once more with the saints and sing with the angels:—“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 419, footnote 10 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Vigilantius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4964 (In-Text, Margin)
... after his dissolution, he has begun to be with Christ, must he shut his mouth, and be unable to say a word for those who throughout the whole world have believed in his Gospel? 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[1 Thessalonians 4:13] forbids the Thessalonians to be sorry for those who were asleep. As for you, when wide awake you are asleep, and asleep when you write, and you bring before me an apocryphal book which, under the name of Esdras, is read by you and those of your ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 139, footnote 4 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Words, And in One Holy Catholic Church, and in the Resurrection of the Flesh, and the Life Everlasting. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2289 (In-Text, Margin)
... them who said, How are the dead raised, and with what manner of body do they come? And how he says, For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; 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[1 Thessalonians 4:13], and all that follows: but chiefly that, And the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 132, footnote 5 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To the Church of Neocæsarea. Consolatory. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1998 (In-Text, Margin)
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,”)[1 Thessalonians 4:13] do you, if so it seem good to you, like some wading chorus, choose your leader, and raise with him a chant of tears.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 162, footnote 2 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To the Church of Parnassus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2227 (In-Text, Margin)
an ancient custom, which has obtained for many years, and at the same time shewing you love in God, which is the fruit of the Spirit, I now, my pious friends, address this letter to you. 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.”[1 Thessalonians 4:13] I do not mean that we should be insensible to the loss we have suffered, but that we should not succumb to our sorrow, while we count the Pastor happy in his end. He has died in a ripe old age, and has found his rest in the great honour given him by his ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 438, footnote 7 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII. (HTML)
Conference XIV. The First Conference of Abbot Nesteros. On Spiritual Knowledge. (HTML)
Chapter VIII. Of spiritual knowledge. (HTML)
... brethren, concerning those that sleep: that ye be not sorry as others also who have no hope. For if we believe that Christ died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say to you by the word of God, that we which are alive at the coming of the Lord shall not prevent those that sleep in Christ, 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.”[1 Thessalonians 4:12-15] In which kind of exhortation the figure of anagoge is brought forward. But “doctrine” unfolds the simple course of historical exposition, under which is contained no more secret sense, but what is declared by the very words: as in this passage: “For ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 381, footnote 6 (Image)
Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat
Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)
Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations. (HTML)
Of the Resurrection of the Dead. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1006 (In-Text, Margin)
... down and slept, and awoke. Again Isaiah said, They that sleep in the dust shall awake. And our Lord said concerning the daughter of the chief of the synagogue, The damsel is not dead, but sleeping a slumber. 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.[1 Thessalonians 4:13]