Bible Commentaries
Abbott's Illustrated New Testament
1 Thessalonians 4
Abound more and more; that is, follow the directions and exhortations which they had received more and more fully.
Despiseth; that is, the preaching and instructions of Paul.--Given unto us his Holy Spirit; as proofs that our commission is from him.
Them which are asleep; which are dead,--referring, perhaps, to some who had lost their lives in the persecutions.
We which are alive and remain; those who shall be alive at the coming of Christ.--Prevent; precede; that is, go before them in entering into glory.
In the clouds; in heaven. From the form of the expression used repeatedly in this passage, "We which are alive and remain," and from phraseology analogous to it, occurring in other places, it has been supposed by some that the time of Christ's final coming was one of the things not revealed even to the apostles, and that they shared with the church at large in the expectation that that event was to take place in their own day. Such an interpretation of his language, however, as this supposition implies, seems to be distinctly disavowed by the apostle in his Second Epistle to this church. (2 Thessalonians 2:2.)
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