1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 is the portion of scripture being discussed. Exegetically determining what exactly is meant by these verses, does not need to be overly technical. Especially with consideration to what verse 14 plainly says in the King James version, which is most accurate here as confirmed by the Greek interlinear. "them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." Continuing on in verse 16, the punctuation and grammar does come into play, and will be underlined to show you which portion of verse 16 is being looked at.  For the sake of comparison, the NIV, BSB, KJV, and also the heavily modified NLT, will be compared in order to show the misleading inaccuracy of certain versions.

 

NIV

14For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

 

BSB

14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. 15By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. 17After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

 

KJV

14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For 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: 17Then 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 ever be with the Lord.

 

NLT

14For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.15We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. 17Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.

 

This is the break down of the 2 perspectives:

 

Viewpoint 1

 

What appears to be the most commonly accepted paradigm for 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 (whether people have realized this is what they are saying, or not) is that the rapture has 2 stages in the same event. They believe that at the rapture, “The dead in Christ rise first,” and then we who are alive and remain at the time of the rapture, get raptured... Then they are saying, that God needs the decayed material of dead bodies, in order to give us new ones, and that he will recover them in the first stage of the rapture, just prior to catching those of us who remain up to be with them and the lord in the air. Therefore, graves will "be opened” and atomized, scattered, physically dissolved human remains at an atomic level, will be collected from the earth and used for the new heavenly bodies. If that is the case, I would argue that it would have no meaningful purpose for this to be witnessed by the believers who are being raptured, to the rapture happen in stages beginning with the decayed human remains of previous believers. I believe the rapture will just happen, and those who are alive and remain will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, just as it says.

 

When Christ rose after his crucifixion, he did raise many others with him and graves did open, but this was for the faith of all those who witnessed it on earth. How many times, does scripture say, “This happened for you.” Even the demons who asked to go into the pigs understood this is how Christ operates. This is the very reason Christ did indeed send them into the pigs, which the demons went and drowned straight away, anyway. The demons knew this served to credit the truth of Christ, and used it as a bargaining chip so they were not sent to their torment yet, but rather to the bodies of the pigs. It was so that we would see. It was for our faith in order to show us that he is who he says he is. 

After the crucifixion, Christ did only just rise himself for the first and only time, and this put an end to the old covenant, and established "a new one, a better one.” This put an end to Hades, and Abraham’s bosom. So, Christ’s resurrection was a bit different as compared to the rapture. All that being said, I see this as viewpoint 1, being that the rapture is 2 stages. The underlined portion from verse 16 is the so-called stage 1, being a noticeable event to unbelievers who see graves open, and "the dead" are decayed matter being pulled out of the ground, and the reason for the first stage is entirely as a visual thing for the eyes of those who are left behind, as a testimony to the event of the rapture.

 

Now, I do not see that as the most logical explanation for many reasons, I will now try to list. A few things to first quickly mention is that 1 Thess 4 does not say that graves will open and the dead come out of them, unless you are using the NLT, but that is not in the greek. It was added by translators. Another thought, that makes me think the rapture will not be seen by unbelievers is because of 2 Thess 2:11,12 “For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”  If the rapture is has a visual stage 1 of “The dead” coming out of graves, then it would be contradictory to 2 Thessalonians 2:11,12.  Granted, I understand this is not a hard line, never to be unbroken. This is merely stating that God will send them powerful delusion, and it is indeed for that purpose. If it was a hard line, there would be no tribulation saints at all, but we know there will be a vast number of them. 

 

 

 

Viewpoint 2

 

1.) There are indeed 2 groups in sequential order. Group 1, “The dead in Christ” covers past, present, and future from the time of Paul’s writing, to whenever the rapture happens. Group 1 are all of "the dead" in Christ, who all rise first, at the time of their individual deaths, prior to the rapture event of group 2. (Group 2 are all of those who are alive and remain at the time of the rapture event.) To say it another way, If they’re “raptured," period, they are group 2.

2.) Those who have already died, will indeed resurrect “LIKE Christ” (Not identically verbatim, walking around for a while chatting with people and showing them their wounds that caused their death), and they will probably get their resurrected bodies right after death in heaven, but not walk around on Earth prior to their spiritual ascension to be with the Lord. Their dead earthly bodies do not go with them.

 

3.) Those who are alive and remain (Group 2) at the time of the rapture will meet Jesus in the air, as well as meeting group 1, who are “the Dead”, of whom are already with Jesus, having come with Jesus to meet us at the time of the rapture, having already died, and been with Jesus since their own deaths.

 

 

I believe Paul was speaking to the very worried church in Thessaloniki about their dead friends, with the apparent need to clarify the order of resurrection regarding those who have already died and those who will be raptured. He is making it known that those who will be raptured, will not precede those who are dead. Their friends will not slip through the cracks between the resurrection and the rapture. As a Greek student may point out, the Greek sentence structure to me of a “Hoti” clause committing the sentence to an "if, than” structure. I totally agree with this, but I believe that there is an interjecting stand alone sentence in the middle of this Hoti clause, and I also believe that the punctuation supports that stance. If you go look at the underlined parts of verse 16 in the 3 decent versions I shared with you, there are not only commas, periods, and for whatever reason the translators of the KJV decided colons were warranted, creating this aside, in the middle of the Hoti clause. Now, not only is that there, but I believe the rest of scripture supports this viewpoint, leaving no uncertainty that there is absolutely no need for our human remains.

 

Romans 6:6,7

Says the body is done away with, and directly linked with sin itself: “the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—” “because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

 

1 Corinthians 15:15-18

This portion pins down the complex verb tenses by linking past tenses to “progressive" verb tenses. It also further confirms the inability for those who have died to have any benefit with the dead sinful body, or have any future ability either: 1 Corinthians 15:15-18 says “More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.” “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.”

 

2 Corinthians 4:14

Here is another example of past present future all at play together. (I was not raised with Jesus. that has already happened, and I am sure I would have remembered that.)

“because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.” 2 Corinthians 4:14 NIV

 

2 Corinthians 5:6-8

The Body is not needed to be at home with the Lord, and this confirms again, that once we die, we are indeed with Jesus. “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”  2 Corinthians 5:6-8

 

 

Most convincing of all, are the next following verses which state in several ways that our current body can’t go to heaven, it is directly coupled with sin, it is made of a completely different variety of type, material, as well as use compared to the spiritual bodies of heaven. It even calls us foolish to think that our physical body has anything to do with the next realm, rather it makes the distinction that there are 2 different bodies altogether. If there is the physical body, and after that is the spiritual body, and affirms it again by saying the physical must die. We are just a seed and the next body is not the body that is planted here on earth:

 

1 Corinthians 15:35-50

“But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”

1 Corinthians 15:35-50

 

In light of these explanations about the physical Body “being ruled by sin and done away with”, “Being of the dust of the Earth, and not of heaven” Knowing that when we are dead, we are present with the Lord, there is a spiritual Body, and a physical body, Flesh and bone cannot inherit the kingdom, we are merely a seed and not the plant, the seed must die before our spiritual body can be with the lord, I believe it logically makes sense to conclude that our earthy bodies/seeds die, and not only have no use for the heavenly body, but they cannot have use because they are sinful. 

 

We do have all of this explanation about the difference between the natural body and the spiritual body, but in addition to that, if 1 Thess 4:16 was speaking of the dead physical bodies, it would make the verses I just covered, untrue, they would actually be wrong unless stage 1 of the rapture is being used as a physical sign to the world in the same way it was used when Christ rose and "the graves of many others were opened”. I do not believe that makes logical sense for all the reasons listed, and again, because it directly opposes 2 Thessalonians 2:11,12 which states: “For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” 

 

Prior to consideration of all those other verses that explain our earthly body's fates, I believe the isolated exegesis, not forgetting to include the context of the book, the chapter, and especially verse 14 where it says point blank "them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”, and the deliberately stand alone interjection of verse 16, amongst the sentence that was already at hand for which this “Hoti, or if/than clause" applies. There would be no need to include those periods, or even colons in the KJV as a stand alone sentence, if it was one event. Rather it is actually an interjected sentence already in progress, “: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:”  Then group 2. Therefore 1 Thessalonians 4:16 allows for “The dead” to be a corporate statement applicable to all of those who have already died. I believe it not only is, but it must be according to what we know of the Bible’s explanations regarding bodies. 

 

Lastly as an explanation for 1 Corinthians 15:23 should be addressed. "But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” 

Because we are raised with Christ, we are still the first fruits, each according to their group he has called home. That verse only lists 3 categories total, but this is not a rigid 3 categories. These 3 categories, cover everyone “Each in turn", from 1.) Enoch,  2.) Elijah,  3.) Those who died and went to Abraham’s Bosom. 4.) Christ himself  5.) The first fruits who rose with Christ that day Christ rose and appeared to many. 6.) Those who died and are with the Lord. 7.) Those who will be raptured.  8.) Those who came to faith and died in the first half of the tribulation. 9.) Those who came to faith and refused the mark, and refused to worship the beast. 10.) The two witnesses. 11.) Those who somehow made it to the end of the tribulation without dying if that is even possible. 12.) and anyone else I forgot, but Christ didn’t!That is not 3 hard groups is the main point. 

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Summary and Conclusion

 

Viewpoint 1: A visual to the unbelievers of dead bodies being raised and open ground, and a 2 stage rapture scenario.

Viewpoint 2: It will not be a visual grave-breaking experience for unbelievers. Those, left standing at the time of the rapture will simply be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and meet up the lord in the air to be caught TO BE together with the dead in christ and the Lord forever.

 

 

I do think it is relatively important to get this addressed, prior to the rapture BECAUSE! Let's say all the Christians of today are going around saying that the graves are going to open up like the NLT says will happen, and that doesn’t actually happen. Well, that will certainly serve the powerful delusion, wont it? It will be a massively discouraging thing for the tribulation saints to overcome, when they are standing in line to either get their heads removed, or take the mark of the beast and survive. For that reason alone, I do believe viewpoint number 2 is probably pretty important to get out.

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