The Nugget:
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (KJV)
1Th 4:18 So continue encouraging one another with this truth. (Williams NT)
1Th 4:18 So then, be consoling one another with these words. (EB, Emphasized Bible)
My Comment:
These words, written by the Apostle Paul long ago, are meant to be a continuing comfort to readers today.
Paul is answering the question asked by the Thessalonians about the status of those believers who die before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ at the Pretribulation Rapture. Paul’s answer indicates that those who have died before this event will not be at any disadvantage compared to those who are alive when this takes place. They will be the first to experience bodily resurrection. Those who are alive on earth when this event takes place will immediately be transformed without experiencing physical death to have immortal, imperishable, tangible, glorified bodies like the body our Lord Jesus Christ now possesses.
Reading Paul’s words in their immediate and related contexts, it is clear that he did not at all suggest or state that believers of this age must live through the whole or any part of the Great Tribulation. Such a teaching directly contradicts Paul’s divinely inspired message of comfort.
To dig deeper into these subjects, read the cross references and the notes provided in the two sources shared below:
cross references from the original Treasury of Scripture Knowledge:
1 Thessalonians 4:18
Wherefore: 1Th 5:11, 1Th 5:14; Isa 40:1, 2; Luk 21:28; Heb 12:12
comfort: or, exhort, Heb 10:24, 25
cross references and notes from the Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury:
1 Thessalonians 4:18
Wherefore. 1Th 5:11; 1Th 5:14, Isa 40:1, 2, Luk 21:28, Heb 12:12.
comfort. Paul brings this message to comfort the Thessalonians. It is most clear in the Bible that Paul does not pose the threat of suffering through the Great Tribulation first. That would not be a message of comfort. In the very few passages in the New Testament (up to three: here, 2Th 2:1-3, and 1Co 15:22, 23, 24; 1Co 15:51, 52, 53) where Paul discusses or alludes to the Rapture, he never precedes the discussion with a mention of the Great Tribulation. The order is always first the Rapture with its attendant gathering together of believers unto the Lord Jesus Christ, followed by a later discussion of the time of the Great Tribulation and the Antichrist. In this immediate context, mention of anything that pertains to the Great Tribulation does not appear until the next chapter, Chapter 5, of 1 Thessalonians, thus chronologically after the Rapture. Many have argued otherwise, but those who have a different position on this matter have apparently failed to do all their homework. All believers are warned in Scripture that all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2Ti 3:12) and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God (Act 14:22), but neither of those statements has any reference to believers of this church age going through the Great Tribulation which is a unique one-time future event of unparalleled magnitude (Mat 24:21). What I have presented above is the straightforward meaning of the Biblical text. You won’t likely find such detailed, direct discussion of Biblical text in context interpreted literally from those who hold to the mid-tribulation rapture, the Pre-Wrath rapture, the post-tribulation rapture, or to amillennial or postmillennial viewpoints. 1Th 3:2; 1Th 3:7; 1Th 5:11, Num 10:10, Isa 66:13, Jhn 11:19, Act 18:23; Act 20:12, 1Co 14:3; 1Co 14:31, +*2Co 1:4; 2Co 7:6, 7; 2Co 13:11, Col 4:8, 2Th 2:17.
or, exhort. 1Th 4:1; 1Th 4:10, 1Th 2:11; 1Th 5:11; 1Th 5:14, Isa 41:6, +1Co 14:3, 2Th 3:12, +*Heb 3:13; +*Heb 10:24; +*Heb 10:25.
one another. Ecc 4:10, Jhn 11:28, +Rom 12:5, +*Col 3:16.
these words. Jer 51:61, Tit 1:9.