Questions and Answers

Q: Does 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 teach that there will be two literal resurrections – one for the righteous, another for the wicked? A: “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: sand so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thes. 4:16-18). Advocates of the doctrine of premillenialism cite this passage as evidence in support of their theory of two literal resurrections – one for the righteous, and, a thousand years later, a resurrection of the wicked. This passage asserts that the dead in Christ shall rise first; does it not follow, then, they ask, that the dead out of Christ shall rise second? What, at first glance, appears to be an argument of some plausibility to that end vanishes on examination of the context. The subject under consideration is not the order in which righteous and wicked will be raised; it is, instead, a discussion of the relationship that will obtain between the resurrection and the catching up of the saints. It should be recalled that the Thessalonian Epistles were penned for the purpose of correcting an erroneous view in the church in Thessolonica that only the righteous living would be allowed to participate in the blessings and benefits of the Lord’s coming, those having died before that event being, of necessity, left out. The apostle writes to show that the righteous dead will be resurrected before the righteous living are caught up, so that both the righteous living and the righteous dead may together be caught up to meet him when he returns. They were, therefore, to comfort one another with these words, being assured henceforth that their dead would not be excluded from the benefits attending the Lord’s return. Inasmuch as the wicked will not be included in the “catching up,” no mention is made of them in this passage. They will, however, rise at the same time the righteous do: “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation,” (John 5:28-29).