Great idea, Amanuensis! Let's exegete 1 Thess. 4:17 for starters, in the Greek! I'll help!
"Then we who are alive, who are left,[
a] will be suddenly caught up[
b] together[
c] with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:17 NET
Footnotes
- 1 Thessalonians 4:17 tc The words οἱ περιλειπόμενοι (hoi perileipomenoi, “[the ones] who are left”) are lacking in F G 0226vid ar b as well as a few fathers, but the rest of the textual tradition has the words. Most likely, the Western mssomitted the words because of perceived redundancy with οἱ ζῶντες (hoi zōntes, “[the ones] who are alive”).
- 1 Thessalonians 4:17 tn Or “snatched up.” The Greek verb ἁρπάζω implies that the action is quick or forceful, so the translation supplied the adverb “suddenly” to make this implicit notion clear.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:17 tn Or “simultaneously,” but this meaning does not fit as well in the parallel in 5:10.
I've left in the footnotes, just for a cross reference. NET has 66K footnotes, I find them helpful & accurate.
Now, let us look at it in Greek!
"ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα· καὶ οὕτως πάντοτε σὺν κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα." 1 Thess. 4:17 SBLGNT
There are some key words in the Greek. They are translated correctly into Greek, but the full connotation of the word in Greek, does not come through in English.
ἔπειτα - epeita then, following, The word denotes the speeding following of the event specified upon what has gone before.
ζῶντες - zovtes Present, active participle, from zao, to live alive.
περιλειπόμενοι - pereleipomenoi Pres. Pass. Part. To leave behind.
ἁρπαγησόμεθα -harpagesometha fut indicative, passive. To snatch up, to seize, to carry off by force. The word often denotes the emotion of a sudden swoop, and usually a force that cannot be resisted.
ἀπάντησιν apantesin meeting. The word had a technical meaning in the Hellenistic world related to the visits of dignitaries to cities where the visitor would be formally met by the citizens or a deputation of them, who went out from the city, and then would ceremonially escort him back to the city. The 2 other occurrences are Matt 25:6, where the virgins go out to meet their husband and accompany him back; and Acts 28:15 where the people go out from Rome to meet Paul and escort him back to Rome. Nothing about going away, forever. Rather, a meeting which returns back to home.
ἀέρα - aera acc. Singular, from aer - air.
πάντοτε - pantote - always
ἐσόμεθα - esometha - future, indicative mid. (Dep.) eimi - to be.
Starting near the end, we have the word "aera" or air in English. The air is the air around us. The air we breathe. It is the air around the earth. It is not heaven or heavens, which would be ouranos. So, nothing about going to heaven, just meeting the Lord in the clouds in the air around us. Do we jump up and down for joy, or are we literally grabbed up a bit into the atmosphere? It really doesn't matter. What matters, is that we are not going far, and in fact, going back!
The word for "left behind" found in the fictional Left Behind series, is not about unbelievers being left behind, while everyone else is raptured, as Dispensationalism supposes. In fact, the verse starts with this word, "Then we, the living ones who are left behind." Some kind of leaving behind has already occurred. Are they left behind after the ruin of Jerusalem? (Paul died much too early for this) Or is it more likely, in context with verse 16, which is the dead in Christ, rising first. In fact, the Christians living in this time, will have been left behind. So, living or alive believers are in fact the ones being left behind. Verse 15 also says, "we the living, who remain at the coming of the Lord.." ὅτι ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ κυρίου.
Harpazo, in the passive, was used by Paul, might have been making a play of the words, Plutarch, his contemporary, used the word, or compound word for those who die an untimely death and thus are "disadvantaged" in that they are "snatched away" from the opportunity for education, marriage, citizenship and so on. In the passive, Paul emphasizes it is brought about by a force outside the individual.
The word for "meeting" apantesis is used in the LXX (Greek OT) for God's meetings with Abraham, (Gen. 14:17) with David, (2 Sam. 10:16) and with the Israelites at Sinai (Ex. 19:17). The implication of Paul's use of this word here, is that the resurrected dead and living, together will meet the Lord, descending "in the air" and accompany him in glory and honor the rest of his way to earth.
Paul's emphasis in these verses is not on the sequence, details or direction, but the outcome and then result. He assures the Thessalonians that's contrary to what some of them might have thought, both groups, the living and the dead, will end up together. The most important point in all this is the result. ALL believers in Jesus, whether alive or dead at the time of his Parousia (Second Coming) "will be with the Lord forever." Some Thessalonians thought that death (still influenced by pagan perspectives) would be an insurmountable barrier, preventing those followers of Jesus who died before the Parousia from experiencing the presence of Jesus, is in reality, no barrier at all. Here is the real antidote to the grief some Thessalonians were experiencing. The final destiny of Christians who died before the Parousia is not death, but rather resurrection to life with the Lord forever. And here on earth! This information should be used, according to verse 18, "to encourage one another."
So, in fact, this verse is speaking of the parousia, (coming) of Jesus, and it has close parallels to the Oliver Discourse in the Synoptic Gospels. There is no "rapture" to heaven at all in this verse, but rather believers meeting Jesus and returning to earth with him, at the Second Coming.
Here are some books I consulted:
Holmes, Michael W.
The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Thessalonians.
Wanamaker, Charles A.
The New International Greek Testament Commentary NIGTC: The Epistle to the Thessalonians.
Rogers, Cleon L. Jr & Cleon L. Rogers III.
The New Linguistic & Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament.
For a complete bibliography of each book, contact me.
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