Those being addressed by Paul were troubled about their deceased loved ones. Not about their own skins.
Any other reading takes the exhortation to comfort each other out of context.
Paul wrote in a nutshell-
"Do not grieve about your deceased loved ones. The Lord will raise them before you at his return"
1 Thes 4:
Any other reading takes the exhortation to comfort each other out of context.
Paul wrote in a nutshell-
"Do not grieve about your deceased loved ones. The Lord will raise them before you at his return"
1 Thes 4:
--used in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (context: vv.8-11--see my previous posts on this section; noting also the "G4862 - WITH [UNIONed-with]" word; noting again also the phrase "[putting on... for an helmet] the HOPE of salvation" which in Thessalonians CONTEXTS refers to "an eschatological salvation," i.e. yet another term for "our Rapture");
--used in 2 Thessalonians 2:17 (in the CONTEXT where Paul is reiterating the SEQUENCE--how the ONE thing ["our Rapture / our episynagoges unto Him" / "the departure FIRST"] "fits" IN RELATION TO the OTHER thing ["the day of the Lord" time-period of JUDGMENTS unfolding upon the earth], that is, how these TWO items "fit" TIME-WISE / SEQUENCE-WISE); Also then (besides the aforementioned), Paul, in chpts 1&2 of 2Th, is telling of the TWO CONTRASTING "beliefs" ppl WILL be coming to, FOLLOWING "our Rapture"
... so these TWO passages (1Th5:8-11 and 2Th2:17) ARE in the context of "our Rapture" event (and do not speak merely of "the dead in Christ" we're to "comfort" each other about)