1 Thessalonians 4:16: Difference between revisions

 
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It is also important to read this in a more modern translation:
It is also important to read this in a more modern translation:


'''ESV'''
:''For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 1 Th 4:16.</ref>
:''For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 1 Th 4:16.</ref>


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Paul applies the language of the “Psalm of Ascent” to describe the coming from heaven of the truly Great King, the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, who is now seen as “descending” in a way similar to the “descent” of Yahweh at Sinai.
Paul applies the language of the “Psalm of Ascent” to describe the coming from heaven of the truly Great King, the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, who is now seen as “descending” in a way similar to the “descent” of Yahweh at Sinai.


It should be further pointed out that there is an “and” between only the second and third members of this description; thus, as the ESV has it: “with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.”  In ordinary English this would mean that the Coming is accompanied in three ways: a command, an archangel’s voice, and God’s trumpet.  However, what is the standard English practice for a list is almost never used by a Greek writer, who would ordinarily have had two “ands” between the three phrases.  
It is also important to note that there is an “and” between only the second and third members of this description; thus, as the ESV has it: “with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.”  In ordinary English this would mean that the Coming is accompanied in three ways: a command, an archangel’s voice, and God’s trumpet.  However, what is the standard English practice for a list is not the style used by a Greek writer, who would ordinarily have had two “ands” between the three phrases.  


What this indicates is that the second and third items, “with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God”, spell out how the “summons” or “cry of command” will occur at the Coming.<ref>Gordon D. Fee, The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2009), 110, 176.</ref>
'''What this indicates, in Greek grammar, is that the second and third items, “with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God”, spell out how the “summons” or “cry of command” will occur at the Coming.'''<ref>Gordon D. Fee, The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2009), 110, 176.</ref>


Thus, the Greek grammar of the passage stands against William Branham's narcissistic interpretation of the passage.
Thus, the Greek grammar of the passage stands over and against William Branham's narcissistic interpretation of the passage.


=Quotes of William Branham=
=Quotes of William Branham=