did not appear to be well grounded in it : and there- fore St. Paul assured them, that it was a doctrine on which they might fully depend.
They did believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ —
[On these two facts all Christianity was founded, namely, that " Jesus had died for our sins, and had risen again for our justification d." If Jesus had not risen, all their faith in him, and all their hope from him, was altogether vaine ]
These facts admitted, the resurrection of man would follow of course —
[The resurrection of our blessed Lord was both an evi- dence that God can raise the dead, and a pledge that he will. The same power that could raise him, can raise us : nothing less than Omnipotence was necessary for the one ; and to Omnipotence the other also must yield. Had Jesus risen merely as an individual, we might have supposed it possible that the power exerted in his behalf would not be exercised for us. But he rose as the federal Head of his people: and what has been done for him, the Head, shall also be done for all his members. He is " the first-fruits of them that sleep." Now the first-fruits sanctified and assured the whole harvest. We may be sure therefore, that, as " our Forerunner" is gone before, we shall all follow him in due season f. The one gives us a full assurance of the other8.]
For their fuller instruction, he proceeds to state to them,
II. The order in which it shall be effected —
This perhaps is a matter of curiosity, rather than of any great practical importance : but Paul would not that the Thessalonian Christians should be ignorant of it ; and therefore it is not undeserving of our attention. The resurrection then will take place in this order : —
First, the dead will be raised from their graves —
[All that have ever departed out of the world will be restored to life, each clothed in his own proper body. The sea and the grave will yield up those who have long since been
d Rom. iv. 25. e 1 Cor. xv. 13—18.
f 1 Cor. xv. 20, 23. with John xiv. 2, 3. and Heb. vi. 20.
s Acts xvii. 31.