1 Thessalonians 5:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Before Christ’s Passion they approached Him and said: “Tell us, when will this be? And what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” (Mt 24:3).

After His Passion and resurrection from the dead, they likewise said to Him: “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). They asked Him about nothing else before this.

But it was not so afterward. When they were deemed worthy of the Holy Spirit, they not only stopped asking and grieving over such ignorance. They also restrained others who suffered from this improper curiosity.

Listen to what blessed Paul now says: “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.” Why did he not say that no one knows it?

Why did he not say that it has not been revealed, but instead, “you have no need that I should write to you, brethren”? Because by those words he would have grieved them more, but by these he calmed them.

By the words “you have no need,” he forbade them to ask about this as something superfluous and useless. Indeed, what benefit would there be in knowing it? Tell me.

Suppose the end will come in twenty years, thirty years, or a hundred years. What relation does that have to us? Is not the end of each man’s life the end of the age for him?

Why are you so curious about the universal end? Why do you cause yourself sorrow by this? What happens to us in other matters happens here too.

In other cases we pay no attention to our own affairs, but trouble ourselves with those of others. We say: this man is a fornicator, that man an adulterer, that one stole, this one wronged someone.

We say not a word about our own faults. On the contrary, we are more concerned about the deeds of all other people than about our own.

So also here, each of us leaves aside concern for his own end and wants to know about the general end. What do you have in common with it?

If you prepare well for your own end, you will suffer no harm from the universal one. Whether it is far away or near has no bearing on us.

For this reason Christ did not speak of it, namely because it was useless. Why, they will say, was it useless? The One who hid it knows why it was useless.

Listen to what He says to the apostles: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7). Why then are you curious?

This is what those with Peter, the chief apostle, heard when they wished to know more than they needed to know.

But, they say, then we could stop the mouths of the Greeks. How so? Tell me. Because, you say, they teach that this world is God. By knowing the time of its destruction, we would stop their mouths.

Certainly. But to stop the mouths of the Greeks, is it necessary to prove that the world will someday be destroyed, or exactly when it will be destroyed?

If you wish to stop their mouths, say that the world will have an end. If they are not convinced by this, they will not be convinced by the other either.

At last the whole soul is embraced by heavenly grace, is brought under the power of the Spirit, and reigns. Then it can wholly, fully, and perfectly cast out the sin of the passions.

It finally withdraws from sinful darkness when grace at last reigns in the very vessel, that is, in the whole body and soul. Therefore one who, after many long trials and labors, has pleased the Spirit becomes firmly, unshakably, and steadfastly worthy of the Lord.

By the day of the Lord one may and should understand, in an improper sense, the day of each person's death. It is an unknown and unexpected day, though inevitable, and it immediately brings us to the Lord's judgment.

"If the Lord's long delay can weaken the conviction that He is coming at once, then nothing else can awaken it so powerfully as the conviction that death is coming at once" (Bishop Theophan).

St. Chrysostom writes: "Is not the end of life the end of the age for each person? Why are you so curious about the universal end?

If you prepare well for your own end, you will suffer no harm from the universal end. Whether it is far off or near will have no effect at all on the decision concerning our lot."

This is all the more so because, a little above (4:15), he himself presents Christ's coming as though it would occur during the lifetime of the Apostle and of the Thessalonians living when he wrote the epistle.

And the word "will come," in its Greek sense, means: "behold, He is coming."

St. John Chrysostom writes: "Listen to what Paul says: 'For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.' This means not only the universal day, but also each person's own day.

For the latter is likened to the former, because it has similarity and kinship with it. If you prepare well for your own end, you will suffer no harm from the universal end.

Whether it is far off or near will have no effect at all on the decision concerning our lot. For this reason Christ said to the Apostles: 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has placed in His own authority' (Acts 1:7).

As a woman giving birth, while playing, laughing, and foreseeing absolutely nothing, is suddenly seized by inexpressible pains and torn by the pangs of childbirth, so will be the blow to the souls of those people when that day comes.

And they shall not escape." "The Apostle presents the second coming of Christ from its terrifying side. He thereby gives the Thessalonians an incentive to a watchful life, lest they too fall into the carelessness of the people of this world.

That carelessness is expressed here by the words 'peace and security.' There wrath reigns and draws down the wrath of God. Yet the careless do not recognize this, because of self-delusion.

All will nourish other hopes and desires. But this is what they will meet. Perhaps the Lord will appear at midnight, like the bridegroom in the parable of the ten virgins.

Some teachers of the Church, Blessed Jerome and Lactantius, thought that this might take place at midnight on the radiant Resurrection of Christ" (His Grace Theophan).

Comparison of the Gospel passages shows a great similarity. From this the thought naturally arises of how accurately the accounts of the Lord's words were transmitted.

The Thessalonians themselves know enough about this. They know not the time of the coming, but its character. In short, they know that the time of the second coming cannot be precisely determined.

For the day of the Lord will come, certainly for careless people, not for believers who await their Deliverer with impatience. It will come like a thief in the night.

That is, the Lord's coming will be not only unexpected, but also unwanted by the majority of people. For it will deprive them of earthly blessedness and set them before the dread judgment.

That the Lord's coming, and the destruction of the ungodly necessarily joined to it, will occur unexpectedly for them, the Apostle explains immediately.

As the pains of childbirth, which may end in death for a woman, overtake her unexpectedly, during conversation, a walk, or the like, so these careless people, given over to earthly pleasures, will suddenly be overtaken by destruction.

Yet they had time to think about it, because they as though carried it within their own womb. And they must patiently await how their sufferings will end: whether they will be condemned to spiritual death or called to life (vv. 1-3).

These are the preparatory circumstances for which their own moments have been appointed. More directly, the plural is used because the day and hour of this event are indefinite.

"There is no need to write" does not mean that one need not speak of this at all, or know anything about it. It means there is no need to write to them about it.

There is no need to write now again, because this was said to them in person, and they know it. They know that no one can know anything about this, and consequently that nothing definite can be written.

It does not appear that the Thessalonians had any dispute, perplexity, or mistaken opinion about this. It is recalled in order to draw a lesson about sobriety and watchfulness, and about walking in the light of hope.

The Apostle speaks as though saying: it was necessary to write to you, for your consolation, about the lot of the dead at the Lord's coming. I have done so.

But concerning when the coming itself will be, there is no need to write to you. For, as you know, nothing definite can be said about it.

To pry into it would be empty curiosity, unworthy of satisfaction. Therefore St. Chrysostom, when beginning his interpretation of this passage, first sets a reproach against inquisitiveness.

"It seems," he says, "that no nature has so much curiosity and greed for knowledge of the unseen and hidden as human nature. This usually appears when the mind is still imperfect and unformed.

Thus inexperienced children continually trouble tutors, teachers, and parents with many questions containing nothing but such things as: when does this happen, and when does that happen?

The same thing happens also among adults, either from softness or because they have no definite occupation. Thus our mind strongly desires to know, and even to comprehend, many things, especially the time of the end of the world.

And what is surprising if this concerns us, when it concerned even the holy Apostles most of all? Thus, before Christ's Passion, they came to Him with the words: 'Tell us, when will these things be?

And what will be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the age?' (Mt 24:3). And after His Passion and Resurrection from the dead they likewise said to Him: 'Tell us, wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' (Acts 1:6).

They asked Him about nothing else first. But it was not so afterward. When they were counted worthy of the Holy Spirit, they not only did not ask such things themselves.

They also restrained others who suffered from such misplaced curiosity. Listen to what blessed Paul now says: 'But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.'"