1 Thessalonians 5:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

If you wish to know why this day is hidden and why it will come as a thief in the night, I think I can answer rightly. No one would ever care for virtue throughout his whole life if that day were known and not hidden.

Each person, knowing his last day, would commit countless crimes and only on that day would come to the font, when he was about to depart.

Even now, when the fear of the unknown shakes every soul, all who have lived wickedly before allow themselves to be baptized only at their last breath.

If people knew their last day exactly, who would ever care for virtue? If, under this constant fear, many have departed without baptism, and even such fear has not taught them to care during life for pleasing God, what would happen if this fear were removed?

Who would then be chaste? Who would be meek? No one. On the other hand, now a man is restrained from evil not only by great fear of death, but also by love of life.

If each person knew that he would surely die tomorrow, then before that day he would restrain himself from nothing. On the contrary, he would kill whomever he wished and commit a thousand crimes, taking revenge on his enemies.

A corrupt man, having lost hope for the continuation of this present life, counts even the one clothed in purple as nothing.

The man certain that he must die would try to avenge himself on his enemy. Only then, after first filling his soul, would he receive death.

Third, I will say something else. People attached to life and too passionately devoted to present goods would waste away from despondency and sorrow.

For example, if one of the young knew that he would die before reaching old age, he would be tormented like the most timid animals when they are caught and await death.

Besides, even the most fearless men would then deserve no reward. If they knew that they must die precisely after three years and could not die earlier, what right would they have to a reward for daring dangerous struggles?

Then anyone could say to them: you hope to live three years, and therefore you face dangers, knowing that it is impossible for you to die earlier.

Only he clearly displays courage and contempt for this present life who sees death for himself in every danger. He knows that he will remain alive if he does not dare the danger, but will lose his life if he dares it.

I will explain this by an example. Tell me, would the patriarch Abraham have had any right to a reward if he had laid his son on the altar while knowing beforehand that he would not slay him?

What else? Would Paul move us to admiration if he despised dangers while knowing beforehand that he would not die? Even the most timid man would go into fire if he found someone to guarantee reliably that he would escape the danger.

But the three youths were not like this. What then did they say? Listen: “O king, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.

“But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up” (Dan 3:17-18).

Do you see what great benefit comes to us from not knowing the time of death? There is another benefit greater than this, but for now it is enough to know this.

“For it will come as a thief in the night,” so that we may not give ourselves to vices, may not be negligent, and through this may not be deprived of the reward.

“You yourselves,” he says, “know.” Why then do you investigate this, when you yourselves know it perfectly? Learn that the future is unknown from what Christ said.

And to see that He said this for this very reason, listen to what He says: “Watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come” (Mt 24:42).

Finally, the righteous, when exposed to dangers, would not deserve such a reward. For it would seem that, since they know they will not die now but after so many years, they therefore do not spare themselves.

But now, when it is unknown whether they will survive dangers, and nevertheless they do not spare themselves, their virtue is beyond doubt.

Likewise the three Hebrew youths deserve greater admiration because, not knowing exactly whether they would be saved from the fire, they still did not worship the idol (Dan 3:24).

Therefore our end is like a thief in the night. You know this, Thessalonians, from what the Lord said: "You do not know at what hour your Lord will come" (Mt 24:42).

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).

He will definitively complete the ordering of His eternal kingdom. This also includes the dread signs in heaven and on earth which, according to the Lord’s own word, will accompany this manifestation.

Besides “the day of the Lord” (2 Pet 3:10), it is also called “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:8; 1 Cor 5:5; 2 Cor 1:14), “the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6), and simply “the day of Christ” (Phil 1:10; Phil 2:16; 2 Thess 2:2).

“As a thief.” The comparison is taken from the words of the Lord Himself and is customary not only to the Apostle Paul (2 Pet 3:10). “Only the suddenness of the Master’s coming is likened to a thief” (Theodoret).

When everyone sleeps in the assurance that there is no danger, the thief creeps in. So the day of the Lord will creep in.

Yet this is not hidden from us, and it is often impressed upon us so that that hour may not overtake us suddenly, like a thief overtaking a careless householder.

The convenient time for a thief is deep night. Perhaps the Lord too will appear at midnight, like the bridegroom in the parable of the ten virgins.

Some of the teachers of the Church thought that this might take place at midnight on the bright feast of Christ’s Resurrection. It would be like the appearance of the angel at the first Jewish Passover in Egypt.

Is this not the source of the all-night vigil on the feast of Christ’s bright Resurrection and on other Sundays, as on Athos?

“So He comes.” The Greek says “comes,” corresponding to the expectation of His sudden appearance, according to which one may say at every moment: behold, He is coming.

Or it expresses the certainty of His coming. The matter is settled: He comes. It is like the Epistle to the Romans: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven” (Rom 1:18).

By “the day of the Lord,” one may also, though not in the strict sense, understand the hour of each person’s death. For it too overtakes suddenly, and after it there immediately follows the preliminary decision of each one’s lot.

At that day, the decision will be final. Morally, everyone should apply to himself the sudden arrival of the day of the Lord as the sudden arrival of the hour of death, examples of which are everywhere and numerous.

Wait for the Lord, whether He comes during your life or does not come. Suppose He does not come. Still, death will come, and it is the decisive moment for you.

If the Lord’s long delay can weaken the conviction that He is just about to come, nothing renews that conviction so powerfully as the conviction that death is just about to come.

Reminders of this are very frequent. Wait for death. Beneath it lies for you the day of the Lord, the Lord’s dread determination concerning you.

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 man’s own day.

“For this latter is likened to the former because it has similarity and kinship with it. What the first means for all together, the latter means for each in particular.

“A little earlier he says: Does not the end of each man’s life constitute the end of the age for him? Why are you so curious about the universal end, and why do you cause yourself sorrow by this?

“What happens to us in other cases, we observe here also. In other cases, while paying no attention to our own affairs, we examine those of others.

“We say: this man is a fornicator, that man an adulterer, that one stole, this one wronged someone. About our own faults we say not a word.

“On the contrary, we are more concerned about the deeds of all other people than about our own. So here also, each of us does not care about his own end, but wants to know about the general end.

“If you prepare well for your own end, you will suffer no harm from the universal one. Whether it is far away or near will not influence the decision of our lot in the least.

“For this reason Christ did not speak of it. Listen to what He says to the Apostles: ‘It is not for you to know times and seasons which the Father has put in His own authority’ (Acts 1:7).

“After this, why be curious? This is what those with Peter heard when they wished to know more than they needed to know.”