Chapter 5

1 Now on the topic of times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. 2 For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night. 3 Now when they are saying, “There is peace and security,”⁠ then sudden destruction comes on them,⁠ like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape.⁠ 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would. 5 For you all are sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness.⁠ 6 So then we must not sleep as the rest, but must stay alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, we must stay sober by putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet our hope for salvation.⁠ 9 For God did not destine us for wrath but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that whether we are alert or asleep, we will come to life together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, just as you are in fact doing. 12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who labor among you and preside over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them most highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish the undisciplined, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient toward all. 15 See that no one pays back evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.⁠ 16 Always rejoice,⁠ 17 constantly pray, 18 in everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not extinguish the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 But examine all things; hold fast to what is good. 22 Stay away from every form of evil.⁠ 23 Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is trustworthy, and he will in fact do this. 25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us too. 26 Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. 27 I call on you solemnly in the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1QS 3:13 and 1 Thessalonians 5:5

Dead Sea Scrolls, Sectarian and Community Texts · New Testament

Summary

In 1 Thessalonians, the “sons of light” echoes language from the Dead Sea Scrolls, where the Community Rule divides humanity into dualistic sons of light and sons of darkness, describing human behavior as part of a larger struggle between good and evil.

Passages

1QS 3:13

Dead Sea Scrolls, Sectarian and Community Texts · Community Rule

13 For the instructor, to give insight and to teach all the sons of light about the generations of all the sons of man, 14 as to all the kinds of their spirits, with their signs, as to their works in their generations, and as to the visitation of their afflictions together with 15 their ages of peace. From the God of knowledge comes all that is and all that will be. Before they existed he set in place their whole design, 16 and when they come to exist at their appointed times, they fulfill their task according to his glorious design, and nothing can be changed. In his hand 17 are the judgments of all things, and he sustains them in all their needs. He created humankind to rule 18 the world, and he set for it two spirits in which to walk until the appointed time of his visitation. They are the spirits of

160–100 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1QS

1 Thessalonians 5:5

New Testament

3 Now when they are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would. 5 For you all are sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. 6 So then we must not sleep as the rest, but must stay alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.

41–51 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Thessalonians

References

"... As a designation of Christian disciples Paul uses the expression huioi photos, 'sons of light'. Though the counterpart 'sons of darkness' is not found in his writings, or anywhere else in the New Testament, the phrase echoes a peculiarly dualistic way of thinking. The figurative use of huios is a Septuagintism ... but the Semitic phrase used to distinguish all humanity into two groups as 'sons of light' or 'sons of darkness' is not found in the Old Testament or in later rabbinic literature. Yet it has turned up often in Qumran literature as a favorite way of designating members of the sectarian community ... it is thus striking that Paul's designation of Christian disciples makes use of an anarthrous Semitic sounding phrase that is the exact Greek counterpart of such a Palestinian sectarian Jewish locution ..."

Joseph A. Fitzmyer, According to Paul: Studies in the Theology of the Apostle (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1993), 28–29.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

1 Thessalonians5 chapters

Compare 1QS 3:13 and 1 Thessalonians 5:5

Summary

Passages

1QS 3:13

1 Thessalonians 5:5

References

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