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 Wisdom of Solomon 5:18 and 1 Thessalonians 5:8

Deuterocanon · New Testament

Summary

The image of the “armor of God” in 1 Thessalonians is similar to the Wisdom of Solomon, which itself reshaped the language of Isaiah. Early Christian tradition drew on the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, and later Jewish interpretations of them.

Passages

Wisdom of Solomon 5:18

Deuterocanon

17 He will take his zeal as complete armor, and will make the whole creation his weapons to punish his enemies: 18 He will put on righteousness as a breastplate, and will wear impartial judgment as a helmet. 19 He will take holiness as an invincible shield. 20 He will sharpen stern wrath for a sword. The universe will go with him to fight against his frenzied foes. 21 Shafts of lightning will fly with true aim. They will leap to the mark from the clouds, as from a well-drawn bow. 22 Hailstones full of wrath will be hurled as from a catapult. The water of the sea will be angered against them. Rivers will sternly overwhelm them.

50 BCE – 50 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Wisdom of Solomon

1 Thessalonians 5:8

New Testament

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.

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

References

"... The clothing metaphor itself is, of course, not Hermas’s creation. It became particularly prominent among the philosophers, mystery cults, gnostic sources, and Jewish and other Christian literature of our period. In fact, the metaphor’s ubiquity makes it virtually impossible to determine its origins. It appeared, for example, among the earliest Greek authors and even before that in Sumerian sources too. We find it scattered throughout Jewish scripture; (E.g., LXX 2 Chronicles 6:41, Isaiah 51:9, 59:17, Job 29:14, 40:10, Psalm 132:9, Proverbs 31:25, Wisdom of Solomon 5:18, Baruch 5:1–2, 4 Esdras 2:45, 4 Maccabees 13:16.) non-Pauline literature ultimately included in the New Testament also attests it. Other so-called Apostolic Fathers roughly contemporaneous with Hermas use the metaphor as well: Clement exhorts his audience with him to “put on harmony” (ἐνδυσώμεθα τὴν ὁμόνοιαν, 1 Clem 30.3), and Ignatius refers to Polycarp as “being clothed with grace” (ἐν χάριτι, ᾗ ἐνδέδυσαι, Poly. 1.2). One can only assume, given the wide attestation of the clothing metaphor, that it was employed extensively in non-literary second-century Roman culture as well ..."

Jonathan E. Soyars, The Shepherd of Hermas and the Pauline Legacy, NovTSup 176 (Leiden: Brill, 2019), 138.

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 Wisdom of Solomon 5:18 and 1 Thessalonians 5:8

Summary

Passages

Wisdom of Solomon 5:18

1 Thessalonians 5:8

References

Your feedback

Leave a comment

Glossary

Search the Library