1 Thessalonians 4:18
“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Paul tells them to comfort each other with the hope he has just described.
What Does 1 Thessalonians 4:18 Mean?
Paul ends the passage with a simple, practical instruction: 'comfort one another with these words.' The truths he has unfolded, Christ's coming, the resurrection of the dead, the eternal reunion with the Lord, are not given for speculation but for consolation. They are words to be spoken into grief, person to person.
Notice that the comfort is meant to circulate within the church; believers are to minister it 'one another.' When sorrow comes, they are to remind each other of the hope they share. This is what makes Christian grief different, for it has words of comfort to offer that the world does not have. The hope of the Lord's return and the rising of the dead is not a doctrine to be filed away but a balm to be applied to wounded hearts. Paul entrusts this comfort to the whole community, so that in their losses they may strengthen one another with the certainty that those who sleep in Jesus will rise, and that they shall ever be with the Lord.
In the Original Language
parakaleo (παρακαλέω), 'comfort' -- to call alongside, to console, encourage, and strengthen.