Joseph Plevnik, «1 Thessalonians 4,17: The Bringing in of the Lord or the Bringing in of the Faithful?», Vol. 80 (1999) 537-546

The image of bringing in, which, in dependence on Hellenistic parousia depictions, denotes the bringing in of the Lord at his coming, does not fit the imagery and the theology of Paul in 1 Thess 4,13-18. Hellenistic parousias depict the citizens making the royal visitor welcome in their city, whereas 1 Thess 4,13-18 depicts the effect of the Lord’s coming on them. The faithful are raised; the faithful are taken up. 1 Thess 4,13-18 really depicts the bringing in of the faithful, not of the Lord. The implication is that they do not return to the earth, but stay with the Lord forever.

In 1 Thess 4,16-17 Paul states that at the Lord’s coming from heaven, the faithful "will be caught up in the clouds ... to meet (ei)j a)pa/nthsin) the Lord in the air". In 1930 E. Peterson explained this as the "bringing in" (die Einholung) of the Lord: at the coming of the Lord from heaven, the faithful go up to bring him into their earthly city¹. Paul’s model here is the Hellenistic parousia, where the citizens go out to greet the royal visitor and joyfully bring him into the city². With this explanation Peterson changed the traditional interpretation, according to which the believers go up to stay with the Lord in the heights or in heaven. Peterson’s explanation, still followed by some exegetes today³, was challenged by J. Dupont⁴ and others. We shall here re-examine this issue in the light of Pauline imagery in 1 Thess 4,13-18.

        Peterson’s explanation rests on the meaning of the phrase ei)j a)pa/nthsin used in 1 Thess 4,17 for the meeting between the faithful and the Lord. According to G. Luedemann⁵, it was K. Deissner⁶ who first (1912) suggested that the purpose of the a)pa/nthsij is "to receive the Lord at his coming from heaven and return with him to earth". The new element in this explanation is the return to earth, which is not explicit in 1 Thess 4,17.