What Does 1 Thessalonians 4:15 Mean in the King James?
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The living do not get a head start on the dead: “prevent” carries the sense of arriving first, and this verse denies them that precedence.
THE MEANING
The Lord’s arrival does not give you a place ahead of those who have died. Whether you are alive then does not decide who reaches the Lord first; the verse holds both the living and the sleeping within the same promise.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that those alive at the Lord’s arrival have a head start over the dead dissolves here.
THE ROOT
φθάσωμεν
phthasōmen
GROWS FROM
φθαν-
phthan-
Arrive, reach, attain; in this sentence, arrive before.
“prevent” in this verse is phthasōmen. The verb speaks of reaching or arriving, so with the negation it says the living will not arrive ahead of the dead. The sentence is about sequence, not the living hindering the sleeping.
ALSO GROWS
ephthasen: The same verb describes something arriving upon someone, as in “the wrath is come upon them” (1 Thessalonians 2:16).
ἔφθασεν
This usage keeps the root’s sense of arrival visible beneath the KJV wording.
ephthasen: The same verb can mean reaching or attaining, as in Romans 9:31: “hath not attained.”
ἔφθασεν
The living are not said to block the sleepers; they are simply not the ones who reach the Lord first.
περιλειπόμενοι
perileipomenoi
GROWS FROM
λείπω
leipō
Leave, be lacking; with the surrounding prefix, remain or be left over.
“Remain” describes those still left living when the Lord arrives; it does not give them a higher standing. The same word family can speak of what is left and what is lacking, making “remaining” a condition of being here, not a claim to precedence.
ALSO GROWS
leipō: The verb can mean to lack or be left behind.
λείπω
It shows how the sense of “remain” grows from the idea of what is left.
loipos: An adjective meaning remaining, the rest, or what is left.
λοιπός
This related form makes the shared root’s language of what remains easier to hear.
κοιμηθέντας
koimēthentas
GROWS FROM
κοιμ-
koim-
Sleep or fall asleep; used here of those who have died.
“asleep” in this verse is koimēthentas. The verse names the dead as sleepers, keeping them within the same horizon as those still alive. A related word, κοιμητήριον (koimētērion, sleeping place), is the source of “cemetery.”
ALSO GROWS
koimaō: The verb behind this form, used for sleep and also for death described as sleep.
κοιμάω
It gives “asleep” a continuing place in the passage’s language about the dead.
koimētērion: A related Greek word for a sleeping place, the source of the English word “cemetery.”
κοιμητήριον
The word family preserves the image of sleep even where English uses a separate word for a burial place.
THE PATTERN
The Lord’s life-giving work includes those who have died, so being alive now grants no precedence over them.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.THE THREAD
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.This verse uses κοιμηθέντας (koimēthentas, those who have fallen asleep), from the same word family as “asleep” in verse 15. It gives the assurance behind verse 15’s refusal to let the living precede them: God brings those who sleep in Jesus with him.
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