"Is the day of the Lord at hand?" (Alleged Contradiction #E8266)
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. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
I Thessalonians 4:15-17
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I Thessalonians 5:23
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition…
II Thessalonians 2:2-3
Response
No, the day of the Christ is not at hand yet because “that man of sin…the son of perdition” has not yet been revealed. All Christians will be raptured at this day, however, and so I Thessalonians 5:23 makes perfect sense even for those Christians who have died before it occurs. Since now one knows when Jesus will return, Paul speaks in I Thessalonians 4:15-17 as though he could be among those who are alive (which is why he uses the word “we”), but he knew that he may die before this day comes.
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