Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Thessalonians 5:7
For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
7. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night ] The “sons of day” must be wakeful and sober, for the opposite conditions belong to night and are proper to its children. To be drunken by day was a monstrous and almost unheard-of thing (comp. Act 2:15). Negligence and wantonness have no place in those who belong to “the day.”
These words look beyond their literal sense, as “sober” in 1Th 5:6. Drunkenness signifies the condition of a soil besotted and enslaved by evil. We catch here another echo of our Lord’s warnings: “Lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly as a snare” (Luk 21:34; comp. 1Th 5:3 above; also Luk 12:45-46; and Rom 13:13). Thus dawn surprises guilty revellers.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For they that sleep, sleep in the night – Night is the time for sleep. The day is the time for action, and in the light of day people should be employed. Night and sleep are made for each other, and so are the day and active employment. The meaning here is, that it is in accordance with the character of those who are of the night, that is, sinners, to be sunk in stupidity and carnal security, as if they were asleep; but for the children of the day, that is, for Christians, it is no more appropriate to be inactive than it is for people to sleep in the daytime. It is not to be wondered at that wicked people are negligent and are given to vice, for they are ignorant of the will of God. Negligence in doing right, and corrupt morals, usually accompany ignorance. Rosenmuller.
And they that be drunken, are drunken in the night – The night is devoted by them to revelry and dissipation. It is in accordance with the usual custom in all lands and times, that the night is the usual season for riot and revelry. The leisure, the darkness, the security from observation, and the freedom from the usual toils and cares of life, have caused those hours usually to be selected for indulgence in intemperate eating and drinking. This was probably more particularly the case among the ancients than with us, and much as drunkenness abounded, it was much more rare to see a man intoxicated in the day-time than it is now. To be drunk then in the day-time was regarded as the greatest disgrace. See Polyb. Exc. Leg. 8, and Apul. viii., as quoted by Wetstein; compare Act 2:15 note; Isa 5:11 note. The object of the apostle here is, to exhort Christians to be sober and temperate, and the meaning is, that it is as disgraceful for them to indulge in habits of revelry, as for a man to be drunk in the day-time. The propriety of this exhortation, addressed to Christians, is based on the fact that intoxication was hardly regarded as a crime, and, surrounded as they were with those who freely indulged in drinking to excess, they were then, as they are now, exposed to the danger of disgracing their religion. The actions of Christians ought always to be such that they may be performed in open day and in the view of all the world. Other people seek the cover of the night to perform their deeds; the Christian should do nothing which may not be done under the full blaze of day.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Th 5:7
They that sleep sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night
A manifold drunkenness
The drunkenness here spoken of is not that from wine only, but that also which comes of all vices.
For riches and the desire of wealth is a drunkenness of the soul, and so carnal lust; and every sin you can name is a drunkenness of the soul. On what account, then, has he called vice sleep? Because, in the first place, the vicious man is inactive with respect to virtue; again, because he sees every thing as a vision; he views nothing in its true light, but is full of dreams and oftentimes of unreasonable actions; and if he sees anything good he has no firmness. Such is the present life. It is full of dreams and fantasy. Riches are a dream, and glory, and everything of that sort. He who sleeps sees not things that are and have a real subsistence, but things that are not he fancies as things that are. Such is vice and the life that is passed in vice. It sees not things that are, but things that are fleeting and fly away, and that soon. (Chrysostom.)
The Christian view of drunkenness
In Thessalonica Paul had his first experience of an European rabble. The Jews employed the tactics by which every sinking cause has fought for life. Lewd fellows of the baser sort who were not unaccustomed to the sight of the world turned upside down, loungers confused oftener than not with drink, and could be bought for any shameful purpose, children of the darkness and the night, set the city in an uproar. There is no need to further describe these birds of evil omen; the scum and the froth are the same everywhere and all time through. But these miserable creatures were not always so. The wildest of that mob was once a happy, innocent child. Some of them eventually came to be children of the light. And such may every drunkard become through Christ.
I. The assertion which Paul makes. Drunken in the night.
1. The words were probably meant to be taken literally. Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening. There is little drunkenness till then. Between this and midnight the work is done (Rom 13:13).
2. But they were also meant to bear a figurative application. The night was the whole life of the world, of the nation, of the man, until Christ rose like a glorious sun (1Pe 4:3).
(1) Explain the mystery that a habit so degrading should from the earliest time have obtained so firm a hold. What originates drunkenness? Night, says Paul, in the intellectual and moral nature. Pauls method, and that of the gospel, differs from that of many temperance advocates in going deeper. Get rid of drunkenness, urges the reformer, and you will get rid of most of your crimes. Get rid of the night, says Paul, and you will get rid of drunkenness.
(2) What night? The night of ignorance, says one–let the man be taught; the night of discomfort–give the man a happy home; of solitude–find the man companions; of dullness–furnish wholesome excitement; of idleness–keep the man employed. Well, these are shadows of the night, but not night itself. Pauls night is that of Christlessness. Without God and hope in the world. Jesus said, I am the Light of the world, etc. (Joh 8:12).
(3) There is one thing which the prince of darkness cannot do when attacked in his citadel of drunkenness. If you say that education will cure this evil, he will take the intellectual powers and stimulate them into fascinating play by the wine cup. He can furnish the public house with comfort, provide companionships, give excitement, and keep the hands busy. Try every weapon, but remember that the public house will catch the cue and point them at your own heart. But there is one power to which the devil will not appeal, and that is Christ (1Jn 3:8).
II. The appeal which Paul urges. Let us who are of the day be sober.
1. Paul was addressing Christians. A line was then drawn, clear cut, between the believer and the unbeliever. Now things have got somewhat mixed. The sad truth that we have to face is that it is an easier thing for thousands around us to grow up in drunken than in sober habits. Your free library may not be open on Sunday, but by command of government your public houses must. Whatever weight your legislation has ever the first day of the week is in favour of drunkenness rather than intelligence. Moreover, you cannot choose your neighbours or keep your children from contamination. Count and contrast the public houses and sanctuaries; which has the need of bell, ritual, sensational element to attract to its services lewd fellows of the baser sort? In one large town in England 10 percent go to a place of worship once a week, and 25 percent go every day to the public house.
2. Under the deep conviction that this vice must be grappled with, barriers are built behind which the young and tempted may find shelter. The pledge, guild, league, and society are all to be honoured. But they are nothing to the Christian for his own sake. He has higher ground to occupy. He dreads not so much breaking his bond as sinning against God. Christ outweighs every other consideration.
3. High ground this. Yes, and we dare not lower it. Prove that drunkenness is profitable to the National Exchequer, that it is a characteristic of the best workman, that it is the fashion, which are all dead against the evidence; but I am not careful to answer in this matter. The end of life is not an overflowing exchequer, a ready hand, an entrance into society. What shall it profit a man? etc. The drunkard is degraded, unsafe; therefore bind him with pledges and securities. But I look beyond the present, beyond the beggared home, the loathsome death, to something worse–damnation. In that city where there is no night there is no drunkard. Conclusion: Here is a message for all mankind (1Th 5:9-10). (T. H. Pattison.)
Prayer against drunkenness
Dr. MCosh tells the story of a negro who prayed earnestly that he and his coloured brethren might be preserved from what he called their upsettin sins. Brudder, said one of his friends at the close of the meeting, you aint got de hang of dat ar word. Its besetting, not upsetting. Brudder, replied the other, if dats so, its so. But I was prayin de Lord to save us from the sin of intoxification, and if dat aint a upsettin sin, I dunno what am.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. For they that sleep] Sleepers and drunkards seek the night season; so the careless and the profligate persons indulge their evil propensities, and avoid all means of instruction; they prefer their ignorance to the word of God’s grace, and to the light of life. There seems to be here an allusion to the opinion mentioned under 1Th 5:4, to which the reader is requested to refer. It may be remarked, also, that it was accounted doubly scandalous, even among the heathen, to be drunk in the day time. They who were drunken were drunken in the night.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The apostle enforceth the former duties of watchfulness and sobriety from the consideration of their present state. They that sleep choose the night to sleep in, and they that would be drunk choose the night for it: drunkenness being so shameful a vice, especially in the apostles time, that men were ashamed to be seen drunk in the day-time; see Act 2:15; Eph 5:12,13; and in ancient times they had their feasts in the night. Ye therefore that are not in the night of your former ignorance, ought neither to be found in the sleep of security nor in the sin of drunkenness, whereby may be meant also any kind of intemperance; for a man may be drunk, and not with wine, Isa 29:9; drunk with pleasure, with cares, with sensual love and desires, with passion, and by spiritual judgments upon the soul, Isa 29:10.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. This verse is to be taken inthe literal sense. Night is the time when sleepers sleep, anddrinking men are drunk. To sleep by day would imply great indolence;to be drunken by day, great shamelessness. Now, in a spiritual sense,”we Christians profess to be day people, not night people;therefore our work ought to be day work, not night work; our conductsuch as will bear the eye of day, and such has no need of the veil ofnight” [EDMUNDS],(1Th 5:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For they that sleep, sleep in the night,…. The night is the usual season for sleep, and sleep is only for such who are in darkness, and are children of the night; and not proper to be indulged by such who are children of the day, and of the light:
and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night; drunkenness is a work of darkness, and therefore men given to excessive drinking love darkness rather than light, and choose the night for their purpose. To be drunk at noon is so shameful and scandalous, that men who love the sin, and indulge themselves in it, take the night season for it; and equally shameful it is, that enlightened persons should be inebriated, either with the cares of this life, or with an over weening opinion of themselves.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
They that be drunken are drunken in the night ( ). No need of “be” here, they that are drunken. No real difference in meaning between and , to be drunk, except that (inceptive verb in –) means to get drunk.
Night (, genitive by night) is the favourite time for drunken revelries.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Be drunken [] . Lit. who are made drunk or get drunk. See on Joh 2:10. In N. T. always of intoxication. In LXX, the Hebrews shekar strong drink is several times rendered by mequsma; Jud 13:4, 7; 1Sa 1:11, 15.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For they that sleep” (hoi gar katheudontes) “For those sleeping”, sleeping progressively, of their own will, because they want to–are called from their sleep, ere they can be useful to God or their fellowman, in spiritual as in physical matters, Eph 5:14-16,
2) “Sleep in the night” (nuktos katheudousin) “by or in the night they sleep”; In darkness in inactivity, in unfruitfulness they sleep, as nonproductive ones. These are as barnacles only as they sleep on. God’s children are to let their light shine, Mat 5:15-16; “be witnesses, doers of the word, work while it is day, Act 1:8; Jas 1:22; Joh 4:34-36; Rom 13:12-14.
3) “And they that be drunken” (kai hoi methuskomeno) “and those being drunk of their own will or accord”; those who yield themselves to riotous excesses of inebriation; those drunken by wine are controlled by wine, unstable souls, ignorant and obstinate against the call of God, Eph 5:17-18.
4) “Are drunken in the night” (nuktos methuousin) “By or in the night they are drunk”; to hide it, cover it up, because their deeds are evil, Joh 3:19-21; The drunkard comes to poverty, yet no less than the sluggard professor of Jesus Christ comes to total loss of rewards and a salvation, “as if by fire”, Pro 23:21; 1Co 3:13-15; 1Co 6:10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(7) They that sleep. . . .As the connection of sleep with night has already been sufficiently worked out, and is not touched upon again in 1Th. 5:8, the first clause seems only to be inserted for the sake of bringing out the second, and to justify the sudden introduction of the words, and be sober. It may thus be paraphrased: I say, and be sober too, for as they that sleep in the night, so they that be drunken are drunken in the night. It is implied that the streets even of heathen Thessalonica were seldom affronted with the common English spectacle of drunken men by daylight; while among the Jews it was proof positive of sobriety to say, It is but the third hour of the day (Act. 2:15). In St. Cyprians time, Christians were known from other men because their breath smelt of wine in the early morning through attending the Blessed Sacrament (Epistle lxiii. 15): no heathens would have touched wine by that time.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Sleep night Doubly true. The body sleeps in natural night, the soul sleeps in the night of the soul. But in these words it is the physical that is adduced in illustration of the mental.
Drunken in the night Among the Greeks and Romans revelry and drunkenness were the order by night, but to be drunken by day is mentioned as the height of profligacy. The historian Polybius records it as a signal dishonour of one that he became so given to inebriation that “even by day he was often conspicuous to his friends, drunk.” And so 2Pe 2:13, furnishes the trait, “They that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime.”
1Th 5:7 . A reason for the exhortation in 1Th 5:6 by a reference to the practice of the outward life.
] refers to the known custom of devoting the evening and the night for debauchery.
is entirely synonymous with . It is not to be assumed that the change of the verb is intentional, in order to denote with the first “the act of getting drunk,” and with the second “the state of being so” (Macknight); since, as also the analogy of the first half of the sentence proves, the progress of the discourse is contained in the addition of , and accordingly only the idea already expressed in is again taken up by . The view of Baumgarten-Crusius, repeated by Koch and Hofmann, that 1Th 5:7 is to be understood in a figurative sense (comp. already Chrysostom and Oecumenius), and that Paul intends to say: “A want of spiritual life ( ) and immorality ( ) belong to the state of darkness ( ), thus not to you,” is logically and grammatically impossible, since , on account of the same verbs as subjects and predicates, can only contain a designation of time . In order to justify the above interpretation, ( ) would require to have been written.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
Ver. 7. Are drunk in the night ] But now, alas, drunkenness is become a noonday devil. Once Peter’s argument (saith Mr Harris) was more than probable, “These men are not drunk, for it is but the third hour of the day.” Now men are grown such husbands as that by that time they will return their stocks, and have their brains crowing before day.
7 .] Explanation of the assertion regarding above from the common practice of men. There is no distinction, as Macknight pretends, between and (‘the former denoting the act of getting drunk, the latter the state of being so’), but they are synonymous, answering to and . Nor are the expressions to be taken in a spiritual sense, as Chrys., al. ( , , : ‘Spiritual sleep and intoxication belong to the state of darkness,’ Baum.-Crus.-): the repetition of the same verbs as subjects and predicates (Ln.) shews that is merely a designation of time , and to be taken literally.
1Th 5:7 . Cf. Plutarch, De Iside . vi., , , .
7.] Explanation of the assertion regarding above from the common practice of men. There is no distinction, as Macknight pretends, between and (the former denoting the act of getting drunk, the latter the state of being so), but they are synonymous, answering to and . Nor are the expressions to be taken in a spiritual sense, as Chrys., al. ( , , : Spiritual sleep and intoxication belong to the state of darkness, Baum.-Crus.-): the repetition of the same verbs as subjects and predicates (Ln.) shews that is merely a designation of time, and to be taken literally.
1Th 5:7. -, those who are drunken, are drunken) denotes the act, , the state or habit; so in -, the Ploce[29] is apparent. For first, has the inchoative power, falling into sleep; then expresses continuance, they go on in sleep.-) in the night time, for the most part. Even constant somnolency and drunkenness render the very night worse. Such persons are averse (shrink) from the day.
[29] The figure by which the same word is twice put, once in the simple sense, next to express an attribute of it. Append.-ED.
1Th 5:7
For they that sleep sleep in the night;-The wicked, the careless, the licentious are children of the night, and engage in their sins in the night, when the thief will come unawares upon them. The children of the day are those who live faithfully, always watching for the Lords coming. He will come to the children of the night with sudden destruction and ruin; but to the children of the day, he will bring deliverance and eternal salvation. Hence, the exhortation to be faithful children of the light.
and they that are drunken are drunken in the night.-[These words are to be taken as a simple statement of fact-what occurs in the ordinary experiences of life. The night is the season in which sleep and drunkenness occur; whereas the day is the time for watchfulness and work. The Jews and heathen considered it disgraceful for a man to be drunk in the daytime. For this reason the Jews on the day of Pentecost said of the apostles: They are filled with new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spake forth unto them, . . . these are not drunken, as ye suppose; seeing it is but the third hour of the day. (Act 2:13-15.) ]
they that sleep: Job 4:13, Job 33:15, Luk 21:34, Luk 21:35, Rom 13:13, 1Co 15:34, Eph 5:14
and they: 1Sa 25:36, 1Sa 25:37, Pro 23:29-35, Isa 21:4, Isa 21:5, Dan 5:4, Dan 5:5, Act 2:15, 2Pe 2:13
Reciprocal: 2Sa 11:2 – arose from Isa 5:11 – rise Mar 13:36 – he find 1Co 5:11 – or a drunkard Gal 5:21 – drunkenness Eph 5:11 – works Eph 5:18 – be not 1Pe 1:13 – be sober
1Th 5:7. Those who sleep (are indifferent) are in the night of spiritual darkness, which means they are lacking in understanding of the things that concern their soul. But that shortage of knowledge is not the Lord’s fault, for He has offered full opportunity for the necessary information. Druken in the night. With the increase of indulgence in intoxicating drink, this phrase would not have the same application as in former times. When there was such an ‘abhorrence for the practice that most people literally chose the cover of darkness for the shameful vice. (See Act 2:15.) The principle is true, also, in the spiritual realm, for those who hate the truth, prefer to shun the investigation of their teaching.
1Th 5:7. They that sleep, sleep in the night. Every man has a natural shame of being found asleep in the day-time, no matter what good excuse he has for it, however exhausted and unwell he may be. If even nature thus teaches us to be ashamed of sleeping through the hours God gives us for wakeful work, let us, who are of the day, watch.
They that are drunken, are drunken in the night. Or at least should be, and in most countries are, so ashamed of themselves as to court darkness. When a man begins not only to exceed at night, when weariness or conviviality might tempt him, but, even before the days work is well begun, is found unfit for any duty, he is, humanly speaking, hopeless. Peter thought it enough, when those who were filled with the Spirit at Pentecost were supposed to be drunk, to remind their accusers that it was but the third hoof of the day.
1Th 5:7-11. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, &c. Night is the time for sleep, and they that are guilty of drunkenness, gluttony, and other vices of intemperance, generally choose to hide them under the cover of darkness; and if we were still in the night of heathenish ignorance, and in a state of spiritual blindness and unbelief, our insensibility of divine things, our unwatchfulness, sloth, and indolence would have some excuse: but being of the day And brought out of darkness into Christian and marvellous light, we have none: let us, therefore, be sober That is, temperate, chaste, holy, and wakeful, as signifies; putting on the breast-plate of faith and love As a defence of the heart, the seat of the passions; and for a helmet Which will defend the head, the seat of reason; the hope of final, eternal salvation. The breast and head being particularly exposed in battle, and wounds in these parts being extremely dangerous, the ancients carefully defended them by armour, to which the apostle here compares the Christian virtues of faith, love, and hope. In the parallel passage, Eph 6:14, the expression, instead of the breast- plate of faith and love, is the breast-plate of righteousness; to show that the righteousness of a Christian consists in faith and love: a breast-plate which, being of a truly heavenly fabric, will, if put on, and not afterward put off, render the heart, the seat of the affections, invulnerable. The apostles meaning, stripped of the metaphor, is this: That, to defend our affections against the impressions of outward and sensible objects, nothing is so effectual as faith in Christ, and in the declarations and promises of his gospel, and love to God and man. The head being the seat of those thoughts and imaginations, on which the affections and passions in a great measure depend, it must be of great importance to defend it against the entrance of such thoughts and imaginations as have any tendency to excite bad affections or carnal desires. But for that purpose, nothing is better than to have the head so filled with the glorious hope of the salvation offered to us in the gospel, as to exclude all vain thoughts, imaginations, and expectations whatever. This hope therefore is most properly and elegantly termed the Christians helmet. This exhortation to the Thessalonian believers teaches us that the sons of light must not only watch but fight. See note on Eph 6:11-18.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath As he hath the finally impenitent, unbelieving, and disobedient: for the design of God in sending his Son was not to condemn but to save the world; and therefore they who are appointed to wrath, are only such as through impenitence, unbelief, and disobedience, reject him and his gospel; but to obtain salvation Present and eternal; by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ Who hath procured it for all true persevering believers, whose faith worketh by love; and will assuredly at length bestow it upon them; of which he hath given us full proof, in that he not only became incarnate, and subjected himself to the infirmities of our flesh, and to the many burdens and sufferings of this mortal life, for our sakes, but even died in ignominy and torture on the cross for us; that whether we wake or sleep, live or die, we should live together with him In other words, That while we live, and when we die, the life and happiness of our immortal souls should be secure in a union with him, which death itself shall not be able to dissolve. Some interpret the expression, whether we wake or sleep, as signifying, whether Christ come in the night, when we are sleeping on our beds, or in the day, when we are awake and busy in the pursuit of our common affairs. But, as Doddridge has properly observed, since sleeping had just before been put for death, it seems more natural to interpret this clause as speaking of the state of believers, whether alive or dead: and then it must be considered as containing a direct proof of the life of the soul while the body is sleeping in the grave. God forbid, adds that pious divine, that any should understand these words as intimating that Christs death is intended to secure our salvation, whether we take a watchful care of it or not. Yet, alas! the generality of Christians (so called) live as if that were the genuine and only interpretation. Wherefore comfort yourselves together comfort, or exhort one another, under the various afflictions of life, and edify , each the other; in Christian knowledge and holiness, or endeavour to promote the work of grace in one another; even as also I know ye do How well would it be, if professing Christians in general would emulate the character which the apostle gives to these believers at Thessalonica, if, entering into each others true interests, as Chandler observes, they would banish from their conversation that calumny, slander, folly, and flattery which engross so much of this short transitory life, and by discoursing of things of substantial worth, endeavour to fortify each other against the snares of life, and those innumerable temptations which lie in wait to ruin us. With what comfort should we meet each other at the great day, were we, on that occasion, able to recollect that in general we had managed our conversation to our mutual advantage? For we should then be sensible that in some measure we owe our glory to our concern for, and fidelity to, each other. Besides, the remembrance of this would enlarge the love of the saints to each other in the future state.
For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that are drunken are drunken in the night.
Behavior consistent with their position in Christ required watchful preparation in view of the future. As soldiers engaged in spiritual warfare, they needed to protect their vital parts with trust in God and love for others (cf. 1Th 1:3, 1Th 3:5; Isa 59:17; Rom 13:12; 2Co 6:7; 2Co 10:4; Eph 6:14-17). They also needed to protect their thinking from attack by keeping their sure hope of deliverance at Christ’s appearing in mind (i.e., the Rapture). Note the recurrence of the triad of faith, hope, and love, as in 1Th 1:3.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)