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Paul tells them that when this “coming” happens, they will know, for they will be
gathered together with the Lord (καὶ ἡμῶν ἐπισυναγωγῆς ἐπʼ αὐτὸν) [literally: “and our assembly
to him”]. Paul uses the word ἐπισυναγωγῆς meaning “a gathering/ assembly.” Paul adds this fact
because he had written in his first letter about those who had died. They would not be left
behind and forgotten but would be raised to life and gathered with them.
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to
grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and
rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen
asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are
still alive, who are left till the coming (τὴν παρουσίαν) of the Lord, will certainly
not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down
from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are
still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever (1 Th 4:13-17).
The Greek word ἐπισυναγωγῆς used here in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 for this “gathering/assembly”
appears only one other time in the New Testament – in Hebrews 10:25, where the writer tells the
Christians to gather together at some location, a “meeting,” to encourage one another and spur
one another on. Gene Green draws a connection between the two occurrences: “This gathering
of Christians in worship anticipates and symbolically rehearses this grand eschatological
event.” 26 Ronald Ward tends to find a similar connection between the two word uses: “The
thought arises that ‘going to church’ is a miniature (we hesitate to say a rehearsal) of the
gathering of the saints at the last day.” 27 While it is a nice thought, the need to make such a
connection is not essential. The lack of usage of this word in the New Testament is not a
concern. The noun is scarcely to be differentiated from συναγωγή, “an assembly, meeting, or
gathering,” which enjoys much more common usage in the New Testament.
By using both the terms παρουσίας, which is used also in 1 Thessalonians 4:15, and
ἐπισυναγωγῆς, which carries the understanding of the gathering together of the living and the
2002), 302.
26 Gene L. Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,
27 Ronald A. Ward, Commentary on 1 & 2 Thessalonians (Waco, TX: Word Incorporated, 1973), 153.
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