What is the meaning of 1 Thessalonians 5:7? For those who sleep • Paul has just urged believers to “stay awake and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:6). Here he reminds us that sleeping people are unaware of what is happening around them. Romans 13:11-12 echoes the same call: “It is already the hour for you to wake up from your slumber.” • Sleep in this context pictures spiritual indifference. Jesus warned in Mark 13:36 not to let Him find us “sleeping” when He returns. Spiritual drowsiness leaves a person unprepared for the Day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3). • The image is not about physical rest—which God ordained—but about an attitude of disengagement from God’s purposes. Ephesians 5:14 says, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” sleep at night • Night is the natural setting for literal sleep, but Scripture often links night with moral and spiritual darkness. John 11:10 notes that stumbling happens when “it is night,” for there is no light. • Colossians 1:13 celebrates how God “rescued us from the dominion of darkness.” Believers have been transferred into the kingdom of light, so sleeping in that darkness is unnatural for us. • Paul’s point: if someone remains spiritually asleep, it shows they belong to the realm of night, not of day (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5). The true child of light cannot be comfortable in the dark. and those who get drunk • Drunkenness illustrates surrendering self-control. Ephesians 5:18 commands, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion; instead, be filled with the Spirit.” • Proverbs 20:1 warns that wine is a mocker; Isaiah 28:7 shows leaders ruined by strong drink. Loss of alertness and moral restraint marks a life disconnected from God’s will. • Luke 21:34 ties excessive drinking to unpreparedness for Christ’s return: “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life.” Drunkenness places a person firmly among those indifferent to coming judgment. get drunk at night • Isaiah 5:11 pictures people pursuing drink from morning, yet Paul highlights nighttime drinking to emphasize secrecy and wrongdoing. Job 24:13-17 describes evildoers who “rebel against the light” and operate under cover of darkness. • Acts 2:15 notes that early-morning disciples could not be drunk, implying that drunkenness is expected at night—again linking it to darkness, concealment, and sin. • Romans 13:12-13 urges believers to “put aside the deeds of darkness” and to walk “properly as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness.” Our conduct should reflect daylight, not the clandestine excesses typical of nighttime. summary Paul uses ordinary night-time activities—sleeping and drinking—to draw a vivid line between the children of light and the children of darkness. Sleep and drunkenness belong to night. Watchfulness and sobriety belong to day. Because we are “sons of the day” (1 Thessalonians 5:8), we must stay awake, alert, and self-controlled, living transparently in the light while we await the return of the Lord Jesus. |
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