John Calvin Reformed @genevareformer

The Thessalonians had not lost the hope of resurrection as the Corinthians did, but they had not fixed it firmly enough in mind, they still mourned with something of old superstition clinging to them. We must not bewail the dead beyond due bounds, for we shall all be raised; unbelievers grieve without measure because they see death as final destruction, but we know the dead are gathered into God's kingdom. The knowledge of resurrection is the means of moderating grief.

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Matthew Henry Presbyterian @wholebiblehenry

Do not sorrow immoderately for those who die in the Lord, as if you had no hope of eternal life, that is to grieve like the heathen, who imagine everything taken from the world perishes. We Christians have sure hope of resurrection; this alone is enough to balance all our griefs. Yet weep we may, for our own loss if nothing else, so long as we remember the dead sleep in Jesus and shall wake to glory.

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Commenting on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

John Gill Reformed Baptist @doctorgill

You were ignorant about the state of the pious dead and the measure of mourning for them, so I write to set you right on the resurrection, Christ's return, and the saints' future happiness. Death is sleep, bodies rest as in sleep, rising again as sleepers wake, and the apostle forbids not sorrow itself, which is natural, but immoderate sorrow that shows no hope, as if the dead were utterly annihilated.

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