1 Thessalonians 5:10

He died ¹  for us so that whether we are alert or asleep ²  we will come to life together with him.

Mt 20:28; Joh 10:11,15,17; Joh 15:13; Ro 5:6-8; Ro 8:34; Ro 14:8,9; 1Co 15:3; 2Co 5:15,21; Eph 5:2; 1Th 4:13,17; 1Ti 2:6; Tit 2:14; 1Pe 2:24; 1Pe 3:18

¹ tn Grk “the one who died,” describing Jesus Christ (1 Thess 5:9). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 10 in the translation.

² sn The phrases alert or asleep may be understood (1) of moral alertness (living in faith, love, and hope as vv. 6, 8 call for, versus being unresponsive to God) or (2) of physical life and death (whether alive or dead). The first fits better with the context of 5:1-9, while the second returns to the point Paul started with in 4:13-18 (no disadvantage for the believing dead).