False Prophecy by Paul?

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Did the Apostle Paul made a mistake when he said on 1 Thes 4:13-18 that the Lord Jesus would come in his lifetime?

15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; 17 then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.
 
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That’s also my first thought, but isn’t he addressing only the Thessalonians?
 
IS he? St. Paul was sent to preach the Great Commission. What he wrote to a certain group of people in Thessaly in say AD 55 wasn’t limited to just those people, was it?
 
Well, sort of. But the Holy Spirit inspired him to use the word “we.” And the Holy Spirit knew the letter would one day be a part of Scripture which is always “living and active.” So maybe Paul himself didn’t quite know why he wrote “we” but God did: it will one day truly address those living at the time Paul describes.
 
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The way that prophecy is written is timeless, yes he is addressing the Church all of us dead and alive IF we happen to be alive WHEN JESUS comes at the Second Coming, the first to go to receive HIM will be the dead. Not the ones alive.
Since St. Paul did die he now is in the group of the former. If I die before Jesus’s return then I will be joining St. Paul.

Peace!
 
I think he is talking metaphorically… those who are alive (new birth) in Christ as compared to those who are not.

Keep in mind, God is beyond time, so placing a time constraint of ‘coming in my lifetime’ on God might sound fine but isn’t accurate.
 
I think at that time, they expected the 2nd Coming to be immediate. It wasn’t a false prophecy. It’s going to happen. It just didn’t happen right when they thought it would.
 
Senyorico said:
Did the Apostle Paul made a mistake when he said on 1 Thes 4:13-18 that the Lord Jesus would come in his lifetime?
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No, Paul did not make a mistake.

The mistake is believing the Kingdom of God is something external:
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. – Luke 17:20-21
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So when Jesus was asked when the Kingdom of God would come, he told the Pharisees they had the completely wrong idea. He explicitly tells them, “The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation,” meaning it’s not something you’re going to be able to see or observe. He reiterates this point when he says, “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there,” meaning no one is going to be able to point to it and say, “It’s over here” or “It’s over there.”

Jesus also says,
Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. – Matthew 16:28
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So he is saying the same thing as Paul. The coming of the Lord in His Kingdom is something that will happen in their lifetime. So for some of them, the Second Coming has already happened.
 
Senyorico said:
Did the Apostle Paul made a mistake when he said on 1 Thes 4:13-18 that the Lord Jesus would come in his lifetime?
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It’s fairly a common opinion that Paul thought the end was imminent. Other passages of his writings also seem to indicate this.
 
lwest said:
I think at that time, they expected the 2nd Coming to be immediate. It wasn’t a false prophecy. It’s going to happen. It just didn’t happen right when they thought it would.
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fhansen said:
It’s fairly a common opinion that Paul thought the end was imminent. Other passages of his writings also seem to indicate this.
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That certainly fits in with what I’ve always been told. Perhaps @OddBird can help?
 
The Church is one body, throughout all the ages. So those of us who are part of it now are part of the ‘we’ of the first century Church and also the ‘we’ of those who will be alive at his coming.
 
Julius_Caesar said:
The end is always imminent. We just aren’t outside of time.
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Alright, I’m not sure what that means though. The “end” here refers to an event that will happen in real, earthly, time, with Jesus returning physically. . And it’s commonly considered that Paul thought it would happen within his own lifetime.
 
I think both the Gospels and Paul’s writings show that the apostles misunderstood quite a bit. Most obvious is that they (all, most, many?) believed that the end would come in their generation or perhaps the next. That the apostles were occasionally wrong should be neither surprising or troubling.
 
Senyorico said:
Did the Apostle Paul made a mistake when he said on 1 Thes 4:13-18 that the Lord Jesus would come in his lifetime?

15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; 17 then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.
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So, this mystery will not present an answer. There are varying ways to absorb this passage as stated up-thread. It is fairly clear that Paul had expectations that were not fulfilled in the ways and times he expected. And nothing “wrong” with that, it does not detract from the passage at all. Prophecy is not merely the accurate prediction of details. Prophecy is something much deeper and meaningful than that. Prophetic speech has an exhortational quality that will transcend the details and seemingly getting the details wrong does not make it in any way “false”.
The passage is “living and effective” in any age.
 
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Through the Church, he can!

From the Haydock Commentary:
" Ver. 15. With commandment. [3] God’s command will in a moment raise and bring all to judgment. — And the dead, who are in Christ, in the grace of Christ, shall rise first, not as to time, but in dignity. Wi. — Shall rise first. Not in order of time, for all shall rise in the twinkling of an eye, but first in order of dignity. S. Chrysostom, however, thinks that the elect rise before the reprobate, to go before the Lord; whereas the latter shall come behind him, only to appear before the tribunal of justice. S. Chrys."
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