Explanation of the Text: 1 Thess 5:5-6 Offspring of the LIGHT.


1Th 5:5  You are all the sons of light and the sons of the day. We are not of the night, or of darkness. 
Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us watch and be calm. 
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Notes 
You are all the sons of light and the sons of the day
This is definitely connected to the previous verse 4. But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that the Day should overtake you like a thief. 
You have no reason to fear the Coming Day of the Lord, for you are all Sons of the Light and Sons of the Day. You have been 'Born Again'. There has been a spiritual transformation in your life whereby the Spirit of God has transformed your life, and therefore now you resemble your Father in character (intellectually, morally, and spiritually illuminated.

Joh 12:36  While you have the Light, believe in the Light so that you may become sons of Light. Jesus spoke these things and departed and was hidden from them. 

Luk 16:8  And the unjust steward's lord commended him because he had done wisely. For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. 
Notes by RWP.     For (hoti). Probably by this second hoti Jesus means to say that he cites this example of shrewdness because it illustrates the point. “This is the moral of the whole parable. Men of the world in their dealings with men like themselves are more prudent than the children of light in their intercourse with one another” (Plummer). We all know how stupid Christians can be in their co-operative work in the kingdom of God, to go no further.
Wiser than (phronimōteroi huper). Shrewder beyond, a common Greek idiom.

1 Thess 5:5b We are not of the night, or of darkness.  Paul changes the subject from "You" to "We" in v. 5b. Meaning :'You are Sons of the Light because YOU became Christians (followers of Christ); and WE, Christians, are not of the Night nor of the Darkness.

Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us watch and be calm. 
Therefore let us no sleep, as do others - As the wicked world does; compare notes, Mat_25:5.
But let us watch - That is, for the coming of the Lord. Let us regard it as an event which is certainly to occur, and which may occur at any moment; notes, Mat_25:13.
Image result for Picture of a Guard on duty
Be on Guard and Watch :DeviantArt
Guard Duty
And be sober - The word here used (νήφω  nēphō) is rendered sober in 1Th_5:6, 1Th_5:8; 1Pe_1:13; 1Pe_5:8; and watch in 2Ti_4:5, and 1Pe_4:7. It does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament. It properly means, to be temperate or abstinent, especially in respect to wine. Barnes Notes.

To watch means to be on your Guard. Very few Guards every pass the whole night awake. Most sleep on duty. But we had a Guard named Ibraihim, who was  always awake no matter what time of the night I would check on him. he was faithful, persistent, enduring and reliable. Are youwatching and calm as you wait for Christ's Coming.

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