Identifying the Saints at the Lord’s Coming in 1 Thessalonians 3:13

In my reading of 1 Thessalonians, the section up to 4:13 is not written directly to or about the body of Christ, but concerns the Jewish saints and their kingdom hope. I mark Paul’s explicit shift to teaching about the body of Christ and the rapture beginning at 4:13, where he reveals truth that has no parallel in the Old Testament or in the Gospels.

Therefore, when we come to 3:13, "at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints," I take this as a reference to the second coming in its prophetic, kingdom sense, not to the rapture of the body of Christ.

The expression "with all his saints" immediately invites comparison with earlier Scripture. We find multiple passages where the Lord is said to come with “saints” or “holy ones”:

"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints." Jude 14

"And the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." Zech 14:5

"And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them." Deut 33:2

These texts speak of the Lord’s coming with “saints” or “holy ones,” most naturally understood as a heavenly host—angelic armies, though some see an overlap with glorified Israel. In any case, they are associated with the visible day-of-the-LORD coming long foretold in the prophets.

When Paul in 1 Thessalonians 3:13 speaks of "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints," the wording strongly resonates with these earlier prophecies. Letting Scripture interpret Scripture, the most natural conclusion is that he is speaking of that same prophetic coming, not revealing details of the rapture.

You rightly observe that in 1 Thessalonians 4:14 Paul says:

"Even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him."

This is rapture truth. Here, the “them … which sleep in Jesus” are dead members of the body of Christ who will be involved in the catching up. One might argue that, since they are “brought with him,” they are among the “all his saints” of 3:13, and thus that 3:13 includes the body of Christ.

However, if we merge 3:13 into rapture doctrine, we end up reading rapture information back into Old Testament-like language and contexts where the mystery had not yet been unfolded. We would then have to say that the Lord’s coming “with all his saints” in passages like Zechariah 14 and perhaps Deuteronomy 33 includes the body of Christ, which would place mystery truth into prophecies from which it is explicitly absent.

To avoid that problem and stay consistent with the principle that the mystery was not revealed before Paul, it is better to see:

• 1 Thessalonians 3:13 as describing the second coming in harmony with Old Testament prophecy, when the Lord comes with his holy ones; and
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 as the first clear revelation of the rapture of the body of Christ, where dead and living believers are caught up and are "ever … with the Lord."

Thus, while the body of Christ will ultimately share in the Lord’s glory and appear with Him, 1 Thessalonians 3:13 itself is not a direct description of the body of Christ, but of that prophetic coming already witnessed in earlier Scripture.

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