1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

¹Brothers and sisters, you don’t need me to write to you about the times and the seasons, ²because you yourselves are well aware that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.  ³When people are saying “Peace and security,” then destruction will come on them suddenly, like  labor pains on a woman who is pregnant, and they will be unable to escape.

⁴But as for you, brothers and sisters, you are not in darkness that the day should come on you like a thief.  ⁵For you are all children of the
light and children of the day!  We are not of the night or of the darkness.  ⁶Because of that, let’s not sleep like the rest, but watch and be clear headed.

⁷For those who sleep do so at night, and those who are drunk, do that at night.  ⁸But since we are day people,let’s be clear headed, dressed in the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of the hope of salvation.  ⁹Because God has not appointed us for wrath, but to experience salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰who died for us so that whether we watch wakefully or whether we sleep, we will live together with him.  ¹¹Therefore comfort one another and build one another up, just as you already do. — 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

 The only textual issue is a minor grammatical variant in verse 4.  It’s interesting that this verse has been used of the rapture, because it indicates that the return of Jesus will arrive as a thief in the night, but this may be carrying the analogy too far, as it is the sudden destruction that comes as a thief, while those in the know are not supposed to be caught off guard.

This is also not a translation note, but Paul brings grace into the passage in a special way.  He’s calling on Christians to watch and be ready, yet because of the salvation we receive through Jesus, whether we remain awake or not, we will live with him.