Here is a little exercise. Read the following verse from two different versions and look for a different meaning between the two in the sequence of events:
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. (1Th 4:17a NIV)
then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air (1Th 4:17a ASV)
We are informed earlier that the dead in Christ are raised first. But in verse 17 do they meet Christ first in the clouds before those who are alive meet Christ?
Notice that in the first version (NIV) it suggests that the dead in Christ are already in the clouds with Christ and those who are alive follow after to meet Christ in the clouds.
The second version (ASV) suggests that the alive and the dead in Christ unite together first, and both at the same time then are caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord.
Which rendering is better?
In this text, Paul is more concerned with the sequence of events than he is in other discussions of the Coming (e.g. 1Cor. 15). He states in verse 16 that the dead in Christ will rise “first” (pro
