involuntarily', consequently it is used of death.  The word in Luke 8:52 is

active, and means 'to compose oneself to sleep'.  A good illustration of the

essential difference between the two words occurs in the first epistle to the

Thessalonians.  In 4:13-15 we read of them which 'sleep', and these believers

are spoken of as 'them which sleep in Jesus' (verse 14) and 'the dead in

Christ' (verse 16).  Moreover these are contrasted with those who are 'alive

and remain'.  In these passages the word consistently used is koimaomai, for

this 'sleep' means death.

In 1 Thessalonians 5, however, katheudo is used, and not koimaomai:

'Let us not sleep, as do others' (verse 6).

'They that sleep sleep in the night' (verse 7).

'Whether we wake or sleep' (verse 10).

Were the word 'sleep' here synonymous with death, we should be able to

restate verse 6 as follows: 'Therefore let us not die as do others'! but,

alas, we have no such option.  The word 'sleep' finds its synonym, not in

death, but in 'drunkenness', its contrast in being 'sober'.

The reader of the A.V. should remember that the words  'watch' in 1

Thessalonians 5:6 and 'wake' in verse 10 are the same.  The original word is

gregoreo, and is translated 'be vigilant' once, 'wake' once, 'watch' twenty

times, and 'watchful' once; consequently 1 Thessalonians 5:10 should read,

'Who died for us, that whether we be watchful or drowsy, we should live

together with Him', although, of course, other Scriptures make it plain that

the unwatchful believer may not be granted to 'reign with Him', a doctrine

not in view in the chapter before us.

Here, therefore, is fact number four; that two essentially different

ideas are presented by the two different words translated 'sleep' in Luke 8

and John 11, and must therefore  not  be  confounded.

There is, however, one further statement in Luke's Gospel that demands

attention.  It is, 'And her spirit came again' (Luke 8:55).  It is to Mark's

account of the raising of Jairus' daughter that we are indebted for the fact

that on that occasion (Mark 5:41) the Saviour spoke Aramaic, not Greek, from

which it is clear that her parents and those concerned were acquainted with

the Hebrew Scriptures, and familiar with its idiom.  Having that in mind, let

us refer to 1 Samuel 30:11,12 where we read:

'And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and

gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water; and they

gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and

when he had eaten, His Spirit Came Again to him'.

This passage proves that the expression in Luke 8:55 does not

necessitate death.

We learn, therefore, that Lazarus was actually dead, whereas, while the

family and friends of the little maid thought she was dead, they were

mistaken.  The word used of Lazarus meant 'to fall asleep involuntarily',

whereas the word used of the little maid meant 'to sleep', not as the dead,

but as those who were in a coma or heavy sleep.

Untrammelled by these subsidiary considerations we can now face the

Scriptural fact that the dead are said to

be 'asleep'.  Even the heathen poets, of necessity well acquainted with their