Paul's wording about those left and the resurrection order
Severianus is explaining Paul's wording in 1 Thessalonians 3:3 and 4:15-17 about who will be left alive and who will rise first at Christ's coming.
On “so that no one would be disturbed” (1 Thessalonians 3:3): he did not say “so that no one would waver,” lest he seem to be accusing them, but he chose a word that cannot serve as a reproof of their weakness when he said “so that no one would be disturbed.”
On “we who are left” (1 Thessalonians 4:15): he did not mean that he himself was going to be left behind, he says, but “we” stands for “so few and easily counted will be left that they will not precede those holy ones who have fallen asleep into the meeting with Christ.” For even if all are raised, not all will meet Christ, but only the righteous. It is clear, then, that at the coming of Christ some are overtaken while still living.
Or what he says is something like this: if it happened that Christ came now, we who are left today would certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep at the coming of Christ. One must punctuate after “we who are left”: “into the day of the Lord we will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.”
On “with the voice of an archangel” (1 Thessalonians 4:16): the Lord says the same thing: “At midnight there was a cry: Look, the bridegroom is coming” (Matthew 25:6).
“And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16): again the Lord himself says this in the Gospels, which is why both the Lord and the apostle hint that the coming of the Lord will be at night.
“Then we who are alive, who are left” (1 Thessalonians 4:17): that is, the righteous around us. He wants it to be understood that some are still living and are overtaken at the coming of Christ, and this is made clear from “we who are left at the coming of the Lord.”
Greek
1 Thess 3,3 Οὐκ εἶπεν τὸ μηδένα ὀκλάζειν, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ κατηγορεῖν, ἀλλ'
ἔθηκε λέξιν τὴν μὴ δυναμένην ἐλεγκτικὴν εἶναι τῆς ἐνδόσεως σαίνεσθαι εἰπὼν τὸ
μηδένα ξενίζεσθαι. 1 Thess 4,15®17 Οὐκ αὐτὸς ἔμελλε περιλιμπάνεσθαι, φησίν, ἀλλὰ
τὸ ἡμεῖς ἢ ἀντὶ τοῦ τοσοῦτον ὀλίγοι καὶ 330 εὐαρίθμητοι περιλειφθήσονται, οὐ
φθάσουσι τοὺς κεκοιμημένους ἁγίους εἰς τὴν ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ· εἰ γὰρ καὶ
πάντες ἐγείρονται, ἀλλ' οὐ πάντες ἀπαντήσουσι τῷ Χριστῷ ἀλλ' οἱ δίκαιοι. δῆλον
οὖν ὅτι ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ζῶντές τινες καταλαμβάνονται. ἢ καὶ
τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ὅ φησιν· εἰ συνέβαινε νῦν τὸν Χριστὸν ἐλθεῖν, ἡμεῖς οἱ
περιλιμπανόμενοι σήμερον οὐ μὴ φθάσωμεν ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοὺς
κοιμηθέντας. στικτέον δὲ μετὰ τὸ οἱ περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ κυρίου οὐ μὴ
φθάσωμεν τοὺς κοιμηθέντας. Ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου. τὸ αὐτὸ λέγει καὶ ὁ κύριος·
μέσης δὲ νυκτὸς φωνὴ ἐγένετο· ἰδοὺ ὁ νυμφίος ἔρχεται. Καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ
ἀναστήσονται πρῶτον. τοῦτο πάλιν αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος λέγει ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις, ὅθεν
καὶ ὁ κύριος καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος αἰνίττονται ὅτι νυκτὸς ἔσται ἡ παρουσία τοῦ κυρίου.
Ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι, ἀντὶ τοῦ οἱ 329, col 2 περὶ ἡμᾶς δίκαιοι.
Ζῶντας ἔτι τινὰς βούλεται καταλαμβάνεσθαι ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ τοῦτο
δηλοῦσθαι 330,ξολ2 ἐκ τοῦ ἡμεῖς οἱ περιλειπόμενοι ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ κυρίου.