APANTHSIS as a TERMINUS TECHNICUS (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

The Greek term APANTHSIS is used in the ancient Hellenistic world as a technical term (TERMINUS TECHNICUS) to describe citizens who would go out to meet a visiting dignitary and escort him back to the city from which the citizens emanated. See The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament by Rogers and Rogers (page 479); Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (J.H. Moulton and G. Milligan), page 53; Theological Dictionary of the New Testament 1:380-381.

I think we should not read too much into the metaphorical language in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The imagery that Paul uses regarding APANTHSIS should probably be correlated with John 14:2-3, which suggests that Christ the bridegroom goes away to prepare a place for his bride (the EKKLHSIA), then returns to carry his figurative bride home. A.T. Robertson (Word Pictures) thus states that there is not enough evidence (based on APANTHSIS alone) to tell us whether the risen holy ones continue heavenward with the Lord or continue descending to the earth. F.F. Bruce argues similarly and R.L. Thomas unequivocally contends that one should not infer too much from Paul's utilization of a word that functioned as a technical term in other ancient documents.

In conclusion, I would submit that it is ill-advised to construe or apply every little aspect of a metaphor. As Max Black maintains, metaphors both emphasize and suppress meaning. They also possibly create new meaning through an interaction of what Black calls the "frame" and "focus." For Black, a metaphor constitutes a sentence (the frame) in which primary and secondary subjects (i.e., concepts) appear. One example of a metaphor that might illustrate Black's distinction is "Man is a wolf." The sentence is the frame, "man" is the primary subject and "wolf" is the secondary subject. The term "wolf" emphasizes and suppresses meaning about wolves and man. Most people interpret the turn of phrase to mean that man is ferocious or ravenous. However, wolves have a number of positive traits (e.g., altrusism, social traits) that we frequently overlook due to what Black calls "associated commonplaces" (ENDOXA) about wolves.