I would not have you to be ignorant - Instead of εχομεν, have, θελομεν, wish, is the reading of ADEFG, many others, besides the Arabic, Ethiopic, Armenian, some of the Slavonian, the Vulgate, and Itala, with many of the Greek fathers. This is undoubtedly the true reading: Brethren, I would not wish you to be ignorant; or, I would not that you should be ignorant.

This was probably one of the points which were lacking in their faith, that he wished to go to Thessalonica to instruct them in.

Them which are asleep - That is, those who are dead. It is supposed that the apostle had heard that the Thessalonians continued to lament over their dead, as the heathens did in general who had no hope of the resurrection of the body; and that they had been puzzled concerning the doctrine of the resurrection. To set them right on this important subject, he delivers three important truths:

1. He asserts, as he had done before, that they who died in the Lord should have, in virtue of Christ's resurrection, a resurrection unto eternal life and blessedness.

2. He makes a new discovery, that the last generation should not die at all, but be in a moment changed to immortals.

3. He adds another new discovery, that, though the living should not die, but be transformed, yet the dead should first be raised, and be made glorious and immortal; and so, in some measure, have the preference and advantage of such as shall then be found alive. See Dodd.

I would.

Romans 1:13 Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that oftentimes I purposed to come to you...

1 Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brothers, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud...

1 Corinthians 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I would not have you ignorant.

2 Corinthians 1:8 For we would not, brothers, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure...

2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

which are.

1 Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord...

1 Thessalonians 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

1 Kings 1:21 Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers...

1 Kings 2:10 So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Matthew 27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

Luke 8:52,53 And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleeps...

John 11:11-13 These things said he: and after that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep...

Acts 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid to his fathers, and saw corruption:

1 Corinthians 15:6,18 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brothers at once; of whom the greater part remain to this present...

2 Peter 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep...

ye sorrow.

Genesis 37:35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said...

Leviticus 19:28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks on you: I am the LORD.

Deuteronomy 14:1,2 You are the children of the LORD your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead...

2 Samuel 12:19,20 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said to his servants...

2 Samuel 18:33 And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom...

Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away...

Ezekiel 24:16-18 Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet neither shall you mourn nor weep...

John 11:24 Martha said to him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Acts 8:2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.

which have. See on

Ephesians 2:12 That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise...

Job 19:25-27 For I know that my redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day on the earth...

Proverbs 14:32 The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous has hope in his death.

Ezekiel 37:11 Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost...

1 Corinthians 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Chrysostom -- Excessive Grief at the Death of Friends
Chrysostom (that is, "Of the Golden Mouth") was a title given to John, Archbishop of Constantinople. He was born of a patrician family at Antioch about 347, and owed much to the early Christian training of his Christian mother, Anthusa. He studied under Libanius, and for a time practised law, but was converted and baptized in 368. He made a profound study of the Scriptures, the whole of which, it is said, he learned to repeat by heart. Like Basil and Gregory he began his religious life as a hermit …
Various—The World's Great Sermons, Volume I

Transformed by Grace
In the life of the disciple John true sanctification is exemplified. During the years of his close association with Christ, he was often warned and cautioned by the Saviour; and these reproofs he accepted. As the character of the Divine One was manifested to him, John saw his own deficiencies, and was humbled by the revelation. Day by day, in contrast with his own violent spirit, he beheld the tenderness and forbearance of Jesus, and heard His lessons of humility and patience. Day by day his heart …
Ellen Gould White—The Acts of the Apostles

Letter cxix. To Minervius and Alexander.
Minervius and Alexander two monks of Toulouse had written to Jerome asking him to explain for them a large number of passages in scripture. Jerome in his reply postpones most of these to a future time but deals with two in detail viz. (1) "we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed," 1 Cor. xv. 51; and (2) "we shall be caught up in the clouds," 1 Thes. iv. 17. With regard to (1) Jerome prefers the reading "we shall all sleep but we shall not all be changed," and with regard to (2) he looks …
St. Jerome—The Principal Works of St. Jerome