1-thessalonians 5:7

For they that sleep - Sleepers and drunkards seek the night season; so the careless and the profligate persons indulge their evil propensities, and avoid all means of instruction; they prefer their ignorance to the word of God's grace, and to the light of life. There seems to be here an allusion to the opinion mentioned under 1 Thessalonians 5:4 (note), to which the reader is requested to refer. It may be remarked, also, that it was accounted doubly scandalous, even among the heathen, to be drunk in the day time. They who were drunken were drunken in the night.

For they that sleep, sleep in the night - Night is the time for sleep. The day is the time for action, and in the light of day people should be employed. Night and sleep are made for each other, and so are the day and active employment. The meaning here is, that it is in accordance with the character of those who are of the night, that is, sinners, to be sunk in stupidity and carnal security, as if they were asleep; but for the children of the day, that is, for Christians, it is no more appropriate to be inactive than it is for people to sleep in the daytime. "It is not to be wondered at that wicked people are negligent and are given to vice, for they are ignorant of the will of God. Negligence in doing right, and corrupt morals, usually accompany ignorance." Rosenmuller.

And they that be drunken, are drunken in the night - The night is devoted by them to revelry and dissipation. It is in accordance with the usual custom in all lands and times, that the night is the usual season for riot and revelry. The leisure, the darkness, the security from observation, and the freedom from the usual toils and cares of life, have caused those hours usually to be selected for indulgence in intemperate eating and drinking. This was probably more particularly the case among the ancients than with us, and much as drunkenness abounded, it was much more rare to see a man intoxicated in the day-time than it is now. To be drunk then in the day-time was regarded as the greatest disgrace. See Polyb. Exc. Leg. 8, and Apul. viii., as quoted by Wetstein; compare Acts 2:15 note; Isaiah 5:11 note. The object of the apostle here is, to exhort Christians to be sober and temperate, and the meaning is, that it is as disgraceful for them to indulge in habits of revelry, as for a man to be drunk in the day-time. The propriety of this exhortation, addressed to Christians, is based on the fact that intoxication was hardly regarded as a crime, and, surrounded as they were with those who freely indulged in drinking to excess, they were then, as they are now, exposed to the danger of disgracing their religion. The actions of Christians ought always to be such that they may be performed in open day and in the view of all the world. Other people seek the cover of the night to perform their deeds; the Christian should do nothing which may not be done under the full blaze of day.

5:7 They usually sleep and are drunken in the night - These things do not love the light.