Yes, it could be agency, DIA TOU IHSOU, but I'd construe the prepositional
phrase rather with the main verb AXEI than with TOUS KOIMHQENTAS.
I'm not sure what it is that you don't understand here, Jonathan. It is not
those who died for the sake of Jesus, but those who "sleep." In traditional
terms KOIMAOMAI is called a "passive deponent" but there's not really
anything at all passive about KOIMHQEIS; it means "having fallen asleep"
and is a standard rabbinical term for the dead who will be raised. But I
don't think hOI KOIMHQENTES would under any normal circumstances refer to
martyrs--to those who have died FOR THE SAKE OF Jesus. My understanding of
the context in 1 Thess is that these are members of the congregation who
have died natural deaths--but before the Parousia that they had been led by
Paul, when he founded the church, to expect very soon.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/