Precede - Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
Precede
[ 1,,G5348, phthano ]to anticipate, to come sooner," is translated "shall (in no wise) precede" in 1 Thessalonians 4:15, RV (AV, "prevent"), i.e., "shall in no wise obtain any advantage over" (the verb does not convey the thought of a mere succession of one event after another); the Apostle, in reassuring the bereaved concerning their departed fellow believers, declares that, as to any advantage, the dead in Christ will "rise first." See ATTAIN, No. 3, COME, No. 32.