The Apostles’ Sincerity and Gentleness (1 Thessalonians 2:4–8)

1 Thess. 2:4. But as we were approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak—not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts.

“We were approved” — δεδοκιμασμεθα. Δοκιμαζεινmeans to test, to ascertain by experience, to examine (1 Thess. 5:1; 1 Tim. 3:10), then, as a result of testing, to acknowledge as fit and capable for something and therefore to choose for some task (1 Cor. 16:3), and in general—to count worthy, to deem deserving. People test and, after testing, choose. God has no need of testing (Chrysostom), but simply sees. Therefore the Apostle says here: God saw, or acknowledged us as fit (as if having proved our fitness, goodness, and faithfulness), so as to entrust us with the Gospel. He entrusted us with the Gospel because He saw our fitness—the fitness to receive the sacred trust committed to us, with the aid of grace, purely, to preserve it purely, and to transmit it to others purely, without any admixture from the corruption of our mind and heart. “God tested us and chose us so as to entrust us with the Gospel” (Theophylact); He would not have chosen us if He had not found us worthy; if there were something bad in us, God would not have found us fit and approved. Proof of such worthiness is that the gospel was entrusted to us (Chrysostom). But the purpose for which the holy Paul mentions this here is not to recall his own worthiness, but to assure others of his faithfulness to God’s command. Since such trust has been placed in us, we cannot prove unfaithful. But as we were entrusted and as, at the time of entrustment, we were commanded, “so we speak”—that is, in the same spirit, by the same norm and intention. Our preaching of the Gospel fully corresponds to the trust. God tested us and entrusted us with the gospel. But such as He tested us and found us, such we remain. We speak as befits those who have been tested by God and found worthy to preach the gospel (Chrysostom). The conclusion that follows: therefore, believe our word as the word of God. We speak to you not for any of the reasons previously mentioned and denied, but we speak God’s word, by God’s command, without any admixture of anything unworthy before God.

“As we were approved… so we speak—not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts.” We have no aim, he says, to please men; all our concern is to be found pleasing to God, who tests our hearts. “We did not appoint ourselves as teachers—rather, the Gospel was entrusted to us by God. Therefore we both speak and do everything as if with God as witness; for we know that not a single movement of the soul is hidden from Him” (Theodoret). Though the holy Paul says that they only strive to make their work pleasing to God, it is evident that they cherish the assurance that it truly is so; for their conscience testifies that in all things they are faithful to the One who entrusted it to them and act entirely according to His intentions and desires. By this the Apostle forestalls a charge damaging to the success of the Gospel—that they act out of people-pleasing. For in such a case there is always room for suspicion of distorting the truth. But this is impossible when one acts before God and for His pleasure. God sees this unwavering faithfulness, and we with fear strive to manifest it to Him, serving as if in His very presence, lest for unfaithfulness He should remove us from the work. If He does not remove us, it means He sees us as faithful. The conclusion here is the same: therefore, do not waver in your faith in our word, for it is fully such as God Himself is pleased for it to be.

By “men,” whose pleasure the holy Paul denies seeking, one may understand either those who might have led them into error and persuaded them to spread a false teaching, or who had formed some plot and instructed them to act according to their plan; or one may understand those to whom the Gospel is being preached—showing that the Apostles do not accommodate themselves to their desires but speak God’s truth directly, without being deterred by the fact that it may be unpleasant for the hearers to receive (cf. Gal. 1:10).

1 Thess. 2:5–6. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext of greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others.

The holy Paul now passes to describing the spirit, intentions, and methods of his preaching. Three charges—possible or actual—the holy Paul repudiates here: flattery, greed, and love of glory. This is indicated also by the structure of the sentence: “never… nor” as a pretext… “nor” seeking—in Greek ουτε… ουτε… ουτε. The holy Paul first of all repudiates the charge of flattery: “never came with words of flattery to you.” This flattery or fawning is an exceedingly repellent manner of conduct. Not only is it unpleasant to deal face to face with a flatterer, but even one who gave no appearance of being a flatterer in personal dealings loses much as soon as the suspicion or charge of it is brought against him. It is precisely this charge that the holy Paul hastens to repudiate. For it could serve as a barrier between him and the Thessalonians. Moreover, by deflecting this charge, the holy Apostle thereby already weakened the other two (of greed and seeking glory), in which one cannot succeed without flattery. The holy Chrysostom places them in exactly this dependence, saying: “We did not flatter—as do people seeking profit or power. One cannot say that we flattered to attain power, or that we resolved to do this for money.” The Apostle says: we were not with you in words of flattery, εν λογω κολακειας, we did not address you with a flattering word. Our word to you was free from flattery, both in its manner of speech and in its content. But λογοςalso means the sense of a matter, a motive, a reason. If this is accepted, the Apostle’s thought will be: we did not address you or conduct ourselves among you in the spirit of flattery. In that case “with words of flattery” εν λογω κολακειας εν προφασει πλεονεξιαςwill embrace the whole activity of the Apostles, whereas in the first interpretation it concerns only the word, the conversation, the preaching.

“Nor with a pretext of greed.” We did not conduct ourselves among you in pursuit of gain either. We came to you to benefit you through the preaching of the Gospel, not to exploit you for gain. “With a pretext of greed” — εν προφασει πλεονεξιας. Προφασιςmeans a pretext and an intention. The Apostle wants to say: under the fair appearance of preaching and apostolic work, we were not concealing self-interested aims. He does not mean to say that no one can convict them of this, that nothing of the kind has come to light, but that they had no such covetous designs even in their hearts, that it never even entered their minds (Oecumenius). Why does the Apostle call God as witness to this? Because of the gravity of the charge, which could do great harm to the work of preaching if not repudiated; meanwhile it is impossible to see that the Apostles indeed have no such aims, since they are hidden in the heart. So the Apostle calls as witness God, who searches hearts, before whom and from whom they act (cf. Rom. 1:9; Phil. 1:8). He wants not even the shadow of such a dark suspicion about them to remain, and invites men to look into their conscience in the light of God’s omniscience.

“Regarding flattery,” says blessed Theodoret following Chrysostom, “the Apostle called the Thessalonians themselves as witnesses, because flattering words are evident to those who hear them; but regarding greed—not only them, but the One who oversees the whole universe, because the aim for which something is done is often hidden from men.”

“Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others. We were not seeking”—that is, we were not seekers of human glory either; we acted without requiring honor, without vainglory—and this not only among you, but everywhere and before all. “The Apostle did not say: we endured dishonor, or: we received no honor—which would have been a reproach to the Thessalonians—but: we did not seek glory” (Chrysostom). “Although they were glorified by men, they themselves did not seek glory and took no pleasure in it” (Oecumenius). In this the holy Apostles were like the Lord, who not only did not seek glory from men (Jn. 8:50), but did not even receive it (Jn. 5:41). Love of glory suppresses love of truth (Jn. 5:44). But God’s glory is not like that. “He who seeks the glory of the One who sent him, this man is true and there is no unrighteousness in him” (Jn. 7:18). This conviction the holy Paul wished to plant in the hearts of the Thessalonians. The calling of God as witness to assure them of freedom from greed extends also to this point—assurance of freedom from love of glory as well. “The same witness is also for the fact that we preach not seeking glory from men” (Oecumenius).

Up to this point the holy Paul had put forward the subject matter of his preaching, the source of the teaching he was preaching, and the spirit of his preaching—that is, his motives for it. Now he turns to describing how they conducted themselves during their preaching of the Gospel among the Thessalonians. In three distinct denials (1 Thess. 1:2, 3:4, 5:6) he repelled the charges leveled against him, assuring them that his teaching is not some empty superstition but the Gospel of God—from God and not from any corrupt source—and that he himself, in preaching it, was moved not by any impure motives of greed or vainglory and taught not with the dishonest methods of flattery and cunning, but as before God, who searches hearts. Now he outlines his activity from a positive standpoint in brief but powerful expressions.

1 Thess. 2:7. Though we could have asserted our authority as Apostles of Christ, yet we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother cherishing her own children.

“To have asserted our authority” could be understood—as it might seem at first glance, by reference to what the Apostle says in 1 Thess. 2:9: “that we might not burden you,” and to his use of this word in other places (2 Thess. 3:8; 2 Cor. 12:16, 11:9)—as meaning to burden with one’s own support. The Apostles, by the Lord’s command that those who proclaim the gospel should live by the gospel (1 Cor. 9:14), could blamelessly receive support from those who had accepted the Gospel. As this required new expenses not previously incurred, it could seem burdensome. Is it not this burden that the holy Paul has in mind here, as if saying: we could have burdened you with supporting us, but did not? No, not this. For then it would have been necessary to add “to you” and to say, instead of “to assert authority” εν βαρει, “to be a burden” εις βαρος — that is, to say: we could have been a burden to you. But the main reason this interpretation cannot be accepted is that it does not correspond either to what precedes it, where the Apostle speaks of not seeking glory, or to what follows, where he speaks of his own gentleness. It is better to interpret “though we could have asserted our authority” as in the Russian translation: though we could have appeared with dignity, as Apostles. Chrysostom says on this passage: “If the messengers of kings enjoy honor, how much more may we. Those who are sent to men by God ought, like heavenly messengers who have appeared, to enjoy all the greater honor—but despite such an excess of right, we do nothing of the kind, so as to stop the mouths of adversaries.”

One may allow that the holy Apostle has in mind here the repudiation of a new particular charge, similar to the one that was later leveled against him in Corinth (2 Cor. 10:10), namely that the holy Paul acted too weakly. A messenger of God should have shown more dignity. The Apostle says: we could have appeared in such a manner, but we were gentle. Our love for you prompted us to act thus.

“But we were gentle among you.” “But” answers directly to what was said above—“though we could have asserted our authority”—together with which it forms a distinct, complete thought: as though to say, we could have appeared with dignity, but we were gentle—that is, we did not hold a lofty tone, we were not domineering (1 Pet. 5:3), but as servants, by the command of the Lord, we were ready to do everything ourselves for you (Mt. 20:26). “Gentle” — ηπιοι. ‘Ηπιος means meek, quiet, tenderly loving, gracious—and is used precisely in the relations of those higher to those lower: a king toward his subjects, a superior toward those under him, parents toward children, physicians toward their patients. “Among you”—in our dealings with you we were the same as you; as though we had nothing special, as if we had received no special appointment and significance (Chrysostom); we appeared among you, surrounded by you, as teachers by disciples, as mothers by children, as a hen by her chicks. This condescension may have served, for some, as a reason for charging the Apostles with flattery, and for others—with weakness of character. The Apostle answers: all this is the fruit of love for you, not flattery or weakness.

“Like a nursing mother who cherishes her own children.”

The first characteristic of the Apostles’ manner among the Thessalonians is gentleness; the second is motherly love. “Nursing mother” here does not mean a wet nurse, as is clear from the fact that she is depicted as nourishing her own children. This is a mother in the period of nursing her child—a mother giving suck (breastfeeding). The holy Paul compares himself to a mother also in the Epistle to the Galatians (1 Thess. 4:19). He also frequently calls himself a father in relation to those who came to faith through him (here — 1 Thess. 2:11; 1 Cor. 4:15). The comparison with a mother proved more apt here, because the Apostle wished to express his exceedingly tender love for them—love on the side of feeling; the love of active works of love he expresses below (1 Thess. 2:9) by comparing himself to a father. By it the Apostle also wished to cast a concluding light on his previous apologetic thoughts against the charges. Thus the holy Chrysostom: “Does a nursing mother flatter her child to gain glory from it? Does she seek money from little ones? Is she arrogant with them and harsh? Here the Apostle reveals his tender love.”

“Cherishes her own children” — θαλπη. This is said of birds that warm their young by covering them with their wings. So too a mother wraps her little child at her breast, thereby both protecting it and giving it vitality. The comparison points to a love poured out, ever ready to do everything for the beloved.

1 Thess. 2:8. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own souls, because you had become dear to us.

“Affectionately longing for you” — ομειρομενοι υμων. This word means a strong desire to unite oneself with someone, to enter into fellowship and heartfelt union with him, and in relation to the absent—a desire to see them and be together again. The Thessalonians were formerly strangers in the faith, as those living in a foreign land. The Apostle expresses by this how he desired to draw them to himself, desired heartfelt union with them, desired specifically them and not something of theirs—as he said in another place (2 Cor. 12:14): “I seek not yours, but you.”

“We were well pleased” — ευδοκουμεν. This word means a willing, joyful, and gladly undertaken free resolution of good will. It is used to express God’s good pleasure concerning the salvation of the human race and of each person (Col. 1:19; Gal. 1:15; 1 Cor. 1:21), and of the good impulses of human desires (Rom. 15:26; 2 Cor. 5:8; and others).

“To impart to you” … our souls — μεταδουναι— to transmit, to share. There are those who wish to see here only δουναι— to give, to lay down—understanding “souls” as “lives,” so that the meaning would be: we were gladly willing not only to preach the Gospel to you but to lay down our lives for you, if it had been required (cf. Mt. 20:28). But in that case the phrase would have said “for you,” not “to you.” Moreover, to interpret it in that way means dividing within a single phrase the meaning of one and the same word μεταδουναι. In relation to souls—to give up. Though to give up one’s soul for someone in the sense of sacrificing one’s life does show strong love, it is still weaker than what the Apostle wishes to express. He wishes to say that he eagerly desired to transmit his very soul to them. Just as a mother—with whom the Apostle compares himself—is ready not only in danger to lay down her life for her children, but is ever ready to pour out and does pour out her soul into them, living in them as it were by her very soul; so too the holy Paul assures them that he was ready to pour his very soul into them. According to the holy Chrysostom, the Apostle expresses: “We love you so much that, if it had been necessary, we would have given you even our souls,” because we were wholly devoted to you. We did not merely preach the Gospel to you, but along with the words which, sparing no strength, we sowed abundantly in you, we were well pleased to transmit to you our very souls—as a mother’s soul passes, as it were, into the child she nourishes not with something external but with the elements of her own life. Strong love is ready to transmit, or to carry over, everything into the beloved. Thus Christ the Saviour, in a demonstration of His boundless love for us, gives us His very self in Holy Communion. Such is the character of Paul’s love as well. Only what the Saviour bestows in deed, the Apostle transmitted by his good will.

“Because you had become dear to us.” Having expressed such an affection and at the same time reminded the Thessalonians that it was real and had been shown as such, the Apostle hastens to characterize it, pointing to its true source—not in anything external, but in love alone. They might then have thought, or might now think, that the Apostles were seeking something from them. To deflect such a suspicion the Apostle says: all this was not for any other reason, but “because you had become dear to us” (Chrysostom, Theophylact).