1 Thessalonians 2.7c-8-Paul, Silas and Timothy Shared the Gospel with the Thessalonians and Their Lives (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday May 26, 2024

Second Session

First Thessalonians Series: 1 Thessalonians 2:7c-8-Paul, Silas and Timothy Shared the Gospel with the Thessalonians and Their Lives

Lesson # 24

1 Thessalonians 2:5 So therefore, each one of us never at any time conducted ourselves with flattering speech as each one of you exist in the state of being well aware of, in fact nor with a motive produced by greed-God does exist in the state of being a witness. 6 Indeed, nor by existing in the state of seeking at any time honor from people, whether from any one of you or from others, 7 although each one of us for our own benefit existed in the state of possessing the power to impose our authority as Christ’s apostles. However, on the contrary, each of us conducted ourselves as little children in the midst of each of you. Like a nursing mother exists in the state of tenderly caring for her own children, 8 so, in the same way, because each one of us exists in the state of possessing great affection for each and every one of you, each one of us was more than happy to not only share with each one of you the one and only gospel originating from the one and only God, but also our very own lives. For each and every one of you has entered into the state of possessing the characteristic of being very dear to each one of us. (Pastor’s translation)

As we noted in our study of 1 Thessalonians 2:7, this verse continues the thought which began in 1 Thessalonians 2:5.

As we noted, verse 5 asserts that Paul, Silas and Timothy never at any time conducted themselves with flattering speech, nor motivated by greed.

1 Thessalonians 2:6 asserts that they never conducted themselves by seeking honor from people whether from the non-Christian community in Thessalonica or from the Thessalonian Christian community.

1 Thessalonians 2:7 continues this thought with a concessive clause which asserts that Paul, Silas and Timothy never imposed their authority over the Thessalonians as apostles of Jesus Christ when interacting with them although they possessed the power to do so.

Now, the strong adversative clause in 1 Thessalonians 2:7 states that Paul, Silas and Timothy conducted themselves as little children in the midst of the Thessalonians.

The emphatic contrast is between Paul, Silas and Timothy imposing their delegated authority from the Lord over the Thessalonians and these three conducting themselves as little children in the midst of the Thessalonians.

This description of Paul, Silas and Timothy conducting themselves as “little children” emphasizes their innocence.

Little children or infant babies are incapable of using deceptive speech and having ulterior motives and being concerned with receiving approbation from people.

Thus, this word describes these men as not using deceptive speech and not having ulterior motives and not concerned with receiving honor from people.

They acted like innocent children by never conducting themselves motivated by greed when interacting with them.

Lastly, they acted like innocent children with the Thessalonians by never imposing their authority from the Lord Jesus Christ when interacting with them.

Little children or infant children don’t flatter people and are not motivated by greed and they don’t possess any authority over anyone.

Paul, Silas and Timothy demonstrated all three of these characteristics when interacting with the Thessalonians.

1 Thessalonians 2:7 ends with the protasis of the comparative clause, which speaks of a nursing mother tenderly caring for her own children.

The apodosis of this comparative clause appears in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 and contains a correlative clause which asserts that because Paul, Silas and Timothy possessed great affection for the Thessalonians, they were more than happy to share not only the gospel with them but also their very own lives.

This comparative clause is therefore marking a comparison between the conduct of Paul, Silas and Timothy when interacting with the Thessalonians and the behavior of a nursing mother with her child.

Specifically, it marks the correlation between Paul, Silas and Timothy’s great affection for the Thessalonians and the affection a nursing mother has for her own children.

It is marking a nursing mother’s tender care for her own children as the perspective from which to compare Paul, Silas and Timothy’s great affection for the Thessalonian Christian community.

This correlative clause contained in the apodosis of this comparative clause is expressing emphatically the idea that Paul, Silas and Timothy not only shared the gospel of God with the Thessalonians but also, they shared their own lives with them.

Therefore, the correlation between the protasis at the end of verse 7 and the apodosis in verse 8 is that Paul, Silas and Timothy’s great affection for the Thessalonians can be compared to a nursing mother’s tender care for her own children.

So therefore, this comparative clause reveals the great compassionate affection that Paul, Silas and Timothy possessed for the Thessalonian Christian community, which was a manifestation of the fact that they were obeying the Lord Jesus Christ command to love one another (cf. John 13:34-35; 15:12).

One of the characteristics of the function of God’s attribute of love is compassion, which God manifested by sending His one and only Son to the cross in order to deliver all of sinful humanity from facing His wrath in the eternal lake of fire.

Paul taught in Colossians 3:12-14 that practicing compassion towards one’s fellow-believer manifests obedience to the command to love one another.

Colossians 3:12 Therefore, because each and every one of you are elected by God the Father, holy as well as divinely loved, I solemnly charge the clothing of yourselves with compassion which is the product of deep seated affections, kindness, humility gentleness, patience. 13 Simultaneously, continue making it your habit of tolerating one another, while also continuing to make it your habit of graciously forgiving each other. Whenever anyone possesses a complaint against anyone just as the Lord in fact graciously forgave each and every one of you for His own glory, so also in the same way, each and every one of you must continue to make it your habit of graciously forgiving each other. (Pastor’s translation)

In this passage, for the Colossians to exercise the love of God with one another would require that they are compassionate and kind with one another and were humble, gentle and patient with one another.

For them to exercise the love of God with each other would require them to be tolerant with one another and forgiving of one another as God in Christ has tolerated and forgiven all of them.

In 1 John 3:16-18, the apostle John teaches that the child of God will show compassion for their fellow child of God if they are obeying the command to love one another.

1 John 3:16 By means of this, each one of us knows experientially that which constitutes divine-love, namely that, He Himself, the one and only, laid down His life on behalf of each and every one of us. Consequently, each and every one of us is obligated to lay down our lives for the benefit of our fellow-believer. 17 But whoever at any time does possess the essentials required to sustain an earthly human existence and in addition does at any time see his fellow-believer possessing a need, yet shuts off his compassionate affections from him, how does God’s love live in him? 18 Dear children, let not any one of us at any time love one another by means of talk produced by the use of the tongue but rather by means of action produced by obedience to truth. (Pastor’s translation)

“Compassionate affections” is the noun splagchnon (σπλάγχνον), which not only expresses the idea of compassion toward another but also affection for another.

The term “compassion” speaks of the intense desire to alleviate the pain and suffering of another person or remove its cause.

The term “affection” pertains to a tender attachment to or fondness for another person usually an intimate friend or family member.

This compassionate affection is produced by the Holy Spirit in the believer who obeys the command to love his fellow believer as Christ loved Him (John 13:34).

Thus, it is the direct result of the believer operating in the agapē (ἀγάπη), “divine-love” of God and is an expression of it.

1 John 3:18 echoes James 2:1-26 and 1 Corinthians 13:1 in that both emphasize that God’s attribute of love does not manifest itself in the life of the believer by words only but rather by means of action on behalf of one’s fellow-believer or human being.

Now, when 1 Thessalonians 2:8 speaks of Paul, Silas and Timothy sharing their very own lives, it is speaking of the whole persons of these men as well as their conduct and specifically, it speaks of these men building relationships with the individual members of the Christian community in Thessalonica.

In other words, they became an integral part of the personal lives of the Thessalonians.

They were committed to giving of their lives to serve the Thessalonians.

Not only this but they were so committed to the Thessalonians that they were willing to suffer persecution and violence from the non-Christian community in Thessalonica and even die in order to communicate the gospel to the Thessalonians (cf. 1 Thess. 2:2, 14-20).

This brings out the self-sacrificial nature of their service on behalf of the Thessalonians and that they were obeying the command to love one another which manifests itself in self-sacrificial service for others, which flows from God’s love, which is sacrificial.

Now, this comparative clause in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 is then followed by a causal clause, which presents the reason for the former and asserts that the Thessalonians had become dear to Paul, Silas and Timothy.

Together, they assert that because Paul, Silas and Timothy possessed great affection for the Thessalonians, they shared not only the gospel with them but also their very own lives because the Thessalonians had become dear to these men.

When this causal clause asserts that the Thessalonians were very dear to Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, it reveals the close, personal, intimate relationship that existed between them.