First Thessalonians: 1 Thessalonians 2:7b-8-Paul, Silvanus and Timothy Not Only Shared the Gospel with the Thessalonians But Also Their Lives Lesson # 25

1 Thessalonians 2:1 For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. 2 But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. 3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. 5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness, 6 nor to seek glory from people, either from you or from others, 7 although we could have imposed our weight as apostles of Christ; instead we became little children among you. Like a nursing mother caring for her own children 8 with such affection for you we were happy to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. (NET)

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, Silvanus 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, Silvanus 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, Silvanus and Timothy conducted themselves as little children in the midst of the Thessalonians.

The emphatic contrast is between Paul, Silvanus 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, Silvanus and Timothy conducting themselves as “little children” emphasizes their innocence.

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

Paul, Silvanus 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, Silvanus 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, Silvanus and Timothy when interacting with the Thessalonians and the behavior of a nursing mother with her child.

Specifically, it is marking the correlation between Paul, Silvanus 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, Silvanus 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, Silvanus 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, Silvanus and Timothy’s great affection for the Thessalonians can compared to a nursing mother’s tender care for her own children.

So therefore, this comparative clause reveals the great compassionate affection that Paul, Silvanus 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.

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.

In 1 John 3:17, “compassion” is the noun splagchnon 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 agape, “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.

James 2 teaches that the believer demonstrates his faith by his obedience and Paul teaches that the profession of love is meaningless and useless without actions that benefit one’s fellow-believer.

Now, when 1 Thessalonians 2:8 speaks of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy sharing their very own lives, it is speaking of the whole persons of these men as well as their conduct.

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.

God’s love 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, Silvanus and Timothy.

Together, they assert that because Paul, Silvanus 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 is revealing the close, personal, intimate relationship that existed between them.