1 Thessalonians 2:7

But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: WE WERE, [ egeneetheemen (G1096)] - 'we were made' by God's grace. GENTLE, [ eepioi (G2261)] (so A C) - 'mild in bearing with the faults of others;' gentle (though firm) in reproving (2 Timothy 2:24). 'Aleph (') B Delta G f g, Vulgate, read 'we became [ neepioi (G3516)] little children' (cf. Matthew 18:3). "Gentle" forms a better antithesis to 1 Thes...

What we have rendered _mild_, the old translator renders _Fuimus parvuli _, (_we have been little_,) (525) but the reading which I have followed is more generally received among the Greeks; but whichever you may take, there can be no doubt that he makes mention of his voluntary abasement. (526) _As if a nurse_. In this comparison he takes in two points that he had touched upon — that he had sought neither glory nor gain among the Thessalonians. For a mother in nursing her infant shews nothing of power or dignity. Paul says that he was such, inasmuch as he voluntarily refrained from claiming the honor that was due to him, and with calmness and modesty stooped to every kind of office. _Secondly_, a mother in nursing her children manifests a certain rare and wonderful affection, inasmuch as she spares no labor and trouble, shuns no anxiety, is wearied out by no assiduity, and even with

7-12 Mildness and tenderness greatly recommend religion, and are most conformable to God's gracious dealing with sinners, in and by the gospel. This is the way to win people. We should not only be faithful to our calling as Christians, but in our particular callings and relations. Our great gospel privilege is, that God has called us to his kingdom and glory. The great gospel duty is, that we walk worthy of God. We should live as becomes those called with such a high and holy calling. Our great business is to honour, serve, and please God, and to seek to be worthy of him....

Verse 7. _BUT WE WERE GENTLE AMONG YOU_] Far from assuming the authority which we had, we acted towards you as a tender nurse or parent does to a delicate child. We fed, counselled, cherished, and bore with you; we taught you to walk, preserved you from stumbling, and led you in a right path. Instead of ηπιοι, _gentle_, many MSS., and several versions and fathers, have νηπιοι, _young children_. But this never can be considered the original reading, the scope of the place being totally opposed to it. It is the Thessalonians whom the apostle considers as _young children_, and _himself_ and fellow labourers as the _nurse_; he could with no propriety say that he was among them as a _little child_, while himself professed to be _their nurse_....

BUT WE WERE GENTLE AMONG YOU - Instead of using authority, we used only the most kind and gentle methods to win you and to promote your peace and order. The word here rendered “nurse,” may mean any one who nurses a child, whether a mother or another person. It seems here to refer to a mother (compare 1 Thessalonians 2:11), and the idea is, that the apostle felt for them the affectionate solicitude which a mother does for the child at her breast....

EXPOSITION CONTENTS.—Paul turns from the reports of others to the experience of the readers. They themselves knew that his entrance was not powerless; although maltreated in Philippi, he was emboldened to preach the gospel at Thessalonica. His preaching did not proceed either from delusion on his part or from a desire to delude others. He felt approved by God, and was actuated by no improper motives: he sought neither their praise nor their money; so far from insisting on his apostolic rights, he was gentle among them, and conducted himself with the tenderness of a nursing mother toward her children; and so far from his ministry being a pretext for covetousness, he had labored for his own support; and thus he could confidently appeal to the Thessalonians as witnesses of the blamelessness of his conduct And as his entrance among them was not powerless, so he thanked God that it resulted i...

BUT WE WERE GENTLE AMONG YOU,.... Meek and humble, mild and moderate; not using severity, or carrying it in a haughty imperious manner; assuming power and dominion, lording it over God's heritage, and commanding persons to do homage and honour to them, and forcing themselves upon them, and obliging them to maintain them. The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, instead of "gentle", read, "little children"; as the word signifies, by adding a letter to it, and expresses much the same as the other, that they were harmless and modest, and disinterested; and sought not themselves neither honour nor wealth, but the real good of others, and were kind and tender, and affectionate to them: EVEN AS A NURSE CHERISHETH HER CHILDREN: or "the children of her own self"; her own children, and so designs a nursing mother, one whose the children are, has bore them as well as nurses them, and therefore ha...

1 THESSALONIANS 2:7 nh,pioi {B} From a transcriptional point of view it is difficult to decide whether nh,pioi arose by dittography after the preceding &n, or whether h;pioi arose by haplography. Likewise, considerations of what the author was more likely to have written are equally inconclusive. Thus, though Paul uses nh,pioj almost a dozen times elsewhere whereas h;pioj is found in the Greek Bible only in 2 Timothy 2:24, yet the apostle always applies nh,pioi to his converts and nowhere else refers to himself as a...

II. TRUE SERVICE, AS MANIFESTED IN APOSTOLIC MINISTRY CHAPTER 2 _ 1. Apostolic conduct and service 1 Thessalonians 2:1)_ 2. Thanksgiving for the reception of the message and the opposition 1 Thessalonians 2:13) 3. Looking forward to His coming 1 Thessalonians 2:17) 1 Thessalonians 2:1 The apostle now enlarges upon the brief statement in the previous chapter “Ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes.” His conduct and character, as well as that of his fellow laborers, corresponded fully with the holy character

PAUL'S DEFENCE OF HIS MISSIONARY WORK. Paul had been charged by his opponents with being a wandering sophist making money out of his followers. He rebuts the charge and incidentally gives us a picture of the ideal missionary. 1 THESSALONIANS 2:2. AT PHILIPPI: the reference is to the scourging and imprisonment described in Acts 16:22. 1 Thessalonians 2:3. Our preaching was not the result of mental delusion, nor of an impure character, nor was it with intent to deceive. Each phrase refers to a charge which had been brought against Paul. 1 Thessalonians 2:4. pleasing