1 Thessalonians 2:6

οὔτε (ἐγενήθημεν) ζητοῦντες ἐξ�. Along with fawning lips and covert selfishness, the writers disclaim the pursuit of human reputation; the three kinds of conduct are closely allied—flattery cloaking greed and ambition. The transition from the prepositional (1 Thessalonians 2:5) to the participial construction distinguishes the third vice as a practice rather than a disposition: nor did we become seekers of (or fall into the pursuit of) glory from men. To “men” God is tacitly opposed as the proper source of “glory”: cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:4, δεδοκιμάσμεθα ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ … θεῷ�; also John 5:41 ff; John 7:18; 1 Corinthians 4:3 ff.; Romans 2:7; and 1 Thessalonians 2:19 f. below. That the Apostles have ἐξ�, was stated in 1 Thessalonians 1:9; but they never “seek” it.

οὔτε�ʼ ὑμῶν οὔτε�ʼ ἄλλων. The missionaries might conceivably have sought reputation either from their converts, or “from others” at a distance hearing about them (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:8 f.); but this object never influenced their work. If ἐξ and ἀπό may be distinguished here (this however is questioned), ἐξ points to the general source of such “glory” and indicates its nature, while ἀπό marks out the particular quarter from which it might be derived—glory such as men could give, whether you or others supplied it: cf. Romans 2:29 for ἐξ; for ἀπό in like connexion, Luke 11:50 f., Luke 12:20; also 1 Thessalonians 1:8 above. As to the relations of ἀπό and ἐκ in N.T. Greek, see A. Buttmann’s N.T. Grammar, p. 324.

δυνάμενοι ἐν βάρει εἶναι ὡς Χριστοῦ� is added to sustain the disavowal of ambition; accordingly βάρος signifies not so much the “weight” of expense that the “apostles of Christ” might have thrown on the Church for their maintenance (see 1 Corinthians 9:14, &c.), to which ἐπιβαρῆσαι refers a little later (1 Thessalonians 2:9, see note; and cf. 2 Corinthians 11:9, ἀβαρῆ ἐμαυτὸν ἐποίησα), as the “weight” of authority and personal importance with which they might have imposed themselves on disciples—so Chrysostom paraphrases ἐν τιμῇ εἶναι, Erasmus in dignitate, Schmiedel in Ansehen, &c. The latter sense is borne out by the immediate context in 1 Thessalonians 2:7. But the two meanings are compatible; for official importance was measured by stipend, by the demand made for personal support (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:7, ἐμαυτὸν ταπεινῶν … ὅτι δωρεὰν … εὐηγγελισάμην, and the whole context); and it is just in St Paul’s manner to play on the double sense of such a phrase: when we might have sat heavily on you as Christ’s apostles reproduces, somewhat rudely, the double entendre; similarly Lightfoot ad loc. Polybius and other writers of the κοινή use βάρος in these two senses. With the locution ἐν βάρει εἶναι cf. ἐν ὑπεροχῇ ὅντων, 1 Timothy 2:2; also γίνομαι ἐν, 1 Thessalonians 2:5 above; see Liddell and Scott s. v. ἐν, 2. 2. For the connexion of βάρος with δόξα, see 2 Corinthians 4:17; both ideas are contained in the Hebrew כָּבוֹד.

Silvanus and Timotheus are included in the plural Χριστοῦ� (not, however, as ἀπόστολοι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ). The term ἀπόστολος, שְׁלִיחַ, was in current Jewish use (see Schürer’s History of the Jewish People in the Time of Christ, ii. ii. pp. 269, 290) as signifying emissary, commissioner; it was the title given to the delegates who conveyed to Jerusalem the contributions levied for sacred purposes from Jews of the Dispersion (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:23; Philippians 2:25), but in all probability was not confined to this application. In Christian usage it took a narrower and a wider sense, as it denoted primarily “the Twelve,” “the Apostles,” commissioned in the first instance and from His own person by Jesus Christ, and as it was subsequently extended to others “sent out” from particular Churches,—either for general service in the Gospel or on some specific Christian errand. These were “apostles of the churches,” but also, in a derivative sense, “apostles of Christ,” since they belonged to Him and were despatched on His service: see further, for this larger use of the word in which it corresponds to our missionary, Acts 14:4; Acts 14:14; Romans 16:7; 2 Corinthians 11:13; Revelation 2:2; also Didaché, xi. 2. John 17:18; John 20:21 give the fundamental Christian conception of the “apostle’s” calling, and the basis of the wider application of the title. It appears always to imply a travelling commission, and an authoritative mandate. In later Epistles (2 Corinthians 1:1; Colossians 1:1) St Paul distinguishes himself as “the apostle” from “Timothy the brother,” whose function was that of “an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4:5; cf. Ephesians 4:11); he claimed the Apostleship in its higher and exclusive sense (see Galatians 1:1; Galatians 1:12; Galatians 1:17; Galatians 2:6-8; Romans 1:1-5; 1 Corinthians 9:1 ff; 1 Corinthians 15:9-11; 2 Corinthians 12:11 ff., &c.). The Judaistic controversy, which arose subsequently to the writing of the Thessalonian Epistles, compelled St Paul to assert his plenary authority and his place by the side of the Twelve; in this sense, he then became ἐν βάρει. But for the present, and at Thessalonica, there is no necessity for him to assume more than the common apostleship, nor to raise himself by way of prerogative above his companions. See the Excursus of Huxtable on The name and office of an Apostle (Pulpit Commentary: Galatians); Lightfoot, Galatians, pp. 92–101; Hort, Ecclesia, pp. 22 ff.; Weizsäcker’s History of the Apostolic Age, Vol. ii. pp. 293–296; also Smith’s2 and Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible, s. v. Apostle.