1 Thessalonians 2:7

7. Evidence for νηπιοι: א*BC*D*G, some dozen minuscc., latt vg (parvuli) cop aeth, Clem Or Cyr. Origen, on Matthew 19:14, writes: Παυλος ως επισταμενος το Των γαρ τοιουτων εστιν η βασιλεια των ουρανων, δυναμενος εν βαρει, κ.τ.λ., εγενετο νηπιος κ. παραπλησιος τροφῳ θαλπουσῃ το εαυτης παιδιον. To the like effect Augustine (De catech. rudibus, 15): “Factus est parvulus in medio nostrum tamquam nutrix fovens filios suos. Num enim delectat, nisi amor invitet, decurtata et mutilata verba inmurmurare?” For ηπιοι: AאcCbDcKLP, most minn., cat. txt, syrr sah basm, Clem Bas Chr. νηπιοι has by far the better attestation; yet it is rejected by most editors and commentators in favour of ηπιοι as alone fitting the context, since gentleness is the opposite of the arrogance disclaimed in 1 Thessalonians 2:6, while in the next clause the writer describes himself as a nurse, not a babe: the mixture of metaphors involved in the reading of אB is violent, despite Origen’s explanation. WH (with whom Lightfoot agrees), on the other hand, denounce ηπιοι as a “tame and facile adjective” characteristic of “the Syrian revisers” (Appendix, p. 128). In the continuous uncial writing Ν (after εγενηθημεν) might be insinuated or dropped with equal ease. The rarity of ηπιος (only 2 Timothy 2:24 besides in N.T.), and the frequency of νηπιος (esp. in Paul), tell for the former in point of transcriptional probability. νηπιοι is clearly the older extant reading: we must either regard ηπιοι as a corruption, or a happy correction, of νηπιοι on the part of the Syrian revisers. On the latter view, νηπιοι must be attributed to a primitive and widely spread dittography of the final ν of εγενηθημεν, which however, as A and the Sahidic Version testify, was not universal. The confusion of these two words is rather common in the mss.: see 2 Timothy 2:24; Ephesians 4:14; Hebrews 5:13.

7. ἀλλὰ ἐγενήθημεν νήπιοι ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν. See Textual Note above. (a) According to the reading νήπιοι, the Apostles were simple, guileless, and unassuming (1 Thessalonians 2:3-7) as “babes”: cf. ἀκέραιοι, τέκνα θεοῦ, in Philippians 2:15; ἀκεραίους εἰς τὸ κακόν and τῇ κακίᾳ νηπιάζετε, Romans 16:19 and 1 Corinthians 14:20; also Matthew 18:4, and 2 Corinthians 11:7; 1 Peter 2:1 f., for the various Christian qualities represented by νηπιότης. This wider interpretation of νήπιοι is demanded by the contrast with 1 Thessalonians 2:5-6; cf. that derived by Origen and Augustine from the clause which follows, given in the note below. (b) The reading ἤπιοι presents the apter contrast to 1 Thessalonians 2:6; and it traverses the πλεονεξία, if not the κολακία, of 1 Thessalonians 2:5. Ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν puts the ἐν ὑμῖν of 1 Thessalonians 1:5 more vividly (cf. Matthew 18:2-4),—ὡς ἄν εἴποι τις Ὡς εἶς ἐξ ὑμῶν, οὐχὶ τὴν ἄνω λαβόντες τάξιν (Chrysostom); non agebant quasi ex cathedra (Bengel): cf. 1 Peter 5:1; Revelation 1:9; Luke 22:27; Hebrews 2:12,—the two latter passages relating to the Great Example.

νήπιοι (if this reading be genuine) ἐν μέσῳ κ.τ.λ. leads on to the comparison, ὡς ἐὰν τροφὸς θάλπῃ τὰ ἑαυτῆς τέκνα, as haply a nurse might be cherishing her own children; for the skill of a nurse lies in her coming down to the level of her babes,—as Origen puts it, λαλοῦσα λόγους ὡς παιδίον διὰ τὸ παιδίον; Augustine, delectat … decurtata et mutilata verba inmurmurare. But this is only a single trait of the picture: the nurse-mother (θάλπει τὰ ἑαυτῆς τέκνα) is child-like with her children,—as far from selfish craft as they, and filled besides with a care for them (see 1 Thessalonians 2:8) which they cannot feel nor reciprocate toward her. Here St Paul paints himself as the mother τρέφουσα καὶ θάλπουσα, while in Galatians 4:19 he is the mother ὠδίνουσα. Ὡς ἄν (later Gr. ἐάν), like other relative pronouns and adverbs with ἄν and subjunct., implies a standing contingency,—“as it may be (may be seen) at any time”: cf. Galatians 5:17; Luke 9:57, &c., for the construction; the temporal ὡς ἄν of 1 Corinthians 11:34, &c., is different. Θάλπω, only here and in Ephesians 5:29 (ἐκτρέφει καὶ θάλπει) in N.T.; in LXX, Deuteronomy 22:6. Ἠπιότης however (if we prefer to read ἤπιοι) is a conspicuous trait of the τροφός with her τέκνα.