1 Thessalonians 2:3

Text (1 Thessalonians 2:3)

3 For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:

Translation and Paraphrase

3.

For (you see) the message which we urge you to accept is not (something that springs) from misleading error (which we hold), nor from (any sexual) uncleanness (such as the Gentile religions often practice), nor from (any) hidden scheme (by which we seek to trap you).

Notes (1 Thessalonians 2:3)

1.

When a man knows he is telling the truth, he will speak confidently, and have a ring of reliability in his tone. Paul was willing to endure all the troubles he experienced in Thessalonica, because he knew that his message was true, pure, and without concealed secrets.

2.

The word exhortation (Gr., paraklesis, from parakaleo) has a double significance. It includes the idea of rousing the slothful, and also of comforting the sorrowful. (McGarvey)

3.

Paul's exhortation was not of deceit. Deceit means error or wandering, or straying about. It refers to error that is not merely the result of ignorance, but of evil intentions. The false brethren who taught the Gentile Christians to keep the law of Moses were guilty of such deceit as this.

4.

Uncleanness refers to sexual indulgence and impurity. Note 1 Thessalonians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; Romans 1:24; Colossians 3:5. The prophetess Jezebel taught people to commit fornication. Revelation 2:20. But Paul neither practiced nor taught such things. Some of the mystery religions in Thessalonica practiced moral uncleanness. See Introductory Section VI, par. 11.) Paul's exhortation was not of that species.

5.

Guile comes from a Greek word, dolos, meaning bait, hence a lure or snare. The word therefore indicates craft or deceit by which people may be trapped. It refers to any hidden purposes or motives, especially bad ones. The minister of Christ must not have any secret motives or requirements that he plans to spring on his disciples.

6.

The ministerial work must be managed purely for God and the salvation of the people, and not for any private ends of our own. This is our sincerity in it. A wrong end makes all the work bad from us, however good in itself. (Richard Baxter)