1 Thessalonians 2:3

1 Thessalonians 2:3. For. Paul proceeds to show that his manner of preaching was in keeping with the fact that the Gospel he preached was from God. It was not a private idea or invitation of his own, but a message with which God had entrusted him. This they might be sure of, from what he states in the following verses; 1 Thessalonians 2:3-4 intimating his ordinary habit, the succeeding verses referring to his practice at Thessalonica.

Not of delusion. Even in these early days, as in our own, there were men who insinuated that the apostles were the victims of a simple-minded credulity, the dupes of ‘cunningly-devised fables.' Delusion could not have stood the test to which Paul has referred in the preceding verse.

Uncleanness seems here to mean any impure, sordid motives; though the remark of Jowett, that ‘there existed, in the age of the apostles, a connection between the form of spirituality and licentiousness,' must be kept in mind.

Guile. Paul's preaching was sincere; he spoke because he believed. He had no ends to serve, for the attainment of which he needed to use deceit (cf. 2 Corinthians 2:17 and 2 Corinthians 4:2).