1 Thessalonians 2:2

The letter opens with Paul’s thanks for the Thessalonians’ faith, which had turned them from idols to God (1 Thessalonians 1). With chapter 2 he turns to his own conduct among them. Verses 1 to 12 (1 Thessalonians 2:1–12) form one account of how he and his companions behaved, what moved them and how they preached, and all of it rests on what the Thessalonians had seen with their own eyes.

Acts tells how the church at Thessalonica began (Acts 17:1–9). Paul preached in the synagogue for three Sabbaths, and some Jews believed, along with a great many God-fearing Greeks and a number of leading women. Then Jews who were jealous stirred up a mob, and Paul and Silas had to flee the city. The stay was short and the leaving was sudden.

Thessalonica, a leading Roman provincial capital and a busy port, saw many travelling philosophers, speakers and religious teachers. Many of them used flattery and clever speech to win followers, and they were after money, fame or worse from those who listened. Paul and his companions also moved from city to city and lived on hospitality, so they could easily be taken for men of that kind. It is likely that after Paul’s hurried departure people spoke against him and charged him with deceit, greed or a hunger for glory. Paul answers by pointing the believers to what they knew of him, and the verses that follow take up each of those charges. His defence of himself is also a defence of the gospel, because a young church that came to doubt its messengers could come to doubt their message.

Paul had come to Thessalonica straight from suffering. “We had suffered before” translates propáschō, to undergo hardship beforehand, and “were shamefully entreated” translates hybrízō, to treat with violence and abuse. Acts gives the account (Acts 16:19–40). After Paul cast a spirit out of a slave girl, he and Silas were stripped and beaten with rods at the order of the magistrates, then thrown into the inner prison with their feet fastened in the stocks, all without a trial. Philippi was a Roman colony and proud of its Roman law, and Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, so the treatment was unlawful as well as shameful. The pain was real, and so was the public disgrace, which was meant to humiliate them and silence their message. “As ye know” tells us the Thessalonians had heard the story, quite possibly from Paul himself.

The next thing Paul says is “we were bold in our God”. The verb parrhēsiázomai comes from parrhēsia, freedom of speech. It means to be frank in what one says, or confident in spirit and bearing, and it describes open speech in the face of danger. The courage came from God. theós is the word for a deity, used above all of the one true God, and Paul calls him “our God”. The same word comes back in “the gospel of God”, so the boldness and the message have one source. The believers in Jerusalem knew the same gift when they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31).

“The gospel of God” uses euangélion, a good message. Calling it God’s gospel marks it as his own message, carrying his authority, and sets it apart from human philosophy and moral teaching. A beating at Philippi left that purpose where it was: Paul still came to speak the gospel.

Verse 3 gives the reason for that boldness: Paul had nothing to hide. “Exhortation” translates paráklēsis, a word for earnest appeal, encouragement and comfort, related to the verb parakaléō, to call alongside. It covers everything Paul said among them: his preaching of the gospel, his teaching, his encouragement and his pleas that they live worthy of God.

The first two phrases say where the appeal came from, with the preposition ek, “out of”. “Not of deceit” uses plánē, which means deceit, delusion or error, and with it Paul says his message was founded on God’s truth and led no one astray. The error of the deceiving spirits Paul warns Timothy about (1 Timothy 4:1) stands at the opposite pole. “Nor of uncleanness” uses akatharsía, impurity of body or of morals. It is often used of sexual sin and covers any moral defilement. Some travelling teachers of that day used their followers to feed their lusts or fill their purses, and Paul’s work came from a clean heart.

The third phrase changes the preposition to en, “in”, and so moves from the source of the appeal to its manner. “Guile” is dólos, from an old verb that probably meant to decoy, and so a trick or bait, the cunning that catches someone. Paul’s speech was straight and open, like that of the Lord Jesus, “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22).

Paul says the same of himself to the Corinthians, that he had renounced dishonest and crafty ways of handling the word of God (2 Corinthians 4:2), and at Corinth he had to defend his conduct at length (2 Corinthians 11). God asks the same honesty of those who lead his church (Titus 1:7–8) and shepherd his flock (1 Peter 5:2).

“Allowed of God” means approved by God. The verb dokimázō means to test and, by implication, to approve, and Paul says that God had tested him and his companions and found them fit to carry the gospel. “To be put in trust” translates pisteúō, which can mean to believe or to credit what someone says, and by implication to entrust. Here God entrusts the gospel to them as a precious charge, the way a valuable thing is left with a guardian who can be relied on. Paul calls himself and his fellow workers stewards of the mysteries of God, who must be found faithful (1 Corinthians 4:1–5). The ministry was given by God, and the gospel belongs to him.

“Even so we speak” ties the way they speak to the trust they hold. A message given by God is spoken as he gave it, with pure motives.

“Not as pleasing men, but God” names the one they spoke to please. Paul writes the same to the Galatians: if he were still pleasing men, he would not be the servant of Christ (Galatians 1:10).

Verse 5 names two ways a preacher can use people. The first is flattery. kolakeía, from a word for a fawner, is insincere praise that wins favour and gets something from the hearer. Paul’s words were free of it from first to last, and again he calls on what the Thessalonians know, since they had heard every word.

The second is “a cloke of covetousness”. próphasis means an outward show, a pretext, a covering that hides the real motive. pleonexía is avarice, and by implication fraud and extortion. Teachers who used religion as a cover for getting money were a familiar sight, and people suspected every travelling teacher of it. Paul’s preaching was exactly what it appeared to be. He told the elders of Ephesus that he had coveted no one’s silver or gold (Acts 20:33), and Peter warns of false teachers who exploit people out of greed (2 Peter 2:3).

“God is witness” uses mártys, a witness in court or in general, and by analogy a martyr. Paul calls two witnesses: the Thessalonians, who heard every word he spoke, and God, who saw what moved him. Greed can be hidden from people, and God sees it all, so Paul’s appeal to him places the matter before the judge whose verdict is final.

“Nor of men sought we glory” uses zētéō, to seek or pursue, and dóxa, glory, which here means praise, honour and reputation among people. Many teachers of the day competed for prestige and for the patronage of their followers. Paul and his companions set their hearts on God’s approval and sought honour from no one, “neither of you, nor yet of others”.

“When we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ” shows what they gave up. báros means weight, and in the New Testament it is used figuratively of a burden. As apostles of Christ, his delegates and ambassadors (Paul calls himself an ambassador for Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:20), they had the right to support from the people they served, and laying that weight on them would have been within their rights. The word can also carry the weight of authority they could have pressed. They chose to bear their own costs, and Paul often supported himself by working with his own hands (Acts 20:34). “Apostles” is plural because Paul writes this letter together with Silvanus and Timothy, and he includes them with himself.

Every mark of Paul’s ministry in these verses was first true of the Lord Jesus. Paul’s appeal was free of deceit, and Jesus is the truth itself (John 14:6). He could ask his hearers which of them convicted him of sin (John 8:45–46), and he was “a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19). His words were always true, even when they cost him followers. He spoke plainly to the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23), and his hard sayings made many disciples turn back (John 6:60–66).

His life was one of giving. The Son of man had nowhere to lay his head (Matthew 8:20), and he came to serve and to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). He sought his Father’s glory (John 8:50). Though all honour was his by right, he “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:5–8), and he washed his disciples’ feet as an example to them (John 13:1–17).

Jesus always did the things that pleased the Father (John 8:29), and in Gethsemane he prayed that the Father’s will be done (Matthew 26:39). He came into the world to do that will (Hebrews 10:5–10). He came preaching the gospel (Mark 1:14–15), and he met much contention, with the people divided over him (John 7:12). He endured the cross and its shame (Hebrews 12:2), and there, where he looked defeated, he triumphed over the powers (Colossians 2:15). The Father himself was witness to him, when the voice from heaven called him his beloved Son at his baptism (Matthew 3:17) and on the mount of transfiguration (Matthew 17:5).

The gospel entrusted to Paul is the message of the Word made flesh (John 1:14), whom God gave so that whoever believes in him should have everlasting life (John 3:16). Paul’s boldness flowed from his union with Christ, whose sufferings he longed to share and whose resurrection power he knew (Philippians 3:10).

These verses give us a picture of the gospel’s messengers as God means them to be: entrusted by him, bold in him, honest in speech, clean in motive, and content with his approval. They also show us who God is. He tests and approves those he sends. He gives courage to people still bruised from their last beating. He sees the heart and stands witness to it.

Whether we serve him from a pulpit or at a kitchen table, the same God is watching, and the one whose approval matters already knows the truth about us. Paul could look back on his coming to Thessalonica and call it “not in vain”, and he tells the Corinthians that their labour in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). That fruit grows from Christ, the vine in whom his people abide (John 15:5), and it is as sure for us as it was for Paul.