τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, οὕτω λαλοῦμεν, οὐχ “ ὥς ἀνθρώποις "ἀρέσκοντες, ἀλλὰ πι Causal μι η. see Vit- Θεῷ τῷ δοκιμάζοντι τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν. see
, 04). P κολακείας ἐγενήθημεν, καϑὼς οἴδατε, οὔτε ἐν “προφάσει πλεονεξίας ' η Gali 10:
5. οὔτε yap ποτε ἐν λόγῳ
Θεὸς μάρτυς - 6. οὔτε ζητοῦντες ἐξ ἀνθρώπων " δόξαν, οὔτε ἀφ᾽ ὑμῶν μας οὔτε " ἀπ᾿ ἄλλων, ' δυνάμενοι ἐν βάρει εἶναι ὡς Χριστοῦ ἀπόστολοι - ρα 7. GAN ἐγενήθημεν “mor ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν, ὡς ” ἐὰν τροφὸς θάλπῃ τὰ ° μα ἑαυτῆς τέκνα | 8. οὕτως ὁμειρόμενοι ὑμῶν ” εὐδοκοῦμεν * μεταδοῦναι πο ὑμῖν ἢ οὐ µόνον τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχάς, ΣΝ ου, Win.-Schm. ὃ ν. 136. 4 ‘“‘any pretext,” cf. on 2 Cor. xi. 12, ii. 17; 2 Pet. ii. 3. ος η ietin
Vill. 50, V. 41-44. 5.8. 1. 9. Iliad, xxiv. 770, Odyssey, li. 234. = ‘we were right willing”. Burton, M.T. 481.
t Cf. 1 Cor. ix. x f. ν = ὅταν (Viteau, i. 217). x Rom. i. 11.
u of a father (ver. 11) in e.g. Hom. wiii. 1; see on Rom. xv. 26; So. 2 Cor. viii. 5 (force of this example). νο
1The important variant νήπιοι, which is even better attested (cf. WH ii. 128), and is adopted, e.g., by Bentley, Lachm., Schrader, Jowett, Zimmer, Bisping, WH, Left., and Wohl., probably arose from a not uncommon dittography of the final N in the preceding word: ηπιος '' properly implies the kindness of a superior” (Liddell
and Scott s.v.), whereas νήπιος has usually associations of immaturity in Paul.
entrusted with the gospel,” a character- istic play on the word. The definite commission of the gospel excluded any weak attempt to flatter men’s prejudices or to adapt oneself to their tastes. Hence the thought of the following verse.
Ver. 5. “ Never did we-resort to words of flattery” (in order to gain some private end); cf. Arist., Eth. Nzk., iv. 6. As self-interest is more subtle than the desire to please people (which may be one form of self-interest), the appeal is changed significantly from κ.ο. to θεὸς μάρτυς (Rom. i. 9) : “‘auaritia aut ambitio, duo sunt isti tontes ex quibus manat totius ministerii corruptio”’ (Cal- vin). Cf. Introduction, 8 1—on θεός and ὃ θεός, cf. Kattenbusch, das Apost. Symbol, ii. 515 f.
Ver. 6. To put a full stop after ἄλλων, and begin a new _ sentence with δυνάμενοι (so ¢.g., Vulgate, Cal- vin, Koppe, Weizsacker, H. J. Gibbins, Exp. Ti., xiv. 527), introduces an awk- watd asyndeton, makes ἀλλὰ follow a concessive participle very awkwardly, and is unnecessary for the sense.
Ver. 7. ἐν βάρει εἶναι = “be men of weight,” or ‘be a burden” on your funds. Probably both meanings are intended, so that the phrase (cf. Field, 199) resumes the ideas of πλεον. and ἀνθ. δόξαν (self-interest in its mercen- ary shape and as the love of reputation) which are reiterated in vv. 7-12, a defence of the apostles against the charges, cur- rent against them evidently in some circles (probably pagan) at Thessalonica,
.
of having given themselves airs and un- duly asserted their authority, as well as of having levied or at any rate accepted contributions for their own support.— ἀπόστολον were known to any of the local Christians who had been Jews (cf. Har- nack’s Expansion of Christianity, 1. 66 f., 400 Ε)), since agents and emissaries (ἀπόσ- τολοι) trom Jerusalem went to and fro throughout the synagogues: but a. Χρισ- τοῦ was anew conception. The Chris- tian ἀπόστολοι had their commission from their heavenly πιεβδίαἩ.- -ἤπιοι (2 Tim, ii. 24); as Bengel observes, there was nothing ex cathedra about the apostles, nothing selfish or crafty or overbearing. All was tenderness and devotion, fostering and protecting care, in their relations to these Thessalonian Christians who had won their hearts. To eschew flattery (5) did not mean any indifference to consideration and gentle- ness, in their case; they were honest without being blunt or masterful.—rpo- φός, a nursing mother (cf. Hor., Ef. i. 4, 8). ‘In the love of a brave and taith- ful man there is always a strain of maternal tenderness; he gives out again those beams of protecting fondness which were shed on him as he lay on his mother’s knee’ (George Eliot). Ruther- ford happily renders: ‘On the con- trary, we carried ourselves among you with a childish simplicity, as a mother becomes a child again when she fondies her children”.