Peter Barnes: 1 Thessalonians 2:7-10 (Part 2)
SERMON NOTES: PAUL AS A TRUE PASTOR: CARE
– Paul is writing here to defend himself from criticism. In reply, Paul compares himself to a nursing mother (2:7) and a father (2:11).
- We must be self-giving like a nursing mother.
– 2:7. The word for ‘gentle’ (ἤπιοι) is very close to the word for ‘babes’ or ‘infants’ (νήπιοι). Jeffrey Weima makes a fair case for ‘infants’, like 1 Corinthians 14:20. But it is probably ‘gentle’.
– 2:7; see Gal.4:19; Numbers 11:12; Isaiah 49:15.
– 2:8; 2 Cor.12:14-15. Professionalism can be a danger in the ministry. Samuel Rutherford: ‘I gave Christ to you with good-will.’ John Chrysostom: ‘a friend is more to be longed for than the light; I speak of a genuine one. And wonder not: for it were better for us that the sun should be extinguished, than that we should be deprived of friends: better to live in darkness, than to be without friends.’
- We must be self-sacrificing.
– 2:9. All through this section, Paul tells them something the Thessalonians had observed firsthand – 2:1, 2, 5, 10, 11.
– 1 Cor.9:6, 12. He had a right to wages, but did not use that right. Acts 18:3.
- We must be holy.
– 2:10. Paul is not saying he is sinless. Luke 18:19 and Acts 11:24 are not contradictions.
– Robert Murray M’Cheyne: ‘my people’s greatest need is my personal holiness’.