CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1 Thessalonians 2:7. But we were gentle.—R.V. margin says, “Most ancient authorities read babes.” Origen and Augustine interpret this to mean, “Like a nurse amongst her children, talking in baby language to the babes” (Ibid.). As a nurse cherisheth her children.—The A.V. has omitted a necessary word of the original which R.V. supplies—“her own children.” The word for “cherisheth” is used in Deuteronomy 22:5 (LXX.) of the mother-bird brooding over her nestlings (a figure made memorable by our Lord’s mournful words over Jerusalem). The word occurs again only in Ephesians 5:29.
1 Thessalonians 2:8. Being affectionately desirous.—The one Greek word corresponding to these three “implies the fondness of a mother’s love—yearning over you” (Ibid.). We were willing.—R.V. “well-pleased.” Like Him of whom it is said, “He gives liberally,” without stint. Our own souls.—“Our very selves,” for the saving of which, says our Master, a man may well let the world slip. The apostle keeps up the maternal figure.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8
Essential Elements of Success in Preaching. III. Gentleness.
There is a power in gentleness to subdue the wildest, mightiest opposition, and to triumph over the most gigantic difficulties. The gentle rays of the sun melt the ponderous iceberg more speedily than the rolling billows of an angry ocean; the silent action of the atmosphere wastes the rock which remains immovable under the strokes of the heaviest weapon; a look from Moses vanquished the calf-idolatry of the Israelites which the fluent eloquence of Aaron had been powerless to resist; a calm, quiet word from Jesus paralysed with fear the band of soldiers who came to arrest Him in Gethsemane. True gentleness is never weak. It is the tough, indestructible material out of which is formed the hero and the martyr. This quality was conspicuous in the preachers at Thessalonica.
I. It was the gentleness of patient endurance.—
1. It enabled them to bear the insult and outrage of their enemies. Their preaching roused violent opposition. They retaliated by praying for their persecutors. Against physical force they fought with moral weapons; and this attitude and policy had a powerful influence on their enraged adversaries. The modern preacher can adopt no better method. The offence of the cross has not yet ceased. It stirs up all the enmity of the carnal mind. “And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.” The power of a man is seen, not so much in what he can do, as in what he can endure. It is only the Christian spirit that unites the utmost gentleness with the utmost strength.
2. It enabled them to bear with the weakness and imperfections of their converts.—“As a nurse cherisheth her children” (1 Thessalonians 2:7)—as a nursing mother cherisheth her own children. They watched over them with the tenderest assiduity, instructed them with the most disinterested solicitude, accommodated and assimilated themselves to their infant standpoint with all the devotion of a fond, painstaking parent. In order to successful teaching, in spiritual as in secular subjects, we must study the child-nature—take into account the influence of environment, early prejudices, differing capacities and temperaments, and the direction of characteristic tendencies. See this illustrated in the divine treatment of the Israelites under Moses and the great Jewish leaders, and in the training of the twelve by the great Teacher.
II. It was the gentleness of self-sacrificing love.—“So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us” (1 Thessalonians 2:8).
1. This gentleness arose from a genuine love of human souls.—“Because ye were dear unto us.” Love is the great master-power of the preacher. After this he strives and toils with ever-increasing earnestness as the years speed on; and it is the grace that comes latest and slowest into the soul. No amount of scholastic attainment, of able and profound exposition, of brilliant and stirring eloquence, can atone for the absence of a deep, impassioned, sympathetic love of human souls. The fables of the ancients tell us of Amphion, who, with the music of his lyre, drew after him the huge stones with which to build the walls of Thebes, and of Orpheus, who, by his skill on the harp, could stay the course of rivers and tame the wildest animals. These are but exaggerated examples of the wondrous charm of the soul-compelling music of love. “I have always been afraid,” said a devoted young minister, now no more, “of driving my people away from the Saviour. I would rather err on the side of drawing them.” The seraphic John Fletcher once said, “Love, continual, universal, ardent love is the soul of all the labour of a minister.”
2. The intensity of their love awoke a spirit of voluntary self-sacrifice.—“So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls.” To accomplish the salvation of their hearers they were willing to surrender life itself. This was the temper of the divine Preacher who “came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life.” A similar spirit imbued the apostle when he assured the weeping elders of Ephesus in that pathetic interview on the lonely shore—“Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus.” The love of science nerves the adventurous voyager to brave the appalling dangers of the arctic ice, amid which so many have found a crystal tomb; but a nobler love inspires the breast of the humble worker, who cheerfully sacrifices all this world holds dear to rescue men from woe.
Lessons.—
1. That gentleness is a power not only in patient endurance, but also in enterprising action.
2. That gentleness is indispensable to effectiveness, either in warning or reproof. It succeeds where a rigid austerity fails.
3. That gentleness is fostered and regulated by a deep, self-sacrificing love.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Thessalonians 2:7-8. Dealing with New Converts.
I. Divine principles have to unfold themselves in unfavourable circumstances.—
1. Moral influence from without.
2. Jewish misrepresentation.
3. Persecution.
II. Must be treated with gentleness.—
1. In the adaptation of teaching to suit their state.
2. In the manner and spirit of the instruction given.
III. Must be treated with affectionate self-sacrificingness (1 Thessalonians 2:8).