1Th 2:7-8 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 7. But we were gentle among you , etc. Instead of using authority, we used only the most kind and gentle methods to win you and to promote your peace and order. The word here rendered "nurse" may mean any one who nurses a child, whether a mother or another person. It seems here to refer to a mother, and the idea is, that the apostle felt for them the affectionate solicitude which a mother does for the child at her breast. (*) "cherisheth" "nursing mother"

1 Thessalonians 2:7-8

Verse 7. But we were gentle among you, etc. Instead of using authority, we used only the most kind and gentle methods to win you and to promote your peace and order. The word here rendered "nurse" may mean any one who nurses a child, whether a mother or another person. It seems here to refer to a mother, 1Thes 2:11; and the idea is, that the apostle felt for them the affectionate solicitude which a mother does for the child at her breast.

(*) "cherisheth" "nursing mother" Verse 8. So, being affectionately desirous of you. The word here rendered "being affectionately desirous" ιμειρω occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means to long after, to have a strong affection for. The sense here is, that Paul was so strongly attached to them that he would have been willing to lay down his life for them.

We were willing to have imparted unto you. To have given or communicated, Rom 1:11.

Not the gospel of God only. To be willing to communicate the knowledge of the gospel was in itself a strong proof of love, even if it were attended with no self-denial or hazard in doing it. We evince a decided love for a man when we tell him of the way of salvation, and urge him to accept of it. We show strong interest for one who is in danger, when we tell him of a way of escape, or for one who is sick, when we tell him of a medicine that will restore him; but we manifest a much higher love when we tell a lost and ruined sinner of the way in which he may be saved. There is no method in which we can show so strong an interest in our fellow-men, and so much true benevolence for them, as to go to them and tell them of the way by which they may be rescued from everlasting ruin.

But also our own souls. Or rather lives--ψυχας. Mt 6:25, 20:28, Lk 12:22,23, Mk 3:4. This does not mean that the apostle was willing to be damned, or to lose his soul in order to save them; but that, if it had been necessary, he would have been ready to lay down his life. See Jn 3:16. "We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Comp. Jn 15:13. His object seems to be to assure them that he did not leave them from any want of love to them, or from the fear of being put to death. It was done from the strong conviction of duty. He appears to have left them because he could not longer remain without exposing others to danger, and without the certainty that there would be continued disturbances. See Acts 17:9,10.

(a) "have imparted" Rom 1:1 (+) "souls" "lives"