{"id":3620,"date":"2012-05-11T03:30:02","date_gmt":"2012-05-11T10:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=3620"},"modified":"2012-05-10T21:22:18","modified_gmt":"2012-05-11T04:22:18","slug":"1-thessalonians-27-caring-like-mothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/1-thessalonians-27-caring-like-mothers\/","title":{"rendered":"1 Thessalonians 2:7 – Caring Like Mothers"},"content":{"rendered":"

But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing<\/strong><\/span> mothe<\/em>r <\/em>cherish<\/strong>es her own children.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Christian service should demonstrate love and care for others.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

“Gentle<\/span>” is translated from the Greek word n\u0113pios<\/em><\/span>, which is made up or n\u0113<\/em><\/span>, meaning “not” and epos<\/em><\/span>, which refers to “a spoken word.” Thus, n\u0113pios<\/em> <\/span>literally means “one who does not speak.” Its common usage is a reference to “infants,” that is, “those who have not yet learned how to talk.” On many Greek manuscripts, however, this word appears as \u0113pios<\/em><\/span>, meaning “one who is gentle, easy, or mild.” This seems to make more sense in the reading of this verse.<\/p>\n

The words “among you<\/span>” are from the Greek en mes\u014d hum\u014dn<\/em><\/span>, which literally translates to “in the midst of you (plural).” This implies a more intimate interaction between the apostles and the people of Thessalonica.<\/p>\n

Trophos<\/em> <\/span>is the word translated “nursing<\/span> mother<\/em><\/span>.” It is derived from the verb treph\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to nourish, feed, or nurture.” It generally refers to “a nurse, someone who nurses an infant.” In classical Greek it was often used to indicate “a mother.”<\/p>\n

“Cherishes<\/span>” is from the verb thalp\u014d<\/em><\/span>, which literally means “to make warm.” Figuratively, it means “to brood over, to foster, or to cherish.”<\/p>\n

The word “children<\/span>” is translated from the Greek noun teknon<\/em><\/span>. This is based on the verb tikt\u014d<\/em> <\/span>which means “to bear a child,” thus teknon<\/em> <\/span>refers to “an offspring” or “a child.”<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

In defense against false accusations, Paul has been telling the Christians in Thessalonica what the true intentions of the apostles had been while they ministered there. In the previous verse he said that they didn’t lay heavy burdens on the people to whom they ministered.<\/p>\n

In Behind the Words<\/u> we noted that there is a variation in this verse. Some manuscripts have n\u0113pios<\/em> <\/span>(infants) while others have \u0113pios<\/em> <\/span>(gentle ones). Paul says that they were like a nursing mother who tenderly takes care of her children. It doesn’t make sense that he would say the apostles were children in the midst of those people and at the same time say that they were like a mother. So, his message is, instead of laying heavy burdens on the people, he and his co-workers were gentle and treated the Thessalonians with the same tender love and concern that a mother does for her own children.<\/p>\n

Paul may have been making a reference to Moses’ complaint when he referred to himself as a nursing mother to Israel:<\/p>\n

Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,' to the land which You swore to their fathers?<\/span> (Numbers 11:12<\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n

One of the hallmarks of Paul’s (and Moses’) ministry was that he performed his responsibilities out of his love for God and his concern for the welfare of those to whom he ministered.<\/p>\n

Application<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

All of our service for God should be done out of our love for Him and our desire to gently help others to become more Christ-like. This is the heart of a true servant of God.<\/p>\n

In God's service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright © 2012 Will Krause. All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. Truth to Learn Christian service should demonstrate love and care for others. Behind the Words “Gentle” is translated from the Greek word n\u0113pios, which is made up or n\u0113, meaning “not” and epos, which refers to “a spoken word.” Thus, n\u0113pios […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[2442,933,2609,31,2611,1083,2443,2610],"class_list":["post-3620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cherish","tag-children","tag-epios","tag-gentle","tag-nurse","tag-teknon","tag-thalpo","tag-trophos"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-Wo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3620"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3623,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3620\/revisions\/3623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}