Chapter # 2 Paragraph # 2 Study # 1
May 18, 2014
Dayton, Texas
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• I. The "End" At The "Beginning".
  • A. The presentation begins with verses 7 and 8 as a small unit within the larger paragraph.
  • B. The "end" of this small unit contains the phrase "...you had become very dear to us."
    • 1. This is the same verb and form as we have already discussed in 2:5 where the issue is that Paul and his associates "were made to become" messengers of The Gospel.
    • 2. It shows up again in 2:7 in exactly the same form in a sense that we will look into shortly.
    • 3. Then we find it again here at the end of 2:8.
      • a. The main idea behind the word is that someone has been "made to become" something that he/she would not have normally been.
      • b. This "making of someone to become something" is a critical element in Paul's personal theology of sanctification wherein the "life that I now live in the flesh" is "Christ living in me" so that my life is "out of the faith of the indwelling Christ".
      • c. Here our text actually says "you were made to become" agaphtoi to us.
        • 1) This word is always tied to the "value system" held by the person(s) involved.
        • 2) The claim of this phrase is that Someone had moved the Thessalonians up the scale of value in Paul's value system.
          • a) We see in Romans 9:3 the radical level that "beloved" people obtain.
          • b) Always and everywhere the word means that "faith", "choices", and "actions" have been "hijacked" into the service of what has become a very major objective.
        • 3) Thus, what Paul is saying is that because the Thessalonians had been made to become "occupiers" of such a high value in our value systems, all of the rest "happened".
• II. The Things That "Happened".
  • A. Returning to the "top" (2:7), we find another "made to become" statement.
    • 1. This one is problematical because there is textual evidence for two different words ( nhvpioi and hvpioi ), but the stronger evidence seems, on the face of it, to support a very wierd way of expressing what Paul "was made to become".
      • a. nhvpioi means "infants".
      • b. hvpioi means "gentle".
      • c. It's pretty clear that some form of "gentleness" is in view, but it is also clear that the textual support is a good bit stronger for the word "infants" than for "gentle"...so much so that the textual critics gave this reading a "C" simply because they couldn't resolve the clash of words that seems to exist.
    • 2. I resolve the problem in this way.
      • a. First, I recognize that Paul is struggling to express just how valuable the Thessalonians had become to him as is indicated by the "nurse" analogy in 2:7 and then followed by the "father" analogy in 2:11.
      • b. Second, I accept the textual evidence at face value.
      • c. Third, I reason that there is a sense in which "infants" fits Paul's meaning to a "T".
        • 1) By definition, "infants" fits his meaning far better than "gentle" in the context of the "objectives" of The Gospel: there is absolutely nothing to fear from an "infant" in terms of what he/she is capable of achieving.
        • 2) The idea of "gentleness" is not really involved here; the issue is the "mother" attitude regarding "her own children": not "gentleness", but extraordinary "protectiveness" in making sure that "her own children" get everything necessary for them to thrive.
      • d. Fourth, I reason that Paul's choice of "wet nurse" rather than "mother" is deliberate (especially in light of 2:11) because the "infant" terminology automatically leads to the "nursing" idea and the switch in the metaphor from being "an infant" to being a "wet nurse" jars us mentally in a way that is probably necessary, given the nature of the claim of how valuable they had become.
        • 1) At the very root are two ideas, both necessary: first, the absolute need for the absence of any "fears" in order for The Gospel to have its impact; and, second, the same need for the assurance that the messengers share the Message's total commitment to the hearers who are asked to "believe" it.
        • 2) Though a mixed metaphor, the "infant" concept eliminates "fears" and the "nurse" concept establishes commitment.
        • 3) Then there is the use of "nurse" rather than "mother": Paul is claiming to be like a "mother" toward her own children who is also a "wet nurse" to someone else's children.
          • a) This is also a bit wierd: if Paul is like a "mother", then express it with "mother".
          • b) But Paul is writing about how someone not his child has become "as if" his child, exactly like a "wet nurse" who has begun to treat someone else's child as if it were her own.
  • B. We became affectionately desirous of you.
    • 1. This led to the proclamation of The Gospel in spite of the "buzzsaw".
    • 2. This also led to the sharing of one's soul in spite of the possibility of serious losses.