Essays on I Thess. 2.7-12 (Part 2)

Verse 7 - ‘…but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children’ (NIV).

Directly after Paul’s claim of coming to the Thessalonians “not to please man, but to please God… nor with a pretext for greed…Nor seek[ing] glory from people…” verse 7 begins with the phrase “But we were gentle among you” as it is recorded in the majority of English translations.[1] This phrase fits nicely with the illustration of Paul as a nursing mother in the very next phrase. However, there are some marked issues with this interpretation.

The question arises from a difference in the readings of manuscripts. Whereas most MSS read nēpioi (translated “babes” or “infants”) some later manuscripts read ēpioi (translated “gentle”). It is possible that either reading be in view here as a scribal error could have been made in either the addition or omission of the n, though the number and quality of extant manuscripts does seem to favor the use of nēpioi.[2]

Despite this evidence, most commentators choose “gentle” as the proper translation because of the incongruity that the infant metaphor would have with the succeeding nursing mother metaphor.[3] Three primary reasons are give; the sharp contrast between these two metaphors, the violent manner in which Paul shifts from one image to the other, and Paul’s use of nēpioi in his other writings. Together, these three arguments do make a strong case for the choice of “gentle.”[4] Further, if “gentle” is chosen, then it can be interpreted in light of the nursing mother metaphor, and so Paul would be qualifying his treatment of the Thessalonian believers by saying that he had been gentle with them, like a nursing mother would have been with her child. This statement then contrasts the way that Paul did not treat the Thessalonians (vv. 3-6) by showing the way that Paul cared for them (vv. 7-12).

While this seems to mesh nicely with the context of the passage, the textual evidence remains too strong to be ignored.[5] Additionally, it can be shown that “infant” fits contextually as well as “gentle,” for the comparison to an “infant” is to illustrate the apostle’s innocence and sincerity.[6] Thus it can be shown that the two distinct metaphors need not oppose each other, and instead should be understood as parallel thoughts on the same subject.

Responses to the other criticisms are equally as viable. First, that the mixing of metaphors as a ridiculous idea can be easily rectified in the manner that one punctuates v.7. For if v.7c is separated into an independent clause after 7b (but we became infants among you), then the two metaphors can be viewed as distinct thoughts.[7] Second, regarding Paul’s use of “infants,” Timothy Sailors concludes that “infants” is employed in a neutral manner seventy-five percent of the time and also finds a number of times where it is used positively, which is congruent with the fact that “infants” is used both positively and negatively within the Pauline corpus.[8] Finally, what is viewed as a violent transition between metaphors is seen again almost immediately in v.17 where he likens himself to an orphan just after presenting himself as a father in v.11. This kind of shifting and mixing of metaphor is also seen in Gal. 4.19.[9]

The latter phrase of verse 7, as has already been stated, sets up Paul as “nursing mother.” The word used here, trophos, is most literally translated “wet nurse,” or someone who feeds and nurtures a baby in place of its biological mother. However, because of the use of a reflexive pronoun it seems likely that this is an image of a nurse caring for her own children and not someone else’s – leaving us the image of a nursing mother.[10]

Thus the imagery in v. 7 serves as an illustration of the way Paul and his colleagues treated the Thessalonian believers. They did not abuse their apostolic authority or throw their weight around to feed their selfish ambitions as the self-serving charlatans would have done. Instead, they were first, infants; pure, guile-less, and unable to impose themselves on others.[11] Second, they were nursing mothers who showed the utmost of tender care to their children, in this case the Thessalonian congregation.

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[1] The NIV, NASB, ESV, NAB, RSV, and ASV all accept this translation, noting that there is an alternate translation of “gentle” that is possible.

[2] Wannamaker, Charles A. The Epistles to the Thessalonians (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1990), 100. See also Green, 126.

[3] Green, 126.

[4] Wannamaker, 100.

[5] Burke, Trevor J. Family Matters: A Socio-Historical Study of Kinship Metaphors in I Thessalonians (New York: T&T Clark International, 2003), 139-40; 154-55. Burke gives an overview of the basic evidence in favor of nēpioi, as well as an excellent bibliography for more in depth study.

[6] Williams, David J. Paul’s Metaphors: Their Context and Character (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999), 59. In fact, Williams notes that the meaning of the passage remains essentially the same whether “infant” or “gentle” is chosen as the correct reading.

[7] Burke, 155-56.

[8] Sailors, T.B. “Wedding Textual and Literary-Rhetorical Criticism To Understand the Text of I Thessalonians 2.7,” JSNT 80 (2000), 91; see also Burke, 155-56; and Weima, Jeffrey A D. O 2000. "But We Became Infants Among You": The Case for NHPIOI in 1 Thess 2.7. New Testament Studies. 46 (4): 563. Weima establishes that the common understanding of infants in antiquity was rarely one that was seen as morally evil. Babies were generally seen as morally neutral beings. This seems to be the inference that Paul is making with his use of infant language.

[9] Burke, 156.

[10] Williams, 59.

[11] Gaventa, B.R. First and Second Thessalonians (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1998), 25.