‘You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed’ (NIV).
Paul continues this discussion of his integrity in v.10 by invoking both the Thessalonian believers and God as witnesses, much like he did earlier in v.5. Here, as in v.5 Paul is calling attention to the testimony of his action towards the Thessalonian believers, further explaining the nature of his treatment of them.[1]
I.H. Marshal takes this invocation of deity and the solemn tone of the statement to infer that Paul has in view the criticism that has been leveled against him.[2] Certainly this is a possibility for the invocation of a deity as witness bearer was not an uncommon practice in antiquity.[3]
Green makes a case for linking v.10 back to 1.9, accusing Paul of “acting impiously towards the gods.” This is supported by the three words that Paul uses to describe his conduct which are words that carry connotations of conforming to both human and divine standards; the three words being “holy, righteous, and blameless.”[4] Paul then, is stating that they had in every way behaved according to both human and divine principles and that they were without fault. The final phrase of v.10 clarifies that Paul and his coworkers did all of these things “among you,” that is, while they in the presence of the Thessalonian believers. There is debate over whether this phrase should be translated “among you” as in the NIV or “towards you” as in the ESV. However, a large distinction need not be made, for Paul is speaking of a time when he was with the believers in Thessalonica. Because this is the case we see that Paul is speaking both of being blameless in terms of his living in proximity to them “among them” as well as “towards them,” which, if he was living amongst the Thessalonians then it is logical to believe that he was interacting with them. Then, when we interpret this in light of what has been previously written in vv.3-9 we see that Paul is in fact speaking of behavior that was inclined specifically towards the Thessalonians.
[1] Wannamaker, 105. Though Wannamaker would not support this interpretation, he admits that the thrust of the adjectives in v.10 is “the character of the missionaries behavior” towards the Thessalonians.
[2] Marshal, I.H. 1 and 2 Thessalonians (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1983), 73.
[3] Green, 132. Wannamaker disagrees and sees this as an implicit paranesis, drawing a connection to the upcoming exhortation in 4.11 and 5.14.
[4] Ibid.
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