1 Thessalonians 2:3

For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile Read error for deceit; and supply the Greek ellipsis by is not (R. V.) rather than was not. The Apostle is setting forth the habit and spirit of his ministry: "We behaved in this fearless way at Thessalonica, for our ministry is free from all that is false and impure." It is truemen that make bravemen. In 1 Thessalonians 2:5 Paul returns to his conduct at Thessalonica; 1 Thessalonians 2:3 speak of his general policy.

"Exhortation" hardly conveys his fall meaning, our appeal is perhaps better; it is the practical "appeal," or "address," which "the gospel of God," as the missionaries of Christ preach it everywhere, makes to its hearers. Comp. note on "comfort," ch. 1 Thessalonians 3:2.

This appeal "is not of error" (deceitA.V., is incorrect) not the product of illusion or deception; for it is "the gospel of God" (1 Thessalonians 2:2), "the word of the truthof the gospel" (Colossians 1:5). This was amongst Paul's constant and uppermost convictions. The heavenly Form that met him on the road to Damascus, the Voice that said, "Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles," these were no phantasy. "I know Him whom I have believed" (2 Timothy 1:12).

As the Apostle was sure of the genuineness of his message, so he was conscious of the purity of his motives: "nor of uncleanness." This epithet commonly denotes bodily defilement, and is a synonym for unchastity, as in ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:7, &c. But there is a "defilement of spirit" as well as "of flesh" (2 Corinthians 7:1). Self-seeking (1 Thessalonians 2:5) in the witness of truth makes his testimony corrupt. So truth and puritygo together; each promotes and guards the other. Comp. 1 Peter 1:22, "Ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth." On the other hand, the Apostle speaks of the "deceit of unrighteousness" (2 Thessalonians 2:10), and of "men corrupt in mind and bereft of truth, supposing that godliness is a way of gain" (1 Timothy 6:5).

So much for his motives: of his methodSt Paul will only say, "nor in guile;" as he puts it more at large in 2 Corinthians 4:2, "not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." The servant of truth should use only the weapons of truth. "Guile" was doubtless imputed to St Paul by his slanderers in Thessalonica, as it was subsequently at Corinth: "being crafty (as they say), I caught you with guile" (2 Corinthians 12:16).

To sum up the verse: Our doctrine is true; our motives pure; and our conduct straightforward.