1 Thessalonians 2:5

For neither at any time used we flattering words were we found using words of flattery (R. V.: same verb as in 1 Thessalonians 2:1, "foundvain"); or, did we fall into the use of flattering speech. "Found" might suggest detection, which is not in the Apostle's mind. Lit., word of flattery, referring to the tenor and general style of the apostles" speech. He adds a third time (see note on 1 Thessalonians 2:1) "as ye know." St Paul, as his friends well knew, was not one to

"crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,

Where thrift may follow fawning."

In repudiating the cloak of covetousness he appeals to "God" as "witness" (comp. Romans 1:9, "God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son;" also Romans 2:15; Romans 9:1), "God, Who proveth our hearts" (1 Thessalonians 2:4). The "cloak" signifies the pretextof an affected self-devotion, such as might be used to conceal the "covetousness" of a selfish heart. "God is witness," he says, "that no secret avarice was hidden behind our zeal for your salvation."

The Greek word for "covetousness" denotes greedof any kind, oftenest, but not always or necessarily, for money; it is the spirit of self-aggrandisement, selfishness as a ruling passion. (Comp. the note on "defraud," ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:6.) Such a motive in the servant of God would constitute the "uncleanness" denied in 1 Thessalonians 2:3.

This verse gives double evidence of the pure zeal for God professed in 1 Thessalonians 2:3 the one outwardand of the lips, the other inwardand known only to God in the heart. Contrast the opposite description of Psalms 12:2: "A flattering lip, and a double heart."