SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:5
Porque nunca fuimos lisonjeros en la palabra, como sabis, ni tocados de avaricia; Dios es testigo;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Thessalonians 2:5
Verse 5. Flattering words] Though we proclaimed the Gospel or glad tidings, yet we showed that without holiness none should see the Lord. Ye know] That while we preached the whole Gospel we never gave any countenance to sin.
For a cloak of covetousness] We did not seek temporal emolument; nor did we preach the Gospel for a cloak to our covetousness: God is witness that we did not; we sought you, not yours. Hear this, ye that preach the Gospel! Can ye call God to witness that in preaching it ye have no end in view by your ministry but his glory in the salvation of souls? Or do ye enter into the priesthood for a morsel of bread, or for what is ominously and impiously called a living, a benefice? In better days your place and office were called a cure of souls; what care have you for the souls of them by whose labours you are in general more than sufficiently supported? Is it your study, your earnest labour, to bring sinners to God; to preach among your heathen parishioners the unsearchable riches of Christ? But I should speak to the thousands who have no parishes, but who have their chapels, their congregations, pew and seat rents, &c., &c. Is it for the sake of these that ye have entered or continue in the Gospel ministry? Is God witness that, in all these things, ye have no cloak of covetousness? Happy is the man who can say so, whether he has the provision which the law of the land allows him, or whether he lives on the free-will offerings of the people.
The faithful labourer is worthy of his hire; for the ox that treads out the corn should not be muzzled; and they that preach the Gospel should live, not riot, by the Gospel. But wo to that man who enters into the labour for the sake of the hire! he knows not Christ; and how can he preach him?
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 5. For neither at any time used we flattering words , etc.] To introduce them into the affections, and gain the esteem and good will of men; they did not in their ministry deliver such things as flattered men with a good opinion of themselves: they did not preach up the purity of human nature, but on the contrary the doctrine of original sin, the imputation of Adam's transgression to his posterity, and the corruption of all human nature; they asserted the universal pollution of it, of all men, and of all the powers and faculties of their souls, that they are all under the power and dominion of sin, are involved in the guilt of it, and are all guilty before God, and liable to everlasting wrath and punishment; and that unless they repented of their sins and believed in Christ, they would perish eternally; thus they dealt roundly and freely with men's consciences, and plainly, openly, and faithfully told them their case as it was: nor did they cry up the power of man's free will, which would have been grateful to Jews and Gentiles; but they declared the reverse, they asserted the weakness and impotency of man, to anything that is spiritually good; and represented him as a weak and strengthless creature, and unable to do anything, even to think a good thought of himself; and ascribed all that a man is, or has, or does, that is good, to the grace and power of God, who works in him both to will and to do: nor did they plead for the sufficiency of man's righteousness to justify him before God, a doctrine very pleasing to human nature; but, on the contrary, they gave out that there was none righteous, no, not one of the sons of Adam, in and of themselves, or by virtue of any righteousness of their own; so far from it that they were full of all unrighteousness, and were not capable of working out a righteousness, or of attaining to the righteousness of the law; that what they did pretend to was not a justifying righteousness, and would give no right and title to eternal glory; and that the righteousness of Christ was the only righteousness, by which a man could be justified from all things, and in which he could be found safe. They did not blend and mix their doctrine to suit with the tastes of different men, but with all sincerity and plainness preached the truth, as it is in Jesus; they did not connive at the sins of men, cry Peace, Peace, when there was none, or sow pillows under their armholes, or promise them life, though they should not return from their wicked way; but they with great freedom inveighed against the sins of men, and exhorted them to repentance and reformation, as well as to faith in Christ for pardon and righteousness; nor did they wink at the sins of professors, or of one another, the Apostle Paul withstood Peter to the face because he was to be blamed; and when they praised men for their gifts and graces, and the exercise of them, they took care to ascribe them to the grace of God, and give him the glory, and prevent men from boasting in themselves; in short, they acted the reverse of the false teachers, who had men's persons in admiration because of advantage, and by good words and fair speeches deceived the hearts of the simple; but so did not the apostles of Christ, no, never, not at any time: when they first came to Thessalonica during their stay there, either in public or in private: and though this was true of any other time and place, yet here must be confined to this, since the apostle appeals to this church for the truth of what he said, as ye know ; for flattering words may be discerned; a flatterer is known by his words; though in general such is the weakness of human nature, that men love to be flattered, though they know they are: nor a cloak of covetousness ; or an occasion of it, they did not take the opportunity or advantage by the ministry of the word, to indulge a covetous disposition, or to amass wealth and riches to themselves; or an excuse for covetousness, which covetous men are never at a loss to make, always pretending one thing or another to hide and cover their evil; but the apostles made no excuses, nor used any cloak, nor needed any to cover their covetousness, because they had not the thing; they did not pretend one thing and mean another; they did not, as the false apostles did, pretend to serve Christ, preach his Gospel, seek the glory of God and the good of souls, and mean themselves, and design their own worldly advantage; they did not make these a pretence for covetousness, they sincerely served Christ, faithfully preached his Gospel, truly sought the glory of God, and were heartily concerned for the good of souls without any mercenary and selfish views; for the truth of which they could appeal to the heart searching and rein-trying God, as the apostle here does, saying, God is witness ; which is properly an oath, a solemn appeal to God; for since covetousness is an internal and secret sin, and may be so coloured and disguised as not easily to be discerned, as flattering words may, the apostle therefore calls God to witness the truth of what he had said.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-6 - The apostle had no wordly design in his preaching. Suffering in a goo cause should sharpen holy resolution. The gospel of Christ at first me with much opposition; and it was preached with contention, with striving in preaching, and against opposition. And as the matter of the apostle's exhortation was true and pure, the manner of his speaking wa without guile. The gospel of Christ is designed for mortifying corrup affections, and that men may be brought under the power of faith. Thi is the great motive to sincerity, to consider that God not only see all we do, but knows our thoughts afar off, and searches the heart. An it is from this God who trieth our hearts, that we must receive ou reward. The evidences of the apostle's sincerity were, that he avoide flattery and covetousness. He avoided ambition and vain-glory.
Greek Textus Receptus
ουτε 3777 γαρ 1063 ποτε 4218 εν 1722 λογω 3056 κολακειας 2850 εγενηθημεν 1096 5675 καθως 2531 οιδατε 1492 5758 ουτε 3777 εν 1722 προφασει 4392 πλεονεξιας 4124 θεος 2316 μαρτυς 3144
Vincent's NT Word Studies
5. Used we flattering words (en logw kolakiav egenhqhmen). Better, were we found using flattering discourse. Very literally and baldly it is, we came to pass in discourse of flattery. It means more than the mere fact that they were not flatterers: rather, they did not prove to be such in the course of their work. Similar periphrases with ejn are found, Luke xxii. 44; Acts xxii. 17; 2 Cor. iii. 7; Philip. ii. 7; with eijv, Matt. xxi. 42; Mark xii. 10; Luke xx. 17; Acts iv. 11; 1 Thess. iii. 5. Kolakia flattery, N.T.o . o LXX. Rare in Class. Logw is explained by some as report or rumor. Common report did not charge us with being flatterers. This meaning is admissible, but the other is simpler. Paul says that they had not descended to flattery in order to make the gospel acceptable. They had not flattered men's self-complacency so as to blind them to their need of the radical work which the gospel demands.
Cloke of covetousness (profasei pleonexiav). For profasiv see on John xv. 22. Properly pretext: pro before, fasiv a word or saying. Others, less probably, from profainein to cause to shine forth or before. Paul means that he had not used his apostolic office to disguise or conceal avaricious designs.
God is witness (qeov martuv). Comp. Rom. i. 9; 2 Cor. i. 23; Philip. i. 8; 1 Thess. ii. 10. God or the Lord is witness is a common O.T. formula: see Gen. xxxi. 44, 50; 1 Sam. xii. 5, 6; xx. 23, 42; Wisd. i. 6. For testimony to his conduct, he appeals to the Thessalonians (as ye know): for testimony to his motives, he appeals to God. Comp. ver. 10, where there is the double appeal.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
2:5 {Using words of flattery} (en logwi kolakeias). Literally, {in speech of flattery or fawning}. Old word, only here in N.T., from kolaks, a flatterer. An Epicurean, Philodemus, wrote a work peri kolakeias (Concerning Flattery). Milligan (_Vocabulary_, etc.) speaks of "the selfish conduct of too many of the rhetoricians of the day," conduct extremely repugnant to Paul. The third time (verses #1,2,5) he appeals to their knowledge of his work in Thessalonica. Frame suggests "cajolery." {Nor a cloke of covetousness} (oute profasei pleonexias). Pretext (profasis from profainw, to show forth, or perhaps from pro-femi, to speak forth). this is the charge of self-interest rather than the mere desire to please people. Pretext of greediness is Frame's translation. pleonexia is merely "having more" from pleonektes, one eager for more, and pleonektew, to have more, qen to over-reach, all old words, all with bad meaning as the result of the desire for more. In a preacher this sin is especially fatal. Paul feels so strongly his innocence of this charge that he calls God as witness as in #2Co 1:23; Ro 9:1; Php 1:8, a solemn oath for his own veracity.
