SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:7
¶ Antes fuimos blandos entre vosotros como la que cría, que regala a sus hijos.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Thessalonians 2:7
Verse 7. But we were gentle among you] Far from assuming the authority which we had, we acted towards you as a tender nurse or parent does to a delicate child. We fed, counselled, cherished, and bore with you; we taught you to walk, preserved you from stumbling, and led you in a right path. Instead of hpioi, gentle, many MSS., and several versions and fathers, have nhpioi, young children. But this never can be considered the original reading, the scope of the place being totally opposed to it. It is the Thessalonians whom the apostle considers as young children, and himself and fellow labourers as the nurse; he could with no propriety say that he was among them as a little child, while himself professed to be their nurse.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 7. But we were gentle among you , etc.] Meek and humble, mild and moderate; not using severity, or carrying it in a haughty imperious manner; assuming power and dominion, lording it over God's heritage, and commanding persons to do homage and honour to them, and forcing themselves upon them, and obliging them to maintain them. The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, instead of gentle, read, little children; as the word signifies, by adding a letter to it, and expresses much the same as the other, that they were harmless and modest, and disinterested; and sought not themselves neither honour nor wealth, but the real good of others, and were kind and tender, and affectionate to them: even as a nurse cherisheth her children : or the children of her own self; her own children, and so designs a nursing mother, one whose the children are, has bore them as well as nurses them, and therefore has the most tender concern for them; she lays them in her bosom, and hugs them in her arms, and so warms and cherishes them; gives them the breast, bears with their frowardness, condescends to do the meanest things for them; and that without any self-interest, from a pure parental affection for them: and such were the apostles to these Thessalonians; they were their spiritual parents, of whom they travailed in birth, till Christ was formed in them; they used them with the greatest kindness and tenderness; they fed them with the sincere milk of the word; they bore patiently all the slighting and ill treatment they met with; and condescended to men of low estates, and did them all the good offices they could, without any selfish views or sinister ends: a like simile is used by the Jews f5 , who say, he that rises in the night to study in the law, the law makes known to him his offences; and not in a way of judgment, but amak , as a mother makes known to her son, with gentle words: but the ministration of the Gospel is much more gentle.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 7-12 - Mildness and tenderness greatly recommend religion, and are mos conformable to God's gracious dealing with sinners, in and by the gospel. This is the way to win people. We should not only be faithfu to our calling as Christians, but in our particular callings an relations. Our great gospel privilege is, that God has called us to his kingdom and glory. The great gospel duty is, that we walk worthy of God. We should live as becomes those called with such a high and holy calling. Our great business is to honour, serve, and please God, and to seek to be worthy of him.
Greek Textus Receptus
αλλ 235 εγενηθημεν 1096 5675 ηπιοι 2261 εν 1722 μεσω 3319 υμων 5216 ως 5613 αν 302 τροφος 5162 θαλπη 2282 5725 τα 3588 εαυτης 1438 τεκνα 5043
Vincent's NT Word Studies
7. Gentle (hpioi). This reading is adopted b;y Tischendorf, Weiss, and the Rev. T. Westcott and Hort read nh.pioi babes. This gives a stronger and bolder image, and one which falls in better with the course of thought, in which Paul is asserting his innocence of guile and flattery, and not of harshness.
Among you (en mesw umwn). Better, and more literally, in the midst of you, which implies more intimate intercourse than among you. Comp. Luke xxii. 27.
Nurse (trofov). N.T.o . In Class. sometimes of a mother, and so probably here. See Gal. iv. 19.
Cherisheth (qalph). P o . Here and Eph. v. 29. The verb originally means to warm. See LXX, Deut. xxii. 6.
Her own children. Note the inversion of metaphor. Paul is first the babe, then the nurse or mother. For similar instances see ch. v. 2, 4; 2 Corinthians iii. 13-16; Rom. vii. 1 ff. See Introduction to 2 Corinthians, Vol. 3, p. xix.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
2:7 {But we were gentle in the midst of you} (alla egeneqemen nepioi en meswi humwn). Note egeneqemen (became), not emeqa (were). this rendering follows epioi instead of nepioi (Aleph B D C Vulg. Boh.) which is clearly correct, though Dibelius, Moffatt, Ellicott, Weiss prefer epioi as making better sense. Dibelius terms nepioi _unmoglich_ (impossible), but surely that is too strong. Paul is fond of the word nepioi (babes). Lightfoot admits that he here works the metaphor to the limit in his passion, but does not mar it as Ellicott holds. {As when a nurse cherishes her own children} (hws ean trofos qalpei ta heautes tekna). this comparative clause with hws ean (#Mr 4:26; Ga 6:10 without ean or an) and the subjunctive (Robertson, _Grammar_, p. 968) has a sudden change of the metaphor, as is common with Paul (#1Ti 5:24; 2Co 3:13ff.) from {babes} to {nurse} (trofos), old word, here only in the N.T., from trefw, to nourish, trofe, nourishment. It is really the mother-nurse "who suckles and nurses her own children" (Lightfoot), a use found in Sophocles, and a picture of Paul's tender affection for the Thessalonians. qalpw is an old word to keep warm, to cherish with tender love, to foster. In N.T. only here and #Eph 5:29.
