Even so, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you, not the Good News of God only, but also our own souls, because you had become very dear to us.
Parallel translations
- KJV So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.
- BSB We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well. That is how beloved you have become to us.
- NKJV So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.
- NASB in the same way we had a fond affection for you and were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.
- NLT We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul loved them so much he shared not only the gospel but his very life. True ministry gives itself away, not just its message.
Overview
His affection was so deep that he gladly imparted both the gospel and his "own souls"—his whole self—to them. The Thessalonians had become dear to him, so love compelled sacrificial investment. This models the incarnational pattern of love that does not merely deliver truth but pours out the life of the one who brings it, as Christ did.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 22
- 1 Jn 3:16By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
- 2 Cor 12:15I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?
- Phil 2:17Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
- Rom 1:11–12For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established;
- Phil 4:1Therefore, my brothers, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.
- Heb 13:17Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.
- Gal 4:19My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you —
- 2 Cor 6:1Working together, we entreat also that you not receive the grace of God in vain,
- Phil 2:25–26But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need;
- Phil 2:20For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.
- Phlm 1:1Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker,
- Col 1:28whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;
- Col 4:12Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
- Jer 13:15–17Hear, and give ear. Don’t be proud; for Yahweh has spoken.
- Rom 9:1–3I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit,
- Rom 10:1Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved.
- Rom 15:29I know that, when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of the Good News of Christ.
- Col 1:7even as you learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf,
- 2 Cor 6:11–13Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians. Our heart is enlarged.
- Luke 7:2A certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death.
- Phil 1:8For God is my witness, how I long after all of you in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus.
- Acts 20:23–24except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.
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Christ at the center
The believer waits for God's Son from heaven, Jesus who delivers from the wrath to come and who will return to gather his people to himself.
How 1 Thessalonians 2:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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