1 Thessalonians 2:6

Nor seeking glory of men (oute zhtounte ex anqrwpwn doxan). "Upon the repudiation of covetousness follows naturally the repudiation of worldly ambition" (Milligan). See Acts 20:19 ; 2 Corinthians 4:5 ; Ephesians 4:2 . This third disclaimer is as strong as the other two. Paul and his associates had not tried to extract praise or glory out of (ex) men. Neither from you nor from others (oute ap umwn oute ap allwn). He widens the negation to include those outside of the church circles and changes the preposition from ex (out of) to apo (from). When we might have been burdensome, as apostles of Christ (dunamenoi en barei einai w Cristou apostoloi). Westcott and Hort put this clause in verse Ephesians 7 . Probably a concessive participle, though being able to be in a position of weight (either in matter of finance or of dignity, or a burden on your funds or "men of weight" as Moffatt suggests). Milligan suggests that Paul "plays here on the double sense of the phrase" like the Latin proverb: Honos propter onus. So he adds, including Silas and Timothy, as Christ's apostles, as missionaries clearly, whether in the technical sense or not (cf. Acts 14:4 Acts 14:14 ; 2 Corinthians 8:23 ; 2 Corinthians 11:13 ; Romans 16:7 ; Philippians 2:25 ; Revelation 2:2 ). They were entitled to pay as "Christ's apostles" (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:1 ; 2 Corinthians 11:7 ), though they had not asked for it.