“as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12).
While Paul the Apostle employed the image of a nursing mother in an earlier portion of this letter to the Thessalonian church, he shifted parental metaphors here in the passage quoted above.
Paul first appealed to the image of a mother who selflessly imparted her life to provide for her infant child in 1 Thessalonians 2:7. That word-picture served to illustrate how Paul shared his life with the Christian community at Thessalonica in order to facilitate their growth. Now he will balance that analogy with that of a father who “…encouraged you and comforted you and appealed to you to lead lives worthy of God…” (CJB). A closer look at these aspects of Paul’s relationship with the Thessalonian church provides us with some valuable spiritual insights.
First, exhortation refers to the ability to comfort, encourage, and/or strengthen another person, especially when it comes to the idea of teaching or instruction. (1) While there are some who may benefit from a word of exhortation, there are others who may profit from a different motivational approach: consolation or comfort.
Consolation is closely related to exhortation in the sense that it involves things like encouragement, reassurance, and other, similar qualities. However, this idea also includes the ability to admonish others or incentivize them to act in an appropriate or God-honoring manner. (2) Another source defines this concept in the following manner: “to exercise a gentle influence by words…” (3)
Finally we have the act of imploring (NASB), insisting (GW), appealing (CJB), urging (CEV), or pleading (CEB) with others to “…walk in a manner worthy of God (ESV). This represented one of the last tools in Paul’s motivational toolbox. If exhortation, admonishment, comfort, encouragement, or personal influence proved to be ineffective, then Paul was not above pleading with others to do what was right.
In some instances, Paul was forced to resort to more extreme measures to compel God’s people to act in an appropriate manner (see 1 Corinthians 5 and 1 Timothy 1:18-20). But for the young and growing congregation at Thessalonica, Paul assumed the role of a loving parent who was committed to investing in the spiritual life of his or her child. Considering the love and affection Paul held for the Thessalonians, it was a role he undoubtedly welcomed.
(1) G3870 parakaleo, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?t=kjv&strongs=g3870
(2) G3888 paramutheomai Thayer’s Greek Lexicon https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3888&t=KJV
(3) G3888 paramytheomai Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/paramytheomai