1 Thessalonians 2:3 – Not Out of Deception

3 For our entreaty is not out of deception, nor yet out of uncleanness, nor yet with guile

The word Paul uses for “entreaty” is paraklēsis and belongs with the verb parakaleō. In these words we recognize para, beside, and kaleō, call. It evokes the picture of someone calling something out from the sidelines. That may be encouraging or exhorting, but also corrective. The context determines its thrust. Here Paul is primarily telling us what his entreaty did not arise from.

First: “not out of deception.” His entreaty did not originate in a mistake or a false path. This fits well with what precedes it. In Thessalonica, after all, Paul had argued “from the scriptures” (Acts 17:2). Nor did his entreaty come “out of uncleanness.” We need not think specifically of sexual uncleanness. The word is broader and the following verses will flesh this out further: no pleasing men, flattery, greed, or seeking glory from men.

With the third, Paul strikingly changes prepositions. Twice he says “out of”: not out of deception and not out of uncleanness. But then: not “with guile.” The first two say something about the source from which their entreaty proceeded; the last about the sphere within which it took place. Why Paul could be so certain of this becomes clear from what immediately follows: God had tested him and entrusted him with the evangel.

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