1 Thessalonians 2:9 – Free of Charge

9 For you remember, brethren, our toil and labor: working night and day so as not to be burdensome to any of you, we herald to you the evangel of God.

Paul reminds the Thessalonians of what they themselves had seen. While he heralded the evangel of God to them, he worked “night and day.” This meant toil and labor, but the purpose is immediately stated: “so as not to be burdensome to any of you.” In this, Paul refers back to verse 6. As an apostle of Christ, he “could be a burden,” but he did not make use of that right.

This did not mean that Paul rejected support for someone proclaiming the evangel. On the contrary, elsewhere he explicitly defends that right. “Thus the Lord also prescribes that those who are announcing the evangel are to be living of the evangel” (1 Cor. 9:14). Paul therefore did not reject support, and he also received it, but he himself never made a claim upon it. His boast was precisely that, in bringing the evangel, he placed it “without expense” (1 Cor. 9:18). He heralded free of charge.

That makes Paul’s words about greed in verse 5 all the more telling. His proclamation was not a means of earning something from the Thessalonians. He did not even make use of provisions to which he could lay claim as an apostle. He wanted to take nothing from them, but to give them something: the evangel of God — free of charge!

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