Paul called upon his readers to witness to his behavior among them, implying someone or a group of people, namely the Jewish authorities and those under their influence, had been slandering Paul and his associates, concerning their behavior, when they were in Thessalonica. Paul called upon the believers to recall how holy (G3743), righteous (G1346), and blameless (G274) he and his company had been, while they ministered among them (1Thessalonians 2:10). It seems obvious that an accusation was made against him. Otherwise, why would he ask the believers at Thessalonica to witness to his innocent behavior? To whom were they called upon to witness on his behalf?
The Greek word for ‘holy’ is hosios (G3743). It is an adverb and found only here in the entire Bible. Its noun form (G3741), however, is found in the Septuagint at Proverbs 17:26, which says: “It is not right to punish a righteous man, nor is it holy (G3741) to plot against righteous princes” (emphasis and parenthesis mine). It is interesting that one of the accusations against Paul was that he did that which was “contrary to the decrees of Caesar” (Acts 17:7), which was a treasonous charge. Caesar made many decrees. One is recorded in Luke 2:1 that concerned a world enrollment, which named Caesar Augustus Father of the Country for his silver jubilee as Emperor.[1] The ruling emperor also made decrees concerning the government of the lands he had conquered.[2] He, moreover, made decrees of a general nature that were binding upon all, such as forbidding anyone to predict the death of a reigning ruler,[3] which may have been the particular decree Paul’s enemies had in mind, since they charged Paul with wanting to replace Caesar with Jesus (Acts 17:7). However, whatever was meant by the accusation, Paul claimed he walked in a holy manner (cp. Proverbs 17:26) and called upon God and the Thessalonians to witness to that effect.
The second Greek word Paul used was dikaios (G1346). It is an adverb and means “uprightly, justly, properly” according to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. According to the Law, it pertained to accepting good behavior as the norm (Philippians 3:6; cp. 1Corinthians 15:34; Psalm 119:11) and punishing evil behavior (cp. Luke 23:41). The Greek word is found in its noun form in Ephesians 4:24, where Paul describes the new man as one created in righteousness (G1343) and true holiness. Paul’s point was that he had done no wrong, while he was in Thessalonica. In fact, not only did he obey the law of the land, but he didn’t seek restitution for the wrong done to him (1Corinthians 4:12-13), which is the higher ground of behavior that is required by Christ (1Peter 2:23; cp. Titus 2:11-13).
Finally, Paul used a third Greek word to describe his behavior among the Thessalonians, and that word is amemptos (G274), which is an adverb, meaning faultlessly, or blamelessly, which, according to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, means “there is no cause for censure.” So, Paul and those he brought with him didn’t even cause anyone in Thessalonica to find fault with them socially. They behaved themselves according to the customs of the land. No one was taken aback and offended with their behavior, to which Paul asks the believers there to witness their agreement.
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[1] See my earlier study: Did Augustus Tax the World?
[2] See Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews 14.10.1-8
[3] See Dio Chrysostom 57.15.8 cp. 56.25.5-6
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