G2282 θάλπω (thálpō)

Cherishes (2282) (thalpo) originally meant to warm, to brood, or to keep warm (as with with body heat), to soften by heat. The idea is to cherish with a tender love and care. Josephus uses thalpo to describe the young woman who provided warmth for King David (Jos., Ant. 7, 343) Webster says that cherish (Old French chier = dear) means to hold dear, to feel or show affection for, protect and care for lovingly, to keep or cultivate with care and affection. Thalpo is used in the Septuagint (LXX) to describe a bird sitting on her nest... Deuteronomy 22:6 "If you happen to come upon a bird's nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting (Septuagint = thalpo = idea of brooding) on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. Job 39:14 For she abandons her eggs to the earth, and warms (Septuagint = thalpo) them in the dust, Husbands are to provide a secure, warm place for their wives. The Septuagint (LXX) usages of thalpo suggest that men are to provide their wives with a nest, which pictures a place of a security, a place of warmth, and a place of nourishment. The only other NT use is found in first Thessalonians Paul explaining... nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. 7 But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing (trophos related to trepho as in ektrepho in Eph 5:29) mother tenderly cares (thalpo in the present tense) for her own children. (1Thes 2:6-7-note) Neufeld writes that... In other literature, these two verbs (ektrepho, thalpo) together sometimes stipulate the husband’s duties in a marriage contract (Gnilka, 285; Perkins: 134). But here they depict the depth of care and concern the husband is to have for his wife. Such care is measured by the degree of love all have for their own flesh and, much more important, by Christ’s care for his own body, the church. (Neufeld, T. R. Y. Ephesians. Believers church Bible Commentary. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press) JUST AS CHRIST ALSO DOES THE CHURCH: kathos kai o Christos ten ekklesian: Just as Christ does for the church - The Lord clearly supplies every need of His body the Church and husbands likewise are to do the same for their wives. They are not to just provide for most of her needs or just provide when she is not too picky or too demanding. What the church needs Christ supplies and husbands are to do the same to their wives without caveats or qualifiers. There is one caveat - husbands are not to provide for her every want but her every need. However even in this situation the husband is to help her discern the difference between wants and needs, but to do it with gentleness and kindness. The husband is the provider, the protector and the preserver. Husbands are missing the mark when they view their wives as objects - cooks, baby sitter, house cleaner, sex partner, etc. She is God's gift and is be continually cherished and nourished. Just as (2531) (kathos) means that the manner and the extent of the care of the husband for his wife is to be in a measure identical to that of Christ for His Bride, the Church. Christ (5547) (Christos from chrio = to anoint, rub with oil, consecrate to an office) is the Anointed One, the Messiah, Christos being the Greek equivalent of the transliterated Hebrew word Messiah. Church (1577) (ekklesia from ekkaléo = call out in turn from ek = out + kaleo = call) literally "called-out ones". The Greeks used ekklesia for assembly of citizens called out to transact city business. The church is a living organism, composed of living members joined together; through which Christ works, carries out His purposes and He lives. Everyone who has been saved belongs to the body of Christ, the universal church. The universal church is manifested in the world by individual local churches, each of which is to be a microcosm of the body of Christ. The church is to function under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, operating under His sovereign rule. Jesus Christ is the Founder and Lord of His church and has guaranteed its perpetuity until He returns. Ephesians 5:30 because we are members of His body. (NASB: Lockman) Greek: oti mele esmen (1PPAI) tou somatos autou. Amplified: Because we are members (parts) of His body. (Amplified Bible - Lockman) NLT: And we are his body. (NLT - Tyndale House) Phillips: And we are all members of that body, we are his flesh and blood! ' (Phillips: Touchstone) Wuest: because members are we of His Body. (Eerdmans) Young's Literal: because members we are of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones; BECAUSE WE ARE MEMBERS OF HIS BODY: oti mele esmen (1PPAI) tou somatos autou: (Ep 1:23; Genesis 2:23; Romans 12:5; 1Corinthians 6:15; 12:12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27; Colossians 2:19) Because we are members of His body - A man’s treatment of his body is compared to Christ’s treatment of the church; he “nourishes and cherishes” the church, and verse 30 gives the basis for this declaration. The NAS is a bit misleading for Paul is not giving the reason why Christ nourishes and cherishes the church. The Bible Jerusalem rendering effectively conveys the meaning... This is precisely what Christ does for the Church: are we not the members of his Body? Hodge adds that... This verse assigns the reason of the preceding declaration. Christ acts towards his church as a man does towards his body, for we are members of his body. This might mean simply that we stand before him in the same intimate and vital union that a man’s body sustains to the man himself. The union between Christ and His people is mysterious. It may be illustrated but cannot be fully explained. It is analogous to the union between husband and wife, who are declared to be one flesh to express their community of life, and is especially analogous to the union between Adam and Eve, because she derived her life from his flesh. As the relationships are thus analogous, what is said of the one may be said of the other. To prove this and to justify the use of the language which he had employed, the apostle cites the language of God in Genesis 2:24. (Ephesians 5:21-33) Members (3196) (melos) is literally a limb or member of the body. Here melos is used metaphorically of "members" ("limbs") of the Church of which Christ is the Head. John Eadie comments that... The apostle has the idea of marriage and its relations before him, and he employs the imagery of the original institute, which first depicted the unity of man and wife, to describe the origin and union of the church and Christ. As the woman was literally, by being taken out of Adam, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh; as this duality sprung from unity, and was speedily resolved into it: so the church is originated out of Christ, and, united to Him as its Head or Husband, is one with Him. The language is, therefore, a metaphorical expression of this union, borrowed from the graphic diction of Genesis; and this image evidently presented itself to the apostle's mind from its connection with the origin and nature of those conjugal duties which he is inculcating in the paragraph before us. The error of Meyer's exegesis is his restriction of the imagery to the one example of Adam and Eve, whereas it has its verification in every nuptial union, and hence the apostle's use of it. As Eve derived her life and being out of Adam, and was physically of his body, his flesh, and his bones, so believers are really of Christ—of His body, His flesh, and His bones, for they are one with Christ in nature and derive their life from His humanity, nay, are connected with Him, not simply and generally by a spiritual union, but in some close and derivative way which the apostle calls a mystery, with His body; so that they live as its members, and become with it “one flesh.” Besides, in the next verse, the apostle takes his readers to the source of his imagery. (John Eadie, D., LL.D. The Epistle of St Paul to the Ephesians) Expositors Greek Testament writes that... We are not something apart from Christ, nor do we occupy only an incidental relation to Him. We are veritable parts of that body of which He is Head, and this is the reason why He nourishes and cherishes the Church. (Nicoll, W Robertson, Editor: Expositors Greek Testament: 5 Volumes. Out of print. Search Google)

Tenderly cares (2282)(thalpo) primarily means to heat, to soften by heat, then, to keep warm, as of birds covering their young with their feathers. Josephus, Ant. 7, 343 uses thalpo in his description of a young woman who provided warmth for King David. In the present use the picture is of loving mother who would take her infant in her arms to warm the child with her own body heat. This vivid picture illustrates the kind of personal care the Thessalonians received from Paul. Metaphorically thalpo means to cherish with tender love, to foster with tender care. Thalpo is used one other time in the NT by Paul in Ephesians 5 describing Christ and the Church... for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes (thalpo) it, just as Christ also does the church (Ep 5:29-note) Comment: Husbands are to provide a secure, warm place for their wives. The Septuagint (LXX) usages of thalpo suggest that men are to provide their wives with a nest, which pictures a place of a security, a place of warmth, and a place of nourishment. There are 5 uses in the Septuagint (LXX) (Deut. 22:6; 1 Ki. 1:2, 4; Job 39:14) with a picturesque uses in... Dt 22:6 If you happen to come upon a bird's nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting (thalpo - brooding) on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; Job 39:14 For she abandons her eggs to the earth, and warms (thalpo) them in the dust Here in 1Thessalonians thalpo clearly refers to the care of the saints at Thessalonica by Paul and his associates, as of a nurse for her children. Paul uses the imagery of the nursery at feeding time. Paul is drawing a vivid contrast saying that he did not feed on them but instead he himself fed them. "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://www.preceptaustin.org/1thessalonians_27-9.htm#tenderly