Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Thessalonians 2:8

"even so, being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were become very dear to us." — 1 Thessalonians 2:8 (ASV)

The manner of gentle treatment involved a willingness to share with the Thessalonians both the Gospel of God and their own lives; that is how much they loved them. The missionaries constantly yearned for these people, so much so that they found it a continual delight to share their whole beings with them. “Lives” (GK 6034) conveys more than just their physical lives; in the depths of their being they cared “because [the Thessalonians] had become so dear” to them.