NOTES for Th1 2:1-12
Recalling his ministry in Thessalonica, Paul especially emphasizes the fact that he never used his position as an apostle in order to get something from those to whom he preached. And this is not only about some personal advantages: Paul, as is clear, did not try in general, as people say, to "throw his authority around." Here a very important principle of Christian witness was revealed, one the apostle always followed: witness must be unobtrusive.
The issue is not only that any forcing of Christianity can turn into formalism in the religious life of the community that results from such preaching. The issue lies in the very essence of spiritual life in general and Christian life in particular. Indeed, spiritual life comes down entirely to relationships - a person's relationships with God and with other people. And relationships cannot be transferred; one can only speak about them and introduce another person to the One whom one knows oneself. But the one who seeks relationships will have to establish and maintain them; no one else will do this for him.
Here the process is deep and internal, and no one has access to it except God and the person establishing the relationship. Pressure is useless here: another person's authority will not help the matter in this case. But it can easily "help" with something else: imposing an ideology on a person, for example, a religious one. Christianity, if one wants, is not so hard to turn into a religion, although such a transformation will mean its spiritual degeneration.
But when the issue is another person's authority, leadership in the usual sense of the word, in which the leader shows the way and defines what to believe and how to live, the spiritual degeneration of Christianity (and of any spiritual life in general) is practically inevitable. A true spiritual teacher is therefore always unobtrusive; he only helps a person see and hear God when that person is already ready to see and hear Him. Such was Paul's witness to Christ: he helped those who were ready for the meeting and wanted it to meet Him, but he was not going to lead anyone anywhere, and he was not going to tell anyone how to live with Christ. Each person had to establish his own relationship with Him and find his own path into the Kingdom.