Paul’s Companions Worked Too

He testifies that he was not the only one who lived this way among them, in case this practice might seem neither important nor general if it rested on his example alone. He declares that all those who had been appointed with him to the ministry of the gospel, that is, Silvanus and Timothy, who wrote this letter with him, worked in the same way. For by saying, “so that we would not be a burden to any of you,” he covers them with great shame. If the man who preached the gospel and commended it by signs and mighty works did not dare to eat bread for nothing, so as not to be a burden to anyone, how can those who take it every day in idleness and at their ease help thinking that they are a burden? [a]