Due to his apostolic status, Paul and his coworkers could have come to the Thessalonians with a sense of their importance. This clause is understood in a variety of ways, including we could have been a burden
(NIV), we could have made demands
(ESV), we might have asserted our authority
(NASB), we might have made our weight felt
(REB). The phrase that causes the confusion is, in Greek, ἐν βάρει/en barei, which has the literal meaning in, or with, weight.
It is clear that Paul is not talking about his weight in the literal sense, so it becomes necessary to ask what he is referring to by using this word. One possibility is that he is speaking about his right as an apostle to demand financial support (see 1 Corinthians 9:1–14), since he does use words related to βάρος/baros to refer to financial support (2 Corinthians 11:9; 2 Corinthians 12:13; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8). However, the word βάρος/baros can also refer to a person’s authority, dignity, or influence; this meaning fits well with Paul’s claim that he did not seek honour from people when he was in Thessalonica.1,2,3 We could translate the sentence colloquially like this: though as apostles of Christ we could have come to you as heavyweights
(see REB translation quoted above).
The phrase apostles of Christ
explains why Paul could have thrown his weight around when he was in Thessalonica.
6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.