The Apostle’s Prayerful Good Wishes (1 Thessalonians 3:11–13)

The Apostle has now said all that pertained to himself. He closes his discourse with a prayer: that he might reach the Thessalonians, and that they might grow in Christian perfection and appear as such at the Second Coming of Christ.

1 Thess. 3:11. Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you.

God the Father, as the Almighty and Creator of visible things, and the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things were made (Jn. 1:3), to whom “all power is given in heaven and in earth” (Mt. 28:18)—a sovereign power to order all things for the good of the faith and of the faithful—and who promised to be with believers “all the days, even to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20) and to fulfil their every petition. “This teaches the equality of the Father and the Son, making known that the Father and the Son govern the same economy, as they also create the same” (Theodoret). That is why direct stands in the singular. — The Triune God acts in us to salvation through the incarnate Only-begotten Son of God and the Holy Spirit who has descended, by the good pleasure of the Father.

“Direct our way to you. Direct”—let the time be shown, the obstacles removed, and all that favours a peaceful journey arranged. The Apostle lived in self-surrender to God and directed all his steps according to indications from above, whether expressed inwardly—by the heart being made fully ready in an unobstructed way—or outwardly—by a confluence of circumstances calling him to certain undertakings and affording all conveniences for them. He presumed nothing of his own accord, but ordered all things as God directed.

Holy Chrysostom says of this passage: “To pray not only inwardly but to set forth one’s prayer in a letter is the mark of extraordinary love, the mark of a soul ardent and truly irrepressible. He speaks as if to say: may God Himself bring the temptations to an end that on every side block our direct way to you,” “may He fulfil our desire and remove the difficulties encountered” (Theodoret), “may He drive away Satan, who everywhere through temptations lays obstacles before us—from coming to you” (Oecumenius).

1 Thess. 3:12. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.

Benedictions for the Thessalonians in the spirit of faith and hope. — He wishes them perfection in love, which alone has the power to keep them unshaken in faith and pure in life until the very Second Coming of Christ, in which the eternal lot of each is decided.

“And the Lord.” Before he said: “God and the Father, and the Lord…” but now only “the Lord.” This is because the Lord and the Father are one, by the word of the Lord Himself: “I and the Father are one” (Jn. 10:30), and because what follows are benedictions according to the economy of our salvation, which the Triune God accomplishes through the incarnate God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Make to increase and abound in love”—this is the same as: may He fill and overfill with love. Holy Chrysostom expresses the meaning of both words in one: “may He cause to grow.” Blessed Theodoret, however, separates the meaning of each word, relating the first to an increase in the number of believers and the second to the uniting of all of them in love. “He prays that He would augment them in number and make them to abound in love—that is, to have attained perfect love, so as to lack nothing in it.”

“In love one toward another, and toward all men.” — He desires love above all else because it is the bond of perfection (Col. 3:14), it is the fulfilment of the Law (Rom. 13:10). Christian progress is progress in love (1 Tim. 6:11). As the Lord Himself, as the other Apostles, so also holy Paul places love above all else in Christianity (1 Cor. 13). — But whom does the Apostle mean by “toward all?” — If by “one toward another” he means only the believers, the Thessalonians, then “toward all” will mean toward all other Christians. So Theodoret: “That they should show love not only one toward another, but toward all of one faith, wherever they might be.” But if by “one toward another” one understands Christians in general, then “toward all” will mean all people. So Oecumenius: “It is the business of Christians not only to love the brothers, but all people, both believers and unbelievers.” Holy Chrysostom understands love toward all without reference to faith. “See how he wishes to extend this love! — Not only one toward another, but toward all. For therein is truly shown love according to God, that it strives to embrace all within itself. But if you love one and not another, your love is merely human.” Holy Apostle Paul often inculcates love toward all people—as in Tit. 3:2; 1 Tim. 2:1; 1 Thess. 5:15; and the like.

“Even as we do toward you”—the implied sense being: we are full and abound in love. The expression is abbreviated and requires supplementing. One may read it thus: having spoken of love toward all, he gives a hint as to himself as well, saying as it were: toward all, and toward us… After this it is natural for: “even as we do toward you” to follow—or directly: love one another and all, as we love you—that is, selflessly, ready for every sacrifice, as he speaks of himself in 1 Thess. 2. His love, known and proved by the Thessalonians, he sets as a model: “Take us as the measure and example of love” (Theophylact). To set himself as an example is characteristic of holy Apostle Paul (2 Thess. 3:9; Phil. 3:17). Yet he does not let Christians rest in himself, but from himself leads them up to Christ the Lord, saying: “Be you followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). Thus he leads all to the One. In the work of moral formation, example is stronger than any word.

1 Thess. 3:13. To the end he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Amen.

He desires love because it is the sole support of full moral purity, which even now appears as such before the eyes of the all-seeing God and will appear as such at the coming of the Lord, when all things—even what is hidden—will be laid bare and revealed before all. “Love makes blameless, and indeed it alone truly makes blameless. Love toward one’s neighbour shuts every entrance to sin. And there is absolutely not a single sin which the power of love, like fire, would not consume. It is easier for weak brushwood to withstand a strong fire than for the nature of sin to withstand the power of love” (Chrysostom).

This is why, desiring steadfastness in moral blamelessness and purity, he desires love. Love is the means to unshakeable purity—to firm and irreproachable morality—and this latter is the condition of justification at the Second Coming of Christ. In another place he writes: “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1). Here he says: if you wish to be so pure and blameless, seek and pray for perfect love. Holy Chrysostom writes: “I want, he says, this love to abound in you to such a degree that there be no fault in you. He did not say: establish you, but ‘your hearts.” “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts’ (Mt. 15:19). One can be evil while doing no evil—as in: harbouring hatred, unbelief, being crafty, rejoicing at the misfortunes of one’s neighbours, being unfriendly, holding perverted teaching—for all this is a matter of the heart. To be pure from all of this constitutes holiness. For although holiness is chiefly and pre-eminently called chastity, since impurity is fornication and adultery, yet in general every sin is impurity and every virtue is purity. ‘Blessed,’ says the Saviour, ‘are the pure in heart’ (Mt. 5:8)—meaning by the pure those who are pure in everything.”

“Before God, even our Father”—this may be referred both to “unblameable in holiness,” in the sense that their hearts should prove blameless and pure before the very all-seeing eye of God, in which case purity is true purity only—and to: “the coming of the Lord,” in the sense that judgment too will take place before the face of the Father. So holy Chrysostom, Oecumenius, and Theophylact. Chrysostom writes: “The judge then will be Christ, but we shall stand not before Him but before the Father at the time of judgment. — Or here the Apostle means that we ought to be blameless before God. Of which I always tell you: we must be blameless not in the sight of man but in the sight of God, for therein consists true virtue.”

“At the coming of the Lord.” — To this decisive moment the Apostle has already more than once directed the attention of the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 1:10; 2:12, 19). Now again he presents it as the ultimate limit of hopes and expectations, and at the same time as the strongest incentive to sustain in themselves energetic efforts toward the deeds and dispositions that may win approval at that time. Whatever is then determined concerning any person will seal his lot with an unchangeable seal for all eternity—either for blessedness or for torment.

“With all his saints.” Some hold that the Apostle here wishes them blamelessness together with all the saints, on a level with them, like them—so as to be in their company at the meeting of the Lord (Theodoret). But more directly these words refer to the coming of the Lord with all His saints. What saints? — “Most immediately, the angels. For everywhere the coming of the Lord is thus described, that He will be surrounded by hosts of angels (Mt. 25:31; Mk. 8:38; Lk. 9:26; Acts 10:22; Mt. 16:27; 2 Thess. 1:7). But since it says—with His saints and moreover with ‘all,’ one may understand also perfected Christians, who are His in a special sense, as those bought by His blood and joined to Him in one spirit. The first among them—the Apostles—were promised to sit upon twelve thrones and to judge (Mt. 19:28).”

“Amen.” Not infrequently in the course of his discourse the Apostle introduces prayerful appeals and cries to God, which he often confirms with the word: Amen. As if to say: may it be so—so be it, so be it. He wishes to convey that his prayerful benediction is not the result of a momentary impulse, but the fruit of his constant and firm desire for their essential good in Christianity.