Confidence in the Lord; the Apostle’s Wish (2 Thessalonians 3:4–5)

2 Thess. 3:4. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you both do and will do the things which we command.

What is of God in the work of salvation will, without question, always be accomplished by Him in you—yet on one condition: that you yourselves also always do His holy will, communicated to you through us. “As if to say: God is faithful, and will certainly complete what He began in you—the work of salvation—but only if you also act” (Theophylact). As I am confident that God will do His part, so I trust that you will do yours. But even this trust is grounded in the Lord, who is always everywhere ready to be the all-worker of salvation, as soon as He finds hearts opened to Him in faith and devotion to Him. What remains as if unspoken is: I earnestly beseech you, therefore, to fulfil faithfully all that we have commanded you. And your salvation will then be subject to no doubt whatsoever. The Lord saves the one who seeks and strives, not the careless and negligent. “Lest they should think that everything will come to them from God, who called and chose them for salvation, and thereby become negligent and careless, he also requires their own activity. As if he had said: God is true, who chose you for salvation. But deeds on your part are also necessary” (Oecumenius).

“We have confidence in the Lord concerning you.” The Greek text also admits the rendering: we trust concerning you in the Lord; but the meaning is one and the same. Theophylact writes: “In the Lord,” that is, we trust in God’s love for mankind, that He will fill you with strength—in order to show them that everything depends on God. And again he did not simply say: in the Lord; but: “concerning you, that you do” and the rest—lest they, referring everything to God, should become idle. All must be committed to God, but in such a way that one also acts oneself.

“The things which we command you”—we refer not only to the present instructions, but embrace all the commandments, ordinances, and regulations that proceed from the Apostles, the entire will of God, whatever we may have said to you. To be resolved to act precisely in this way constitutes conversion; and on this resolution stands Baptism itself, before the administration of which one is asked: “Do you renounce Satan and all his works?” and: “Do you unite yourself to Christ?” — meaning, readiness to fulfil His every will.

“Both do and will do.” “There is no need,” he says, “to exhort you at length. You have already shown your obedience in deed. And you are not content with what has already been done, but are ready to add yet further deeds after this” (Damascus). It is not merely: you already do the commandment, and whatever else we may command, you will do; rather, the Apostle sees in them an obedience that is ready, while they live, to fulfil faithfully whatever may be commanded. For from the beginning they resolved to obey the will of God—which alone the Apostles had ever proclaimed to them. “He was not content to say ‘you do,’ but added ‘you will do,’ showing that we ought to be zealous for virtue to our last breath” (Theophylact). He sets forth here their perfect obedience in order to dispose them to the fulfilment of what he was about to command immediately after—laying the groundwork for the corrective lesson. “He said this to encourage them, so that, learning what opinion the Apostle holds of them, they might confirm it by deed” (Theodoret).

We consider it not superfluous to cite in full the extended exposition of the thoughts hidden in this text, as given by St Chrysostom. “See how the Apostle, in order not to bring them to inactivity—and so that they themselves, supposing that everything depends on God, should not give themselves over to slumber—also requires cooperation on their part, saying to them: ‘we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you both do and will do the things which we command.’ He speaks as it were: True, God is faithful, and having promised to save you, He will without fail save you—but He will save you as He promised. And how did He promise? If we ourselves wish it, if we obey Him, if we also do not remain inactive like trees and stones—not unconditionally. The Apostle rightly used also this expression: we trust in the Lord, that is, we trust in His love for mankind. Again he brings them low in their pride, showing that everything depends on God. For had he said, we trust in you, that would have contained great praise for them—but he would not have shown that they place all things in dependence on God. On the other hand, had he said: we trust in the Lord that He will preserve you—and had not added the expression ‘concerning you’ and the other: ‘that you both do and will do the things which we command,’—then, placing all hope solely on the power of God, he would have made them more given to idleness. For though in all things we must rely on God, yet we ourselves must also be active; we must resolve upon labours and struggles. Here the Apostle also shows that our virtue must attain the proper degree and perfection and abide with us to our last breath.”

2 Thess. 3:5. Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.

What he hoped for the Thessalonians from the Lord, and what he expected of them in the Lord, he now entreats the Lord to grant. He hoped that the Lord would keep them steadfast in faith and virtue and firm against the evil one—and prays that endurance may be given them; he expected of the Thessalonians in the Lord that, as they had been fulfilling and would continue to fulfil every will of God revealed to them through the Apostles—and prays that love may be given them, in which lies the fulfilment of the Law and the durability of endurance itself; he prays also that their hearts be directed towards both—not merely outwardly correct and steadfast, but inwardly so, in the very depths of the soul. Thus hope does not remove the necessity of prayer; rather, it is hope itself that gives birth to prayer, keeps it warm, and makes it untiring.

“Direct”—from the Greek, lead straight: “make you to walk straight toward true love, without straying to the byways” (Theodoret). “Direct your hearts.” How? — By the working of grace in the depths of the soul. And yet it is evident that grace does not produce everything, but only guides. The journey itself is made by the soul, seeking and striving—though always with the help of God’s grace. Theodoret writes on this passage: We need both—a good intention and help from above. The prophet too prays to obtain this help: “Make my steps firm in Your paths, that my feet be not moved” (Ps. 16:5).

“Into the love of God”—into love for God and for all that is divine, or into the embrace of God’s love, from which shall be kindled love both for Him and for every person and for every good thing—or into divine, great, pure, and heavenly love. The forms of expression differ; the substance is one. But why is the journey toward this love assumed to be long and subject to the danger of deviation? Because love does not all at once take up its dwelling in the heart, on account of the passions and passionate attractions and sympathies that remain in it. The seed of love is sown in the soil of the heart at the moment of conversion, but it grows strong and ripens as the heart is cleansed of the passions. The labour of cleansing the heart is crowned with love in its fullness. It is in the course of this inner labour upon oneself that deviations from the right path to love are possible—and do occur. “Many things turn one aside from the right path of love: love of money, vainglory, sorrows, temptations. These and many other things prevent us from walking straight to the love of God and from loving Him as we ought” (Theophylact). St Chrysostom expounds this at greater length, saying: “There are many objects that turn us away from love, and many paths that forcibly drag us thence. First, the vice of covetousness—as though seizing our soul with its, so to speak, shameless hands, and holding it fast, it drags it and draws it away from there even against our will. Then vainglory and sorrows turn us aside from love, and often also temptations. We therefore need the help of God as a kind of wind, so that our sail, as if by a strong gust, may be moved toward the love of God. In consequence, do not tell me that you love God even more than yourself. These are mere words: prove it to me by deeds, that you truly love Him more than yourself. Love Him more than money, and then I will believe that you love Him more than yourself. For how can one who does not account money as nothing for God’s sake deny himself? If you do not turn away from covetousness—which you ought to do even without God’s command—how will you turn away from yourself?”

“And into the patience of Christ”—either endurance for Christ’s sake, or endurance after the pattern of Christ who suffered for us—such as Christ Himself showed when He took on suffering and death for our salvation—or the patient waiting for the Second Coming of Christ, when He will reward those who endure with glory and blessedness: an expectation that, after love, alone sustains endurance. In endurance, when it is genuine, all these qualities are combined. The Apostle combined them all in one expression, calling endurance the endurance of Christ. He prays for only two moral powers—love and endurance. Love is the innermost motive force of Christian life; endurance is likewise an interior force, but one that guards that life from without. Endurance is sustained by hope, but receives its indestructible strength from love. Whoever does not love will hardly long maintain endurance. And whoever does not endure—his love is hardly firm. “The Apostle’s prayer,” says St Damascus, “touches upon matters of great import—namely, to love God and to endure sorrows with patience for Christ’s sake; that with love there may be joined endurance, or rather, that love may be crowned with endurance. For as soon as we love but fail to show endurance, love itself is dissolved.” Theophylact writes the same: “The words ‘into the patience of Christ’—understand them either thus: that we may endure as He endured; or thus: that we may await Christ with patience and not despair, but firmly believe that He will fulfil what He has promised. He joined endurance with love because to love God is precisely to endure all things for His sake, without murmuring, with a good heart.” Both borrowed their thoughts from St Chrysostom, who explains this at greater length.

With this the holy Apostle concludes what was his ostensibly closing address—in which, however, he found room for such benedictions and expressions of hope that the untroubled reception of the reprimand that followed could not be in doubt. By all this he “showed fatherly care for them; since he intended to reprove certain among them, he first anointed their hearts, that they might not doubt that his admonition proceeded from great love” (Theophylact).