1 Thess. 3:7. Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress,
A wonderful thing! Paul expresses gratitude to them for the fact that they were not shaken. We, he says, no longer feel sorrows, but have been comforted—not in just one particular sorrow, but in every one. For the joy over you became a counterbalance to all our afflictions.
1 Thess. 3:7. for your faith;
You, he says, strengthened me. Meanwhile in reality it was the opposite: he himself, not yielding to temptations, strengthened them, yet he gives the praise to them. For you, he says, did not let me feel my temptations.
1 Thess. 3:8. For now we live, when you stand fast in the Lord.
He did not say: we were comforted, but: "we live," showing by this that their stumbling he considers death for himself, and their progress, standing, and firmness in Christ – life.
1 Thess. 3:9. What thanksgiving can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice on account of you before our God,
Such, he says, is our joy over you, that we are not even able to worthily thank God for you. Your progress we consider a gift of God. For such a lofty feeling is not characteristic of the human soul or of human effort. That is why, being obliged to thank Him, we cannot find a worthy thanksgiving.
1 Thess. 3:10. Night and day praying most earnestly that we might see your face
Note the intensification in the expression! "Praying most earnestly" to see them, just as a farmer, hearing that the field he cultivates abounds with fruit, impatiently desires to see it with his own eyes.
1 Thess. 3:10. and supply what is lacking in your faith?
If above he testified to their "standing," then how does he now say: "what was lacking in your faith"? They did not benefit from all the teaching, and they were lacking, perhaps, knowledge about the resurrection and other similar matters. Also, there were many false teachers, which is why he said: "what was lacking." Where he feared for the faith itself, he says: "we sent Timothy to establish you" (v. 2); but here he says: "to supply," which pertains more to teaching than to establishing. For we call imperfect that which lacks only a little.
1 Thess. 3:11. Now God Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you.
If already in the epistle the apostle includes his prayer, then by this he shows that he also prayed privately to see them. At the same time he also justifies himself, that he is far from them not out of negligence, as if saying: May God Himself put an end to the temptations that from all sides hinder us from coming to you by a direct path.
1 Thess. 3:12. Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men,
Do you see the irresistible impulse of love in the fact that he prays for them, that the Lord would fill and overfill them with love? And not only toward one another, but toward all. For the love of God is revealed precisely in the fact that it strives to embrace everyone. But if you love one person and not another, then this is human love.
1 Thess. 3:12. which we are filled with toward you,
From our side, he says, it already exists; we ask that in the future it may be from your side as well. Have us as the measure and model of love.
1 Thess. 3:13. So that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before God and our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. Amen.
The Apostle shows that love benefits those who love, not those who are loved. "May the Lord fill you," he says, "with love, so as to establish your hearts." By "the Lord" understand the Spirit, as Basil the Great also interpreted this. For who else will establish them blameless before God and Father at the coming of Christ, if not the Spirit entirely? He did not say: will establish you, but: "your hearts. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts" (Mt. 15:19). It is possible to be evil without doing any evil deed, such as being envious, deceitful, bearing grudges, or holding to perverted teaching. Therefore, a person is truly blameless when he purifies his heart; then he also has holiness. For although holiness chiefly refers to chastity, just as impurity refers to fornication and adultery, in general every sin is impurity and every virtue is holiness. The Apostle wishes them to be blameless before God and Father, both now (for this is true virtue — before God, not before men, since human judgment is unstable) and at the coming of Christ, for He too will judge us before the face of His Father. Therefore, may you be, he says, blameless, as are all the saints.