2 Thessalonians 3:5

2Th_3:5

The lord direct your hearts into the love of god, and into the patient waiting for christ

Soul elevation

There are many kinds of elevation that man aspires to.

1. Mercantile elevation: men struggle to become the leading merchants of the age.

2. Civic: men strive hard for the posts of magistrate, mayor, statesman, premier.

3. Ecclesiastical: men labour to attain the posts of canon, dean, bishop. But all these involve not the true elevation of man. What, then, is true elevation?

I. A certain state of heart in relation to the Divine.

1. The love of God--the love of gratitude for the kindest Being, the love of reverence for the greatest Being, the love of adoration for the holiest and best Being. And all this is supreme. Thus centreing the soul on God we dwell in love, and therefore dwell in Him.

2. Waiting for Christ. Looking forward and anticipating His advent to release us from all the sorrows and sins of this mortal state. This waiting requires patience: the wheels of His chariot seem to tarry.

II. A certain state of heart produced by the Divine. The Lord direct your hearts. The hearts of men in their unregenerate state are everywhere but in this direction, they are as sheep that have gone astray, prodigals that have left their Fathers house, stars that have wandered from their orbits. Who shall bring them back? None can but the Almighty. Ministers may argue and entreat, but unless the Lord come to work their labour is all in vain. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Love and patience

1. This prayer bears that peculiar triune stamp which we often meet, and which cannot be satisfactorily accounted for save on the theory of a Trinity in all Christian supplication. The Holy Ghost is always to be regarded as referred to when a Third Person joins the Father and the Son.

2. The prayer is one of those terse sentences which exhibit all religion in a symmetrical pair of counterparts, the precise relation of which is shown by the context.

(1) The promise (2Th_3:3) pledges the faithfulness of the Lord, i.e., Christ, to their confirmation in grace and the restraint of the evil one, the two kinds of guardianship being alike necessary and mutually supplementary. By confirming our inward stability, the Lord often keeps the tempter from us, and when he comes, the blessing of the Lord on our resistance tends to confirm our steadfastness. But--

(2) The apostle does not leave all to the Lords fidelity. He rejoices in the confidence that the Lords protected ones will protect themselves (2Th_3:4) by fortifying their own minds with truth and their lives by obedience. The Divine and human are balanced in our protection. The Lord is faithful if you may be trusted.

(3) But as God must have, in all things, the preeminence, the prayer follows which gives to the Spirit the prerogative of directing the soul into the love of God which confirms the soul, and into the patience of Christ which will endure and survive the enemys attacks.

I. The love of god is exhibited under two aspects in the New Testament.

1. Our love to God; but that is not here meant. When the Apostle makes that the object of prayer, he asks it as a benediction of God.

2. It means here Gods love to us.

(1) That love beams through Christ upon all the world; but those only rejoice in it who are brought into a state of mind from which every impediment is removed.

(2) It is not the heart as the sphere of the affections that is here meant, but the whole man. In the strength of the love of God there is no duty past performance, and no difficulty that may not be overcome.

(3) No higher prayer can be offered than this, that by the influence of the Spirit we may be drawn from every lower affection and have an entire being open to the unhindered operation of the love of God.

II. The patience of christ.

1. The Apostle prays literally for the steadfastness of patience of which Christ is at once the source, example, and reward. Patient waiting for or patience for the sake of Christ would have required different words, although both meanings are included and are appropriate. The Divine Spirit does direct the souls of believers into tranquil and earnest expectation of Christs coming, and into the patient endurance of trials for His sake. But the specific meaning here is, that it may please the Lord to remove every hindrance to our perfect union with Christ in His example of obedience unto death.

2. Our way is directed into this patience when we are led into self-renouncing submission, when all things that minister to earthly mindedness are put away, and when we are brought into fellowship with His mind, who endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him.

3. We can offer no more important prayer than that we may have our self-will bound, and be girded and led by Another into the way of our Saviours self-sacrifice.

III. The full force of the prayer is not felt unless we unite its two branches. Love and patience are here for the first and last time joined.

1. In our salvation their union has its most impressive exhibition. The mercy of the Father reaches us only through the endurance of the Son: at the Cross the love of God and the patience of Christ are blended in the mystery of their redeeming unity; and only that union saved the world.

2. The mercy of God waits on the free will of man with a patience that owes its long-suffering to the intercession of Christ.

3. The economy of grace provides the full power of the love of God for the progressive salvation of the saints, waiting for their full conformity to holy law with a patience that is the most precious fruit of the Redeemers passion.

4. Eternal glory will be the last demonstration of the love of God and the crowning victory of the patience of Christ.

IV. We must regard this combination as the object of our prayer. With St. Paul, all that the Christian needs for the struggle and victory of life is the love of God in the heart as an active principle, and the patience of Christ as a passive grace. But the form of the prayer shows that he did not separate the two as much as we do. All duty and resistance find their strength in the love of God, and must be perfected in the patience of Christ In due time the patience of Christ shall be lost in the partaking of Christ, and the great surviving grace, the love of God in us, will abide forever. (W. B. Pope, D. D.)

The love of God and the patience of Christ

I. The love of god is employed in three senses--Gods love to us; our love to Him; and Divine love in us, i.e., a love like Gods. The latter is probably the meaning here. What then is Gods love? And may the Divine Spirit direct us into the enjoyment of it. Gods love is--

1. The very Being of God; and when love is the supreme and dominating motive and energy in us, swaying all the powers and manifesting itself to the utmost, we are directed into the love of God.

2. Comprehensive: it knows no limit. So our love, if Divine, will not be fettered by circumstances or the character of the objects. Like Gods, it will be discriminating, and discern differences in moral character, but it will seek the good of all.

3. Unstinting. God gave His only-begotten Son--this is the characteristic of true love everywhere. It never calculates the cost, and when the best is done there is the willingness to do more.

4. Constant in its manifestation: it never wearies or ceases: And Divine love in man knows no discouragement, is baffled by no obstacles, succumbs to no injury.

II. The patience of Christ--a patience like Christs. How much this is needed is shown by the fact that Christ our example was and is patient, and taught patience by word and life.

1. To understand this we must travel beyond the millenniums to the foundation of the world when, the Lamb to be slain was foreordained for sacrifice. Then over the long centuries during which sin held sway when the Son was waiting for the fulness of time. And then during that earthly life in which he endured unimaginable suffering waiting for the accomplishment of His baptism. Then waiting for Pentecost; and now waiting with unwearied patience until those in Christian countries who are resisting the Spirit shall yield, and those in heathen lands shall own His sway, and those who profess to be His people shall consecrate themselves wholly to His work.

2. It is a patience something like that we want. And if Christ can afford to work and wait, surely we can. What are you? A Sunday school teacher? A preacher? A church officer? Working, praying, your heart discouraged, and sometimes ready to question whether the glad day will ever dawn? He can be patient; be patient with Him and like Him. The counsel of the Lord, it shall stand. (G. W. Olver, B. A.)

The love of God

I. The natural feelings of the heart towards god. Originally man delighted in God; but the moment he sinned, fear and distrust entered his mind, and he became a child of wrath. Notice--

1. Mans enmity against God, the carnal mind, etc. We think it would be a happy thing were there no God to trouble us. It is this feeling that makes prayer burdensome instead of delightful, and duty irksome instead of a means of happiness. And so men converse with God, and do for Him as little as possible.

2. The consequent misery of man. Cut off from the fountain of happiness, he hews broken cisterns, and places his delight in the disappointing creature instead of the unchangeable Creator.

II. The mind of God toward men in this condition. Consider--

1. The love of God to sinners. This is the true source of His dealings with men, and His love is not like ours, but disinterested, free, costly, pure. How we wrong it when we try to merit it! God commendeth His love, etc.

2. The effects of this love.

(1) Forgiveness.

(2) The provision of His Spirit.

(3) Divine likeness.

(4) Eternal fife.

III. The heart directed into this love.

1. The means. Ample provision is made for its enjoyment. No man can direct his own heart, nor his parent or minister. But Christ has given His Spirit who can change the heart by directing it into the love of God. This Spirit is secured by prayer.

2. The consequence. Love begotten in our hearts to God and men. (E. Bickersteth.)

The love of God

It is sometimes difficult when we meet the expression, the love of God, to discriminate whether it means Gods love to us, or our love to God. But the truth is, they are one and the same thing. We cannot love God, but as He loves us; it is the consciousness of His love to us which makes our to Him. Just as any object I see is only an image of the object formed on the retina of my eye, so whatever love I feel is only the reflection of the love of God laid upon my heart; and the ray which lays the image is the Spirit of God. The love of the saints in heaven is the brightest and truest because the Original is nearest and dearest. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Waiting for the second Advent

The first epistle was written to correct certain enthusiastic views concerning that advent; but the second tells us that the effort had failed. For meanwhile a forged epistle (2Th_2:2), asserting that the day was near, opened the floodgates of fanaticism. Consequently men forsook their employments, and, being idle, indulged in useless discussions and in prying curiously into the affairs of others. Hence the injunctions (1Th_4:11; 2Th_3:6-8). Moreover two opposite lines of conduct were adopted by persons of different temperament. Some greedily received every wild tale about the advent; others perceiving that there was so much imposture, concluded that it was safest to believe nothing. To the first Paul says, Prove all things, etc.; to the second, Quench not the Spirit, etc. These opposite tendencies of scepticism and credulity will be found near together in all ages; some refusing to believe that God speaks in the signs of the times; others running after every book on prophecy, and believing anything providing it be marvellous. To meet this feverish state Paul takes two grounds. He first points out the signs which will precede the advent; self-idolatry, excluding the worship of God--sinful humanity the man of sin. These signs worked then and now. Next Paul called the Church to a real preparation for that event in the text. The preparation is twofold.

I. The love of God.

1. The love of God is the love of goodness. God is the Good One--personified goodness. To love God is to love what He is.

(1) No other love is real; none else lasts. Love based on personal favours, e.g., will not endure. You may believe that God has made you happy. While that happiness lasts, you will love God. But a time comes when happiness goes as it did with Job. The natural feeling would be Curse God and die. Job said, Though He slay me, etc. Plainly he had some other reason for His love than personal favours.

(2) The love of goodness only becomes real by doing good--otherwise it is a sickly sentiment, If any man love Me, he will keep My commandments.

2. The love of God is the love of man expanded and purified. We begin with loving men. Our affections wrap themselves round beings created in Gods image--then they widen in their range. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another … His love is perfected in us. He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, etc. An awful day is coming. How shall we prepare for it? Not by unnatural forced efforts at loving God, but by persistence in the appointed path of our common attachments. Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these, etc.

3. It is not merely love of goodness, but love of goodness concentrated on the Good One. Nor merely love of man, but love of man expanded into love of Him in whom all that is excellent in men is perfect.

II. Patient waiting.

1. What is waited for? There are many comings of Christ, in the incarnation, at the destruction of Jerusalem, as a spiritual presence when the Holy Ghost was given in every signal manifestation of redeeming power, in any great reformation of morals and religion, in revolutions which sweep the evil away to make way for good, at the end of the world, when the spirit of all these comings will be concentrated. Thus we may see in what way Christ is ever coming and ever near, and how the early Church was not deceived in expecting Christ. He did come, though not in the way they expected.

2. What is meant by waiting? Throughout St. Pauls writings, the Christian attitude is that of expectation--salvation in hope. Not a perfection attained, but one that is to be. The golden age lies onward. We are longing for, not the Church of the past, but that of the future. Ours is not yearning for the imaginary perfection of ages gone by, nor a conservative content with things as they are, but hope. It is this spirit which is the preparation for the advent.

3. It is patient waiting. Every one who has longed for any spiritual blessing knows the temptation to impatience, Where is the promise of His coming? The true preparation is not having correct ideas of how and when He shall come, but being like Him (1Jn_3:3).

III. The Lord will direct us into this. Not an infallible human teacher, but God. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

Love begets love

Love begets love. It is a process of production. You put a piece of iron in the mere presence of an electrified body, and that piece for a time becomes electrified. It becomes a temporary magnet in the presence of a permanent magnet, and as long as you leave the two side by side, they are both magnets. Remain side by side with Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us, and you too will become a permanent magnet--a permanent attractive force; and like Him you will draw all men--be they white men or black men--unto you. That is the inevitable effect of love. Any man who fulfils that cause must have that effect produced in him. Gentlemen, give up the idea that religion comes to us by chance, or by mystery, or by caprice. It comes to us by natural law; or by supernatural law, for all law is Divine. Edward Irving went to see a dying boy once, and when he entered the room, he just put his hand on the sufferers head, and said, My boy, God loves you, and went away. And the boy started from his bed, and he called out to the people in the house, God loves me! God loves me! One word; one word! It changed that boy. The sense that God loved him had overpowered him, melted him down and begun the making of a new heart. And that is how the love of God melts down the unlovely heart in us, and begets in us this new creature, who is patient and humble and unselfish. And there is no other way to get it. There is no trick about it. Oh, truth lies in that!--we love others, we love everybody, we love our enemies, because He first loved us. (Prof. Drummond.)

A brief prayer for great things

Two blessings only are here prayed for, but they are of transcendent moment.

I. That the hearts of the Thessalonians might be brought into the love of God. To be in love with God as the most excellent and suitable Being--the best of all beings, is not only most reasonable and necessary in order to happiness, but is happiness itself. It is the chief part of the beatitude of heaven where this love will be made perfect. But none can ever attain to this unless the Lord, by His grace and Spirit, direct the heart aright; for the love of the best creature is apt to go astray after other things. Great damage is sustained by misplacing the affections upon Wrong objects; but if He who is infinitely above and before all things, control and fix the love of the heart on Himself, the rest of the affections will thereby be rectified.

II. That a patient waiting for Christ might be joined with this love of God. There is no true love of God without faith in Christ. To wait for Christ, supposeth faith in Him--that He came to our world once in flesh, and will come again in glory. This second coming must be expected, and careful preparation must be made for it. There must be a patient waiting, enduring with courage and constancy all that may be met with in the interval. We not only have great need of patience, but of great need of Divine grace to exercise it--the patience of Christ, as some interpret the words, that is--patience for Christs sake and after Christs example. (R. Fergusson.)

St. Pauls Kindness

The Apostle meant only to express a benevolent wish on behalf of the Church at Thessalonica: but he expressed it in such terms as a person habituated to the doctrine of the Trinity would naturally use: he prayed that the Lord the Spirit would direct their hearts into the love of God the Father, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

I. The objects of the apostles wish. A very little observation of the world is sufficient to convince us that the love of God is not the supreme passion of mankind, nor a due preparation for a final advent of Christ. Nevertheless, to possess this state of heart and mind is essential to the Christian character. Of ourselves we never shall, or can, attain to this. In full persuasion of this fact, St. Paul poured out the benevolent aspiration that the Christians to whom he wrote might experience more deeply the truths they possessed.

II. The reasons of that wish. Among the most important of these were doubtless two.

1. The attainment of such a state would prove highly conducive to their present happiness. This the Apostle knew: he knew it from the universal tenor of the Holy Scripture (Psa_63:5; Mat_5:3-12); and he knew it from his own experience (2Ti_4:7-8).

2. It was also indispensably necessary to their eternal welfare. What is a Christian without the love of God? He cannot call himself a disciple of Christ who has no delight in following the steps of Christ, or in looking forward to His future advent. Application--

(1) We express the same benevolent wish respecting you;

(2) and we also request that you will adopt the same wish for yourselves. (C. Simeon, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Th 3:5. And the Lord — By his Holy Spirit, whose proper work this is; direct — Powerfully incline; your hearts unto the love of God — That is, into the exercise of love to God, in return for his love to you; and into the patient waiting for Christ — Namely, the patient waiting for his second coming, or for his coming to call you hence by death, 1Th 1:10. Macknight, however, interprets the verse rather differently, thus: “May the Lord direct your heart to imitate the love which God hath showed to mankind, and the patience which Christ exercised under sufferings.” The patience of Christ has this sense Rev 1:9 : A partaker in the kingdom and patience of Jesus. As the patience of Job means the patience of which Job was so great an example, so the patience of Christ may signify the patience which he exercised in his sufferings.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

2Th_3:5. Direct your hearts.—The same word for “direct” again occurs only in 1Th_3:11 and Luk_1:79. A similar phrase in the LXX. of 1Ch_29:18 (R.V. “prepare”). Into the patient waiting for Christ.—A.V. margin and R.V. text, “into the patience of Christ.” “The Thessalonians were eagerly awaiting His return: let them wait for it in His patient spirit” (Findlay).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF 2Th_3:5

Divine Love and Patience.

Again the apostle is on his knees. How beautifully the habitual devoutness of the apostle’s spirit comes out in the side-lights thrown from passages in his writings like this verse! He lives and breathes in the electric atmosphere of prayer. All the time he is reasoning, expounding, warning, and persuading he is also praying. Prayer is a powerful aid to the preacher. It keeps his soul in sympathy with the realm of spiritual realities, gives him clearer insight into truth, and intensifies his experience of the divine. We learn from this verse:—

I. That divine love and patience are conspicuous elements in man’s redemption.—“The love of God and the patient waiting for Christ”—the patience of Christ (R.V.). The love of God devised and the patience of Christ carried out the great plan of human salvation. The gospel is a grand revelation of the divine love and patience in Christ Jesus; and the history of the gospel in its world-wide progress is a many-sided illustration of these two conspicuous virtues in the divine character and operations. After the last French war the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Paris was imprisoned. His cell had a window shaped like a cross, and with a pencil he wrote upon the arms of the cross that they denoted the height, length, breadth, and depth of God’s love. That man knew something of the love of God. The patience of Christ in suffering for mankind was sustained and sublimated by the love of God, and was an object-lesson to the world, teaching, in a way that appealed to the most callous, the power and universality of that love.

II. That divine love and patience are the distinguished privilege of human experience.—“Direct your hearts into the love of God and patience of Christ.” The love we are to enjoy is no mere human passion, fickle and evanescent; the patience, no mere grim stoical endurance. We are admitted into the sacred adoption of the divine mysteries; we share in their spiritual ecstasy and unruffled calm, the very love and patience of God! The divine in us becomes more growingly evident to ourselves and to others. Love gives staying-power to and teaches us how to suffer without murmuring, to endure without retaliating. “Sire,” said Beza in his reply to the king of Navarre, “it belongs to God’s Church rather to suffer blows than to strike them; but let it be your pleasure to remember that the Church is an anvil which has worn out many a hammer.” With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes satin.

III. That divine love and patience are more fully enjoyed by the soul that prays.—“And the Lord direct your hearts.” The prayerful apostle had realised the blessedness of a personal participation in the love and patience of God. But for the love of God he would never have ventured upon his evangelistic mission, and but for the patience of Christ he would not have continued in it. Now he prays that the hearts of the Thessalonians may enjoy the same grace, or be set in the direct way of attaining it. It is of vital consequence that the current of the heart’s outgoings should be set in the right direction. This brief petition shows what we ought to ask for ourselves. The best way to secure a larger degree of love and patience is to ardently pray for them.

“What grace, O Lord, and beauty shone

Around Thy steps below!

What patient love was seen in all

Thy life and death of woe!

“Oh! give us hearts to love like Thee—

Like Thee, O Lord, to grieve

Far more for others’ sins, than all

The wrongs that we receive.”

Lessons.—

1. The Christian life is a sublime participation in the nature of God.

2. Love and patience reveal the God-like character.

3. Prayer is at its best when engaged with the loftiest themes.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE

2Th_3:5. Waiting for the Second Advent.

I. The love of God a preparation for the Redeemer’s coming.—

1. The love of God is the love of goodness.

2. The love of God is the love of man expanded and purified. The love of man expanded into the love of Him, of whom all that we have seen of gentle and lovely, of true and tender, of honourable and bright in human character, are but the shadows and the broken, imperfect lights.

II. Patient waiting another preparation for the Redeemer’s coming.—

1. The Christian attitude of soul is an attitude of expectation.—Every gift of noble origin is breathed upon by hope’s perfect breath.

2. It is patient waiting.—Every one who has ardently longed for any spiritual blessing knows the temptation to impatience in expecting it.—F. W. Robertson.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

2 Thessalonians

THE HEART’S HOME AND GUIDE

2Th 3:5.

A word or two of explanation of terms may preface our remarks on this, the third of the Apostle’s prayers for the Thessalonians in this letter. The first point to be noticed is that by ‘the Lord’ here is meant, as usually in the New Testament, Jesus Christ. So that here again we have the distinct recognition of His divinity, and the direct address of prayer to Him.

The next thing to notice is that by ‘the love of God’ is here meant, not God’s to us, but ours to Him; and that the petition, therefore, respects the emotions and sentiments of the Thessalonians towards the Father in heaven.

And the last point is that the rendering of the Authorised Version, ‘patient waiting for Christ,’ is better exchanged for that of the Revised Version, ‘the patience of Christ,’ meaning thereby the same patience as He exhibited in His earthly life, and which He is ready to bestow upon us.

It is not usual in the New Testament to find Jesus Christ set forth as the great Example of patient endurance; but still there are one or two instances in which the same expression is applied to Him. For example, in two contiguous verses in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we read of His ‘enduring contradiction of sinners against Himself,’ and ‘enduring the Cross, despising the shame,’ in both of which cases we have the verb employed of which the noun is here used. Then in the Apocalypse we have such expressions as ‘the patience of Christ,’ of which John says that he and his brethren whom he is addressing are ‘participators,’ and, again, ‘thou hast kept the word of my patience.’

So, though unusual, the thought of our text as presented in the amended version is by no means singular. These things, then, being premised, we may now look at this petition as a whole.

I. The first thought that it suggests to me is, the home of the heart.

‘The Lord direct you into the love of God and the patience of Christ.’ The prayers in this letter with which we have been occupied for some Sundays present to us Christian perfection under various aspects. But this we may, perhaps, say is the most comprehensive and condensed of them all. The Apostle gathers up the whole sum of his desires for his friends, and presents to us the whole aim of our efforts for ourselves, in these two things, a steadfast love to God, and a calm endurance of evil and persistence in duty, unaffected by suffering or by pain. If we have these two we shall not be far from being what God wishes to see us.

Now the Apostle’s thought here, of ‘leading us into’ these two seems to suggest the metaphor of a great home with two chambers in it, of which the inner was entered from the outer. The first room is ‘the love of God,’ and the second is ‘the patience of Christ.’ It comes to the same thing whether we speak of the heart as dwelling in love, or of love as dwelling in the heart. The metaphor varies, the substance of the thought is the same, and that thought is that the heart should be the sphere and subject of a steadfast, habitual, all-pleasing love, which issues in unbroken calmness of endurance and persistence of service, in the face of evil.

Let us look, then, for a moment at these two points. I need not dwell upon the bare idea of love to God as being the characteristic of the Christian attitude towards Him, or remind you of how strange and unexampled a thing it is that all religion should be reduced to this one fruitful germ, love to the Father in heaven. But it is more to the purpose for me to point to the constancy, the unbrokenness, the depth, which the Apostle here desires should be the characteristics of Christian love to God. We sometimes cherish such emotion; but, alas, how rare it is for us to dwell in that calm home all the days of our lives! We visit that serene sanctuary at intervals, and then for the rest of our days we are hurried to and fro between contending affections, and wander homeless amidst inadequate loves. But what Paul asked, and what should be the conscious aim of the Christian life, is, that we should ‘dwell all our days in the house of the Lord, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His temple.’

Alas, when we think of our own experiences, how fair and far seems that other, contemplated as a possibility in my text, that our hearts should ‘abide in the love of God’!

Let me remind you, too, that steadfastness of habitual love all round our hearts, as it were, is the source and germ of all perfectness of life and conduct. ‘Love and do as Thou wilt,’ is a bold saying, but not too bold. For the very essence of love is the smelting of the will of the lover into the will of the beloved. And there is nothing so certain as that, in regard to all human relations, and in regard to the relations to God which in many respects follow, and are moulded after the pattern of, our earthly relations of love, to have the heart fixed in pure affection is to have the whole life subordinated in glad obedience. Nothing is so sweet as to do the beloved’s will. The germ of all righteousness, as well as the characteristic spirit of every righteous deed, lies in love to God. This is the mother tincture which, variously coloured and with various additions, makes all the different precious liquids which we can pour as libations on His altar. The one saving salt of all deeds in reference to Him is that they are the outcome and expression of a loving heart. He who loves is righteous, and doeth righteousness. So, ‘love is the fulfilling of the law.’

That the heart should be fixed in its abode in love to God is the secret of all blessedness, as it is the source of all righteousness. Love is always joy in itself; it is the one deliverance from self-bondage to which self is the one curse and misery of man. The emancipation from care and sorrow and unrest lies in that going out of ourselves which we call by the name of love. There be things masquerading about the world, and profaning the sacred name of love by taking it to themselves, which are only selfishness under a disguise. But true love is the annihilation, and therefore the apotheosis and glorifying, of self; and in that annihilation lies the secret charm which brings all blessedness into a life.

But, then, though love in itself be always bliss, yet, by reason of the imperfections of its objects, it sometimes leads to sorrow. For limitations and disappointments and inadequacies of all sorts haunt our earthly loves whilst they last; and we have all to see them fade, or to fade away from them. The thing you love may change, the thing you love must die; and therefore love, which in itself is blessedness, hath often, like the little book that the prophet swallowed, a bitter taste remaining when the sweetness is gone. But if we set our hearts on God, we set our hearts on that which knows no variableness, neither the shadow of turning. There are no inadequate responses, no changes that we need fear. On that love the scythe of death, which mows down all other products of the human heart, hath no power; and its stem stands untouched by the keen edge that levels all the rest of the herbage. Love God, and thou lovest eternity; and therefore the joy of the love is eternal as its object. So he who loves God is building upon a rock, and whosoever has this for his treasure carries his wealth with him whithersoever he goes. Well may the Apostle gather into one potent word, and one mighty wish, the whole fulness of his desires for his friends. And wise shall we be if we make this the chiefest of our aims, that our hearts may have their home in the love of God.

Still further, there is another chamber in this house of the soul. The outer room, where the heart inhabits that loves God, leads into another compartment, ‘the patience of Christ.’

Now, I suppose I need not remind many of you that this great New Testament word ‘patience’ has a far wider area of meaning than that which is ordinarily covered by that expression. For patience , as we use it, is simply a passive virtue. But the thing that is meant by the New Testament word which is generally so rendered has an active as well as a passive side. On the passive side it is the calm, unmurmuring, unreluctant submission of the will to whatsoever evil may come upon us, either directly from God’s hand, or through the ministration and mediation of men who are His sword. On the active side it is the steadfast persistence in the path of duty, in spite of all that may array itself against us. So there are the two halves of the virtue which is here put before us--unmurmuring submission and bold continuance in well-doing, whatsoever storms may hurtle in our faces.

Now, in both of these aspects, the life of Jesus Christ is the great pattern. As for the passive side, need I remind you how, ‘as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth’? ‘When He was reviled He reviled not again, but committed Himself unto Him that judgeth uprightly.’ No anger ever flushed His cheek or contracted His brow. He never repaid scorn with scorn, nor hate with hate. All men’s malice fell upon Him, like sparks upon wet timber, and kindled no conflagration.

As for the active side, I need not remind you how ‘He set His face to go to Jerusalem’--how the great solemn ‘ must ‘ which ruled His life bore Him on, steadfast and without deflection in His course, through all obstacles. There never was such heroic force as the quiet force of the meek and gentle Christ, which wasted no strength in displaying or boasting of itself, but simply, silently, unconquerably, like the secular motions of the stars, dominated all opposition, and carried Him, unhasting and unresting, on His path. That life, with all its surface of weakness, had an iron tenacity of purpose beneath, which may well stand for our example. Like some pure glacier from an Alpine peak, it comes silently, slowly down into the valley; and though to the eye it seems not to move, it presses on with a force sublime in its silence and gigantic in its gentleness, and buries beneath it the rocks that stand in its way. The patience of Christ is the very sublimity of persistence in well-doing. It is our example, and more than our example--it is His gift to us.

Such passive and active patience is the direct fruit of love to God. The one chamber opens into the other. For they whose hearts dwell in the sweet sanctities of the love of God will ever be those who say, with a calm smile, as they put out their hand to the bitterest draught, ‘the cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?’

Love, and evil dwindles; love, and duty becomes supreme; and in the submission of the will, which is the true issue of love, lies the foundation of indomitable and inexhaustible endurance and perseverance.

Nor need I remind you, I suppose, that in this resolve to do the will of God, in spite of all antagonism and opposition, lies a condition at once of moral perfection and of blessedness. So, dear friends, if we would have a home for our hearts, let us pass into that sweet, calm, inexpugnable fortress provided for us in the love of God and the patience of Christ.

II. Now notice, secondly, the Guide of the heart to its home.

‘The Lord direct you.’ I have already explained that we have here a distinct address to Jesus Christ as divine, and the hearer of prayer. The Apostle evidently expects a present, personal influence from Christ to be exerted upon men’s hearts. And this is the point to which I desire to draw your attention in a word or two. We are far too oblivious of the present influence of Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, upon the hearts of men that trust Him. We have very imperfectly apprehended our privileges as Christians if our faith do not expect, and if our experience have not realised, the inward guidance of Christ moment by moment in our daily lives. I believe that much of the present feebleness of the Christian life amongst its professors is to be traced to the fact that their thoughts about Jesus Christ are predominantly thoughts of what He did nineteen centuries ago, and that the proportion of faith is not observed in their perspective of His work, and that they do not sufficiently realise that to-day, here, in you and me, if we have faith in Him, He is verily and really putting forth His power.

Paul’s prayer is but an echo of Christ’s promise. The Master said, ‘He shall guide you into all truth.’ The servant prays, ‘The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God.’ And if we rightly know the whole blessedness that is ours in the gift of Jesus Christ, we shall recognise His present guidance as a reality in our lives.

That guidance is given to us mainly by the Divine Spirit laying upon our hearts the great facts which evoke our answering love to God. ‘We love Him because He first loved us’; and the way by which Jesus directs our hearts into the love of God is mainly by shedding abroad God’s love to us in our spirits by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.

But, besides that, all these movements in our hearts so often neglected, so often resisted, by which we are impelled to a holier life, to a deeper love, to a more unworldly consecration--all these, rightly understood, are Christ’s directions. He leads us, though often we know not the hand that guides; and every Christian may be sure of this--and he is sinful if he does not live up to the height of his privileges--that the ancient promises are more than fulfilled in his experience, and that he has a present Christ, an indwelling Christ, who will be his Shepherd, and lead him by green pastures and still waters sometimes and through valleys of darkness and rough defiles sometimes, but always with the purpose of bringing him nearer and nearer to the full possession of the love of God and the patience of Christ.

The vision which shone before the eyes of the father of the forerunner, was that ‘the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’ It is fulfilled in Jesus who directs our hearts into love and patience, which are the way of peace.

We are not to look for impressions and impulses distinguishable from the operations of our own inward man. We are not to fall into the error of supposing that a conviction of duty or a conception of truth is of divine origin because it is strong. But the true test of their divine origin is their correspondence with the written word, the standard of truth and life. Jesus guides us to a fuller apprehension of the great facts of the infinite love of God in the Cross. Shedding abroad a Saviour’s love does kindle ours.

III. Lastly, notice the heart’s yielding to its guide.

If this was Paul’s prayer for his converts, it should be our aim for ourselves. Christ is ready to direct our hearts, if we will let Him. All depends on our yielding to that sweet direction, loving as that of a mother’s hand on her child’s shoulder.

What is our duty and wisdom in view of these truths? The answer may be thrown into the shape of one or two brief counsels.

First, desire it. Do you Christian people want to be led to love God more? Are you ready to love the world less, which you will have to do if you love God more? Do you wish Christ to lay His hand upon you, and withdraw you from much, that He may draw you into the sanctities and sublimities of His own experienced love? I do not think the lives of some of us look very like as if we should welcome that direction. And it is a sharp test, and a hard commandment to say to a Christian professor, ‘Desire to be led into the love of God.’

Again, expect it. Do not dismiss all that I have been saying about a present Christ leading men by their own impulses, which are His monitions, as fanatical and mystical and far away from daily experience. Ah! it is not only the boy Samuel whose infancy was an excuse for his ignorance, who takes God’s voice to be only white-bearded Eli’s. There are many of us who, when Christ speaks, think it is only a human voice. Perhaps His deep and gentle tones are thrilling through my harsh and feeble voice; and He is now, even by the poor reed through which He breathes His breath, saying to some of you, ‘Come near to Me.’ Expect the guidance.

Still your own wills that you may hear His voice. How can you be led if you never look at the Guide? How can you hear that still small voice amidst the clattering of spindles, and the roar of wagons, and the noises in your own heart? Be still, and He will speak.

Follow the guidance, and at once, for delay is fatal. Like a man walking behind a guide across some morass, set your feet in the print of the Master’s and keep close at His heels, and then you will be safe. And so, dear friends, if we want to have anchorage for our love, let us set our love on God, who alone is worthy of it, and who alone of all its objects will neither fail us nor change. If we would have the temper which lifts us above the ills of life and enables us to keep our course unaffected by them all, as the gentle moon moves with the same silent, equable pace through piled masses of cloud and clear stretches of sky, we must attain submission through love, and gain unreluctant endurance and steadfast wills from the example and source of both, the gentle and strong Christ. If we would have our hearts calm, we must let Him guide them, sway them, curb their vagrancies, stimulate their desires, and satisfy the desires which He has stimulated. We must abandon self, and say, ‘Lord, I cannot guide myself. Do Thou direct my wandering feet.’ The prayer will not be in vain. He will guide us with His eye, and that directing of our hearts will issue in experiences of love and patience, whose ‘very sweetness yieldeth proof that they were born for immortality.’ The Guide and the road foreshadow the goal. The only natural end to which such a path can lead and such guidance point is a heaven of perfect love, where patience has done its perfect work, and is called for no more. The experience of present direction strengthens the hope of future perfection. So we may take for our own the triumphant confidence of the Psalmist, and embrace the nearest and the remotest future in one calm vision of faith that ‘Thou wilt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:5 The prayer that God would lead (literally make straight) their hearts reflects an Old Testament expression (1 Chr 29:18; Prov 23:19). Christians are expected to love as God loves and practice patient endurance as Christ endured.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Th 3:5. Κύριος, the Lord) Christ.—εἰς τὴν ἀγαάπην τοῦ Θεοῦ, into the love of God) You will thus favour the running (free course) of the word of God, and will not be ἄτοποι, unreasonable.—εἰς ὑπομονὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, to the patience of Christ) It is thus you will endure the hatred of the wicked enemies of Christ. Each must be taken objectively: love towards God, patience shown on account of Christ [But Engl. Vers. patient waiting for Christ].

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Th_3:5. A fresh involuntary effusion of piety on the part of the apostle, by means of which he calls down the divine blessing on every action of man as a condition of its success. Theodoret: ʼΑμφοτέρων ἡμῖν χρεία, καὶ προθέσεως ἀγαθῆς καὶ τῆς ἄνωθεν συνεργείας. To assume that 2Th_3:5 was added by Paul, because he could not yet entirely trust the Thessalonians (de Wette), is without foundation.

ὁ κύριος] Christ, as in 2Th_3:3-4.

κατευθύναι ὑμῶν τὰς καρδίας εἰς τὴν ἀγάπην τοῦ Θεοῦ] direct your hearts to the love of God, namely, in order to be filled and pervaded by it, not in order to remain contemplating it (Koppe, Olshausen).

ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ] is not amor a deo praeceptus (Clericus), or amor, quem deus hominum quasi infundit animis (Pelt), also not the love of God to men, which was to be the pattern for Christian brotherly love (Macknight, Koppe), or, more specially, the manifestation of the love of God in Christ and in His work of redemption (Olshausen, Riggenbach); but love toward God (Gen. object.). Paul wishes the Thessalonians to be inspired with it, because it is the centre uniting all commandments; comp. Mat_22:37 ff.

καὶ εἰς τὴν ὑπομονὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ] Oecumenius, Ambrose, Faber Stapulensis, Erasmus, Vatablus, Cornelius a Lapide, Beza, Bernard a Piconio, and Benson, to whom recently Hofmann has attached himself, understand by this the patient waiting for Christ, that is, for His coming. Erroneous, because(1) ἀναμονήν (comp. 1Th_1:10) would require to be written instead of ὑπομονήν; and (2) the idea of patient waiting, by which addition the statement becomes only suitable, would require to be expressly brought forward by an additional clause. The stedfastness of Christ (Gen. possessiv.) is meant, inasmuch as the endurance which the Christian manifests in tribulation for the sake of the gospel is in its nature nothing else than the stedfastness which was peculiar to Christ Himself in His sufferings. Comp. the analogous expression τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, 2Co_1:5, and Meyer in loco. The simple genitive cannot express stedfastness for the sake of Christ, as it is usually explained.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Th 3:5 . κατευθύναι , κ . τ . λ . Paul no longer (I., 1Th 3:11 ) entertains the hope of revisiting them soon. “God’s love and Christ’s patient endurance” ( i.e. , the ὑπομονή which Christ inspires and requires, cf. Ignat. ad. Rom. , last words) correspond to the double experience of love and hope in 2Th 2:16 . It is by the sense of God’s love alone, not by any mere acquiescence in His will or stoical endurance of it, that the patience and courage of the Christian are sustained. Cf. Ep. Arist. , 195, ἐπὶ τῶν καλλίστων πράξεων οὐκ αὐτοὶ κατευθύνομεν τὰ βουλευθέντα · θεὸς δὲ τελειοῖ τὰ πάντων . Connect with 2Th 3:3 and cf. Mrs. Browning’s line, “I waited with patience, which means almost power”.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thirdly, he diligently and earnestly admonisheth them of two things which are given us by the only grace of God, to wit, of charity, and a watchful mind to the coming of Christ.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

If "the Lord" be here the Holy Ghost (Co2 3:17), the three Persons of the Trinity will occur in this verse.

love of God--love to God.

patient waiting for Christ--rather as Greek, "the patience (endurance) of Christ," namely, which Christ showed [ALFORD] (Th2 2:4; Th1 1:3). ESTIUS, however, supports English Version (compare Rev 1:9; Rev 3:10). At all events, this grace, "patience," or persevering endurance, is connected with the "hope" (Th1 1:3, Th1 1:10) of Christ's coming. In ALFORD'S translation we may compare Heb 12:1-2, "Run with patience (endurance) . . . looking to JESUS . . . who, for the joy that was before Him, endured the cross"; so WE are to endure, as looking for the hope to be realized at His coming (Heb 10:36-37).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God] The love of God is the grand motive and principle of obedience; this must occupy your hearts: the heart is irregular in all its workings; God alone, by his Spirit, can direct it into his love, and keep it right; κατευθυναι, give a proper direction to all its passions, and keep them in order, regularity and purity.

The patience of Christ.] Such patience, under all your sufferings and persecutions, as Christ manifested under his. He bore meekly the contradiction of sinners against himself; and when he was reviled, he reviled not again.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

As, however, he states here in a summary manner the things that he knew to be most necessary for Christians, let every one make it his endeavor to make proficiency in these two things, in so far as he desires to make progress towards perfection. And, unquestionably, the love of God cannot reign in us unless brotherly love is also exercised. Waiting for Christ, on the other hand, teaches us to exercise contempt of the world, mortification of the flesh, and endurance of the cross. At the same time the expression might be explained as meaning, the patience of Christ — that which Christ’s doctrine begets in us; but I prefer to understand it as referring to the hope of ultimate redemption. For this is the only thing that sustains us in the warfare of the present life, that we wait for the Redeemer; and farther, this waiting requires patient endurance amidst the continual exercises of the cross.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(5) The Lord.—See Note on 2Th_3:3. The Person of the Blessed Trinity to whom this guidance immediately belongs is the Holy Ghost. So far, the Greek expositors are right who are agreed to consider this a proof of the Holy Ghost’s divinity. Their right conclusion is, however, drawn from wrong premise, for the name is not here to be taken as consciously intending Him. The ground for their supposition is that the names “God” and “Christ” occur immediately after, and not (as we might expect) “His” or “for Him.” But in 1Th_3:12-13, there occurs precisely the same arrangement of the three words: the Greek equivalent for the sacred Hebrew Name standing first, and then, for clearness’ sake, being explained by the personal titles, “God our Father,” “our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Direct your hearts into the love of God.—This prayer in itself implies that they had not yet reached the point which St. Paul would have them reach, and were perhaps not taking the directest course. The same word is used in Luk_1:79; 1Th_3:11. The “love of God” here meant is that practical love which consists in keeping the commandments (Joh_14:21), as may be seen from the context:—“I am sure that the Lord will strengthen you, and that you are doing and will continue to do as you are bidden: may God help you to the obedience of true love, and to such perseverance in obedience as was shown by Christ; and it is in this hope that we bid you take steps to repress the disorders which are prevalent among you.”

The patient waiting for Christ.—This rendering is so beautiful in itself, and so well in keeping with the leading thoughts of these two Epistles, that it is painful to be forced to reject it. But the only rendering which is possible is, Christ’s patience; and the simplest meaning of that phrase is “the endurance which characterises Christ,” the genitive being, as in 1Th_1:3, almost a descriptive adjective, “Christ-like,” “Christian endurance.” This “patience” includes both the thought of bearing up under their present persecutions and also the thought of “patient continuance in well doing,” as opposed to the fitful restlessness which had begun to prey upon the Thessalonian Church.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. And (or But) the Lord direct your hearts] “The Lord” is still Christ: see note, 2Th_3:3.

“May He direct (or guide) you as Lord of His people, Shepherd of the sheep” (John 10). The Apostle expects his Thessalonian flock to follow his directions (2Th_3:4); but above both himself and them is the Supreme Director of hearts, Whose guidance he invokes. For the transitional, contrastive But, comp. notes on ch. 2Th_2:16 and 1Th_3:11. “Direct your hearts” is a Hebraism, used in the LXX to translate the words rendered “set” or “prepare the heart” in our Version (Psa_78:8; 1Ch_29:18‚ &c.) It denotes giving a fixed direction, a steady purpose, as to “stablish the heart” (ch. 2Th_2:17) signifies to give a sure position. On direct see also 1Th_3:11.

into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ] A. V. margin and R.V., patience of Christ. Patience (or endurance) is what the Greek noun signifies in ch. 2Th_1:4; 1Th_1:3 (see note), and in the other numerous examples of its use in the N.T. For the way in which “Christ’s endurance” is made a model for our own, see 1Pe_2:19-24; 1Pe_3:17-18; 1Pe_4:1-2, and Heb_12:2-3. Elsewhere St Paul speaks of His sufferings as shared by His people (2Co_1:5; Php_3:10, &c.); and if the sufferings, surely the patience. The Thessalonians were eagerly awaiting His return (1Th_1:10; 2Th_2:1-2); let them wait for it in His patient spirit. Had the Apostle wished to speak of waiting for the glorified Christ, he would surely have called Him, as so often in these Epistles, “the Lord Jesus.”

Christ is in this place the patient Christ, who “endured the cross” and the “contradiction of sinners,” fulfilling the prophetic ideal of Jehovah’s suffering Servant, Isaiah 53; comp. 1Pe_2:21-25; Mat_11:29-30, &c. The Greek article is therefore not otiose, but has its distinctive and graphic force—Christ as the prophets foresaw Him, and we know Him: the patience of the Christ. Comp. Rom_15:3, “The Christ did not please Himself;” Eph_4:20, “You did not so learn (get to know) the Christ,”—the great Ideal. We wish that the Revisers had seen their way to restore to us the expressive definite article in such passages.

To “love God” was the Lord’s “great and first commandment” (Mat_22:36-38); it is the soul of religion (see Rom_8:28; 1Co_8:1-3; and 1 John, passim). “God our Father has loved” the Thessalonian believers (ch. 2Th_2:16); Christ must teach them to reciprocate the Divine love, and in the strength of this love to endure evil and sorrow even as He Himself endured.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God,.... By which may be meant either the love with which God is loved. This is the sum and substance of the first and chief commandment in the law, and is what every man in a state of nature is destitute of; it is implanted in the heart in regeneration, and is a fruit of the Spirit of God; and where it is it oftentimes grows cold, and needs to be stirred up and reinflamed, by the Spirit of God, which may be intended, by a directing of the heart into it, that is, to a lively exercise of it: or else the love with which God loves his people is designed, which is free, sovereign, unchangeable, and from everlasting to everlasting; and to have the heart directed into this, is to be led into it directly; or by a straight line, as the word signifies, and not in a round about way, by works and duties, as the causes or conditions of it; and to be led further into it, so as to wade into these waters of the sanctuary, from the ankles to the knees, and from thence to the loins, and from thence till they become a broad river to swim in; or so as to comprehend the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of this love, and to be rooted and grounded in it, and firmly persuaded of interest in it; and that nothing shall separate from it; and so as to have the heart sensibly affected with it. The phrase of directing the heart to God, and to seek him, is used in the Septuagint, in Ch2 19:3. And this is not to be done by a believer himself, nor by the ministers of the Gospel: the apostle could not do it, and therefore he prays "the Lord" to do it; by whom is meant the Spirit of God, since he is distinguished from God the Father, into whose love the heart is to be directed, and from Christ, a patient waiting for whom it is also desired the heart may be directed into; and since it is his work to shed abroad the love of God in the heart, and to lead unto it, and make application of it; and which is a proof of his deity, for none has the direction, management, and government of the heart, but God, Pro 21:1, and in this passage of Scripture appear all the three Persons; for here is the love of the Father, patient waiting for Christ, the Spirit and the Lord. For it follows, as another branch of the petition,

and into the patient waiting for Christ; or "patience of Christ", as the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions render it; and may intend either that patience, of which Christ was the subject; and which appeared in his quiet submission to all that outward meanness he did in his state of humiliation; in bearing the insults and reproaches of men, and the frowardness of his own disciples, in suffering himself to be tempted by Satan; and in bearing the sins of his people, the wrath of God, and strokes of justice in the manner he did: and for the saints to have their hearts directed into this patience of Christ, is of great use unto them, to endear Christ unto, them; to lead them into the greatness of his love, and also of his person; and to make them more patient under the cross, when they consider him, and have him for an example. Or else it may respect the grace of patience, which he is the author of, for all grace comes from him; and he from hence may be called the God of patience, as his word, which is the means of it, is the word of his patience; and it is by his strength that saints are strengthened unto all patience, and longsuffering: and to be directed into this, or to the exercise of it, is of great use under afflictions from the hand of God, and under the reproaches and persecutions of men, and under divine desertions, and want of an answer of prayer, and under the temptations of Satan, and in an expectation of the heavenly glory. And the heart is never more in the exercise of this, than when it is directed into the love of God; see Rom 5:2. Or this may refer to that patience of which Christ is the object, and be understood, either of a patient bearing the cross for his sake; for every believer has a cross to take up and bear for Christ, and which is to be borne constantly, cheerfully, and patiently; and nothing more strongly animates to such a patient bearing of it, than a sense of the love of God; so that a being directed into that, leads also to this: or as our version points out the sense, it may be understood of a patient waiting for the second coming of Christ. Christ will certainly come a second time, though when he will come is uncertain; and his coming will be very glorious in itself, and of great advantage to the saints: hence it becomes them, not only to believe it, hope for it, love it, and look for it, but to wait patiently for it; which being directed to by the Spirit of God, is of great use unto them in the present state of things.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

Ver. 5. And the Lord direct] Or rectify your crooked hearts and distorted affections, that stand across to all good, till God set them to rights, κατευθυναι. Men’s persuasions are but as a key to a lock that is out of order, unless God cooperate.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God - So direct your hearts that you may love God. “And into the patient waiting for Christ.” Margin, “patience of Christ.” The marginal reading is in accordance with the Greek, and seems best to express the apostle’s meaning. The prayer of the apostle was, that they might have the love of God in their hearts, and “the patience of Christ;” that is, the same patience which Christ evinced in his trials. They were then suffering affliction and persecution. They needed patience, that they might endure their trials in a proper manner. It was natural for the apostle to refer them to the Saviour, the great example of patience, and to pray that they might have the same which he had. That it does not mean that they were to wait patiently for the appearing of Christ, as our translation seems to imply, is quite clear, because the apostle had just been showing them that he would not appear until after a long series of events had occurred.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Or, according to the Greek, may the Lord direct and carry your hearts to the love of God, and to the expectation of Jesus Christ.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Here the apostle prays for them again, as he had done a little before, 2Th 2:17; and as this shows how much they were in his heart, so the frequent mingling of prayers with his exhortations shows they could not be effectual without God. And he prays for two things:

1. To have their hearts directed into the love of God; which is either meant passively, for God’s love to them, to have their hearts, that is, their whole soul, engaged in the study, contemplation, and admiration of this love; or rather actively, for their love to God, to have their hearts set straight into the love of God, as the Greek word imports; drawn out towards him as a straight line to its centre, or as an arrow directed to the mark. Till man’s love is set upon God, the motions of the heart are crooked and irregular; as the ways of sin are called crooked ways, Psa 125:5; and John Baptist’s ministry was to make crooked things straight, Isa 40:4. The turning man’s heart and ways towards God makes them straight. David prays, Psa 119:36; Incline my heart unto thy testimonies; ybm-jh or, bend my heart; as we bend a crooked stick to make it straight. Or as he prays God to unite his heart to his fear, Psa 86:11; so here Paul, to direct theirs to his love, by which some understand all religion. We learn hence, that to direct man’s heart to the love of God is the work of God, and beyond our power. And the hearts of the best saints stand in need of a more perfect and constant direction unto the love of God. Patient sufferings for Christ’s sake; as the apostle calls his sufferings for Christ’s sake, the sufferings of Christ, often, 2Co 1:5; Phi 3:10, &c.; and patience for his sake, is called the patience of Christ, Rev 1:9. In this sense, the apostle prays they may have hearts ready to suffer, and patiently to suffer for Christ’s sake, Heb 10:36; Jam 5:10; and suited to a suffering state, which the heart is naturally averse and disinclined unto. And the word is often used in this sense for patience under the cross. And so the apostle hath his eye in his prayer upon the suffering state these believers were in for Christ’s sake. If the sense be rendered as in our translation, he prays for their hearts to be fixed upon the coming of Christ, to look towards it, and patiently to wait for it; the Greek word being often taken for the patience of expectation as well as of suffering, Rom 8:25; Heb 10:36; and so it is the same as waiting for the Son of God from heaven, mentioned 1Th 1:10, and looking for the Saviour, Phi 3:20; that hereby they might not faint under his sufferings, nor be surprised by his coming. And because the hearts of the best are apt either to be remiss or secure upon the delay of Christ’s coming, he therefore prays their hearts might be directed to a patient waiting for it, as the apostle Peter upon the same account exhorts believers to the girding up the loins of their mind, 1Pe 1:13.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Love of God—The feeling in us of love towards God.

Patient waiting for Christ—Literally, Την υπομονην του χριστου, the patience of Christ. It may mean Christ’s patience; and then Christ’s patience and the Christian’s patience, the patience to which Paul prays that God may direct their hearts, are one holy patience. So the Christian, in 2Co_1:5, undergoes the “sufferings of Christ.” Our translators, and many commentators, apply the words to the awaiting the second advent. Lunemann objects, that the Greek word for such waiting in 1Th_1:10 is slightly different; but the same word is used for it in 1Th_1:7.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the Lord; namely, Christ, for so the word "Lord" is to be rendered in St. Paul"s Epistles. Bishop Wordsworth supposes that the Holy Ghost is here invoiced, as both God and Christ are afterwards mentioned in the petition; but the term "Lord" is not applied by, the apostle to the Holy Ghost; 2Co_3:17 is the only apparent exception. Direct your hearts; as the heart is the fountain of Christian life the centre of the will. Into the love of God. Here not God"s love to us, specially "the manifestation of the love of God in Christ and his work of redemption" (Olshausen) nor the love of God to man, which is to be the pattern of our love to God; but, objectively, our love to God. This love of God is the fulfilment of the Law; and hence the apostle prays that the Thessalonians may be directed into it as the source and essence of all acceptable obedience. And into the patient waiting for Christ. The words, "patient waiting," are but one word in the original, generally translated "patience" or "endurance." The clause has been differently interpreted. Some (Calvin, Hofmann, Jowett) render it, as in the A.V, "patient waiting for Christ." And this is conformable to the context, as the object of Paul was to repress all impatient longing for the advent. But such a meaning is not linguistically justifiable. Others render it, "patience for Christ," that is, steadfast endurance for his sake (De Wette); but there is no preposition in the original. The words simply mean "Christ"s patience," or "the patience of Christ" (R.V), the patience which he exhibited under his unparalleled sufferings. The Thessalonians were exposed to persecutions, and therefore the apostle prays that they might be directed into the patience of Christ, as this would enable them to bear all their sufferings with composure. Love and patience comprehend the active and passive virtues of Christianity.

Now follows a warning against the disorderly life and conduct which the expectation of the immediate advent of Christ had produced. On account of the supposed nearness of the day of the Lord, great disorders had arisen in the Thessalonian Church. Work had been given up by many, who walked about in fanatical idleness. The apostle had censured this conduct in his former Epistle, (1Th_4:11, 1Th_4:12) but the evil had rather increased than diminished; and, accordingly, he severely rebukes this spirit, and sets himself to correct the disorders occasioned by it.

The patience of Christ.

1. Its perfection. As seen in his conduct toward God and man during his sufferings, and in contrast to the conduct of the most patient men, as for example Job, Moses, and Paul.

2. Its example. We have need of patience in this world of toil and suffering. A contemplation of the patience with which Christ endured his unparalleled sufferings is the best antidote against impatience under any sufferings which we may be called upon to endure.

The apostle"s further prayer for his converts.

They needed grace to enable them to discharge all these duties.

I THE LORD JESUS IS THE TRUE DIRECTOR OF THE HEART. "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and the patience of Christ.

1. The heart needs direction. It is the fountain of life and feeling and action. But it is often wayward in its impulses.

2. The heart that is self-led is misled. We cannot direct our own hearts, neither can apostles do it for us; the Lord only can do it. He directs us by his Spirit, not only into all truth, but into all right feeling and all acceptable obedience. He only can change us into his own likeness.

II THE RIGHT DIRECTION OF THE CHRISTIAN HEART. "Into the love of God, and the patience of Christ.

1. The love of God is the spring of all evangelical obedience, and the motive force of all spiritual power. The Thessalonians had love already, but the apostle prays for fuller measures of it, that they may be prepared for yet more exact and thorough and unquestioning obedience.

2. The patience of Christ, which so characterized him, is to be copied in the lives of his followers exposed to similar persecutions. His sufferings are their sufferings; and they need his patience to enable them to endure thrum, as well as to sustain that "patient continuance in well doing" in the midst of evil which will keep them free from restlessness and disorderly walking. T.C.

The patience of Christ.

The Christian life has two aspects, a heavenward and an earthward aspect. In its heavenly relations it should be filled with love to God; in its earthly relations especially when under such trials as befell the early Christians it needs to be fortified to endure with patience. The latter grace claimsparticular attention.

I GREAT PATIENCE IS REQUISITE FOR THE ENDURANCE OF EARTHLY LIFE. Very great differences in successive ages and in various individual lots make the amounts of patience necessary for each man to be very unequal. It would be foolish for one in our own day, to whom the lines have fallen in pleasant places, to pose with the solemn, martyr-like demeanour which was natural to Christians in the days of persecution. They needed patience to face cruel calamities which we happily are spared. Nevertheless, "man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward;" the quietest public times see the bitterest private sorrows in some households; great, awful spiritual troubles come upon men whose external circumstances are placid and sunny; and even where no one heavy blow falls, innumerable small vexing cares, like the Egyptian plague of flies, fret and wear the soul. Therefore patience is still greatly needed. It is one thing to suffer trouble and quite another thing to bear it, not to be crushed by it, not to rebel against the Power that sends it, even in secret thought, but to stand up under it, with dumb, unmurmuring endurance, like those sad, calm Caryatides that have stood for centuries bearing on their patient heads ponderous temple structures.

II THE PATIENCE OF CHRIST IS THE MODEL AND THE INSPIRATION FOR THE PATIENCE OF CHRISTIANS. This wonderful patience of Christ may be best appreciated when we come to meditate on its relation to his circumstances and experience.

1. His previous glory. They who have once known better days feel the smart of adversity most keenly. From heaven"s throne to the cross what a descent!

2. His extreme sufferings. Was ever there sorrow like his? Gross insult was added to cruel torture; and insult tries patience worse than pain.

3. His sensitive nature. There are men who seem to feel a needle prick more acutely than others feel a sword thrust. Our Lord was one who felt most acutely, with the painfully delicate perception of the most refined nature.

4. His powers of resistance. He might have summoned legends of angels to his assistance.

5. The marvellous spirit with which he endured all. "He was led as a lamb to the slaughter." He not only prayed for his murderers, but he calmly weighed their guilt and defended them on account of their ignorance. This wonderful patience of our Lord is a model for us; it is also an inspiration. As we turn from the petty complaints of men to the sight of that awful, Divine patience, surely our murmurings must be shamed and silenced.

III IT IS REQUISITE THAT GOD SHOULD DIRECT OUR HEARTS INTO THE PATIENCE OF CHRIST.

1. The patience must penetrate to our hearts. Patience of language and of constrained demeanour is superficial and will not satisfy God, nor can it remain long without the deeper patience of the heart.

2. Our hearts cannot receive this patience till they are directed aright by God. It depends on our disposition, which we must have moulded by the hand of God into a firm faith and a calm endurance.

3. This patience follows love to God. Our hearts are to be first directed into love. When we love as Christ loved we can endure as he endured. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now the Lord - The Spirit, whose proper work this is. Direct - Lead you straight forward. Into the patience of Christ - Of which he set you a pattern.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

As if he had said, "That we may not be mistaken in this our confidence, we pray that the Lord will direct your hearts into the love of God, which will constrain you to this obedience."

Where note, That to direct man’s heart right into the love of God, is the work of God; The Lord directs your heart into the love of God.

Note farther, That these Thessalonians did love God already for the apostle had before commended their work of faith, their labour of love, and yet here he prays, that their hearts may be directed into the love of God, &c.

Learn hence, That the hearts of the holiest and best of saints do stand in need of a more perfect and constant direction into the love of God; as ships that are best rigged need a pilot, so they that love God must need to have their love ordered and directed to the best advantage of his glory.

Observe farther, From the phrase here used, (direct,) that God works upon us as rational creatures; he changeth the heart indeed, but he doth it by direction, not by violence and compulsion: the Spirit’s conduct is sweet, yet powerful; it changes the will, but without offering violence to the freedom and liberty of the will; we are not forced but directed; The Lord direct your hearts.--

Again, the Lord direct your hearts; it implies, there are many things that would wreath and bend, crook and turn, our hearts another way, and direct our love to a contrary object, to the world and the flesh; therefore we had need pray with earnestness, The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God; it follows,--and into the patient waiting for Christ.

Note here, 1. The true character of a sincere Christian; he waits for the coming of Christ: such as love Christ fervently, long for his coming greatly.

Note, 2. How patience qualifies those holy ardours, and longing desires, which the saints have to be with Christ: though love sets us upon the wing to be gone, yet patience commands us to wait Christ’s own time for going; vehement love needs the allay of patience; most need much patience to die, but some need as much patience to live: therefore says the apostle, The Lord direct your hearts into a patient waiting for Christ; intimating, that the saints of God have great need of patience to enable them to endure that state of distance and separation from Christ so long as they must endure it in this world: well then might the apostles pray on behalf of the Thessalonians, The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and patient waiting for Christ.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ . [From expressions of confidence in God, Paul easily passes to prayer to him, that the Thessalonians may be led to love him, and to exercise in their trials and persecutions the patience which Christ exhibited under unparalleled suffering. To love God, together with the brotherly love which they already possessed ( 1Th_4:9-10 ), constituted a fulfillment of the law ( Mat_22:37-40 ; Rom_13:10 ), and hence led to acceptable obedience.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Patient waiting. “The patience of Christ” (Revision). A patient endurance for Christ.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

5. την before υπομονην in all uncials; omitted in a few minn.

5. Ὁ δὲ κύριος κατευθύναι ὑμῶν τὰς καρδίας εἰς τὴν ἀγάπην τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ εἰς τὴν ὑπομονὴν τοῦ χριστοῦ. But may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. A prayer significantly interjected between 2Th 3:4; 2Th 3:6: one might expect the important παραγγελία of 2Th 3:6 ff. to follow at once upon the παραγγέλλομεν of the last sentence. But the Apostles’ confidence in their readers’ obedience is grounded “in the Lord.” They know how critical the charge they have to give will be for the temper of this Church. So another word of prayer must be uttered before the admonition is delivered. Under the sense of “God’s love” and in the spirit of “Christ’s patience” matters of Church discipline are fitly undertaken. The Apostles have given directions to their Thessalonian flock,—“but” above both is the Supreme Director of hearts, whose guidance they invoke. For the verb κατευθύνω, and for the transitional δέ, see note on 1Th 3:11. The idiom κατευθύνειν τὴν καρδίαν (πρός: Heb. הֵכִין לִבָב אֶל) occurs in the LXX—1 Paral. 29:18; 2 Paral. 12:14, 19:3, 20:33, &c.; Sir 49:3; Sir 51:20 (τὴν ψυχήν)—where the phrase implies an inward movement of the soul drawn to seek and find its Divine object: cf. also Psa 77:8. (Heb. Psa 78:8), Psa 118:5; Pro 21:2. “The Lord” is Christ throughout this passage; see note on 2Th 3:3.

In the latter of the two parallel clauses of direction (εἰς … καὶ εἰς), the genitive τοῦ χριστοῦ is certainly subjective: ὑπομονή is misrendered “patient waiting for” (A.V., after Beza, “patientem exspectationem”; so Erasmus, Calvin, Estius; although the Vulg. had “patientiam Christi”; Chrysostom is undecided), as though the noun represented ἀναμένω (1Th 1:10). Ὑπομονή is used over thirty times in the N.T.—fifteen times by St Paul; in every case it means endurance (of trial, evil), as e.g. in 2Th 1:4: 1Th 1:3 (see note); so in classical Greek, with the additional sense of “remaining behind.” “The endurance of Christ,” or “the Christ,” includes more than the patience of Jesus historically viewed (cf. Rev 1:9; Heb 12:2 f.; Gal 6:17; see note on Ἰησοῦς, 1Th 4:14); ὁ χριστός is “the” patient “Christ,” who in enduring the cross and the contradiction of sinners, and the whole burden of His mission, fulfilled the prophetic ideal of Jehovah’s suffering Servant (Isaiah 53): cf. the allusions of Rom 15:3; 1Pe 2:21-25; Mat 11:29 f., &c. The previous genitive has the same kind of signification; ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ denotes “God’s love (to you),” not “(your) love to God”: so everywhere else in St Paul,—Rom 5:5; Rom 8:39; 2Co 13:13. It is in the deepened sense of God’s love and in the following of Christ’s patience that the admonitions of the context will be rightly received and carried into effect; so from “God who loved us” comfort and hope were expected in 2Th 2:16 f.

5. ANTICHRIST IN THE MIDDLE AGES

The old Rome and its vast dominion in the West were submerged under the tide of barbarian conquest. But the framework of civilized society held together; the rude conquerors had already been touched by the spell of the Græco-Roman civilization, and by the breath of the new Christian life. Amid the wreck and conflagration of the ancient world, precious and vital relics were spared; a “holy seed” survived, in which the elements of faith and culture were preserved, to blossom and fructify in the fresh soil deposited by the deluge of the northern invasions. Out of the chaos of the early Middle Ages there slowly arose the modern polity of the Romanized European nations, with the Papal See for its spiritual centre, and the revived and consecrated Empire of Charlemagne—magni nominis umbra—taking the leadership of the new world (800 A.D.). Meanwhile the ancient Empire maintained a sluggish existence in the altera Roma of Constantine upon the Bosphorus, where it arrested for seven centuries the destructive forces of Muhammadanism, until their energy was comparatively spent. This change in the current of history, following upon the union of Church and State under Constantine, disconcerted the Patristic reading of prophecy. The συντέλεια τοῦ αἰῶνος appeared to be indefinitely postponed, and the clock of time put back once more by the Overruling Hand. After the fifth century, moreover, the interpretation of Scripture, along with every kind of human culture, fell into a deep decline. Things present absorbed the energy and thought of religious teachers to the exclusion of things to come. The Western Church was occupied in Christianizing the barbarian hordes; the Eastern Church was torn by schism, and struggling for its very existence against Islam; while the two strove with each other, covertly or openly, for temporal supremacy. Medieval theologians did little more than repeat and systematize the teaching of the Fathers respecting Antichrist, which they supplemented from Jewish sources and embroidered with fancies of their own, often childish or grotesque.

Gradually, however, fresh interpretations came to the front. The Greeks naturally saw ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας and ὁ ἄνομος in Muhammad, and ἡ ἀποστασία in the falling away of so many Eastern Christians to his delusions. In the West, the growing arrogance of the Roman bishops and the traditional association of Antichrist with Rome combined to suggest the idea of a Papal Antichrist, which had been promulgated here and there, and yet oftener whispered secretly, long before the Reformation. This theory has, in fact, high Papal authority in its favour; for Gregory I. (or the Great), about 590 A.D., denouncing the rival assumptions of the contemporary Byzantine Patriarch, wrote as follows: “Ego autem fidenter dico quia quisquis se universalem sacerdotem vocat, vel vocari desiderat, in elatione sua Antichristum præcurrit”; he further stigmatized the title of Universal Priest as “erroris nomen, stultum ac superbum vocabulum … nomen blasphemiæ.” By this just sentence the later Roman Primacy is marked out as another type of Antichrist.

In the 13th century, when Pope Gregory VII. (or Hildebrand, 1073–1085 A.D.) and Innocent III. (1198–1216 A.D.) had raised the power of the Roman See to its climax, this doctrine was openly maintained by the supporters of the Hohenstaufen Emperors. Vindicating the divine right of the civil state, they stoutly resisted the claims to temporal suzerainty then asserted by the Pope in virtue of his spiritual authority over all nations as the sole Vicar of Jesus Christ, who is “the ruler of the kings of the earth.” The German Empire claimed to succeed to the office ascribed by the Fathers to the old Roman State as “the restrainer” of the Man of Sin. Frederic II. of Germany and Pope Gregory IX. bandied the name of “Antichrist” between them. That century witnessed a revival of religious zeal, of which the rise of the Waldenses, the theology of Thomas Aquinas, the founding of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders, the immortal poem of Dante, and the wide-spread revolt against the corruptions of Rome, were manifestations in different directions. This awakening was attended with a renewal of Apocalyptic study. The numbers of Dan 12:6-13, Rev 12:6, &c., gave rise to the belief that the year 1260 would usher in the final conflict with Antichrist and the end of the world; while the frightful invasion of the Mongols, and the intestine divisions of Christendom, threatened the latter with destruction. Simultaneously in the East by adding 666, “the number of the Wild Beast” in Rev 13:18, to 622, the date of the Hejira (the flight from Mecca, which forms the starting-point of Mussalman chronology), it was calculated that Muhammadanism was approaching its fall. This crisis also passed, and the world went on its way. But it remained henceforward a fixed idea, proclaimed by every dissenter from the Roman See, that Antichrist would be found upon the Papal throne. So the Waldenses, so Hus, Savonarola, and our own Wyclif taught[8].

[8] We must distinguish, however, bwtween an Antichrist and the Antichrist. A sincere Roman Catholic might assign to this or that unworthy Pope a place amongst the “many Antichrists.”

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5.] There does not appear to be any distrust of the Thessalonians implied by this repeated wish for them, as De W. supposes. Rather is it an enlargement, taken up by the δέ (not only so, but) of the ἃ παραγγέλλομεν κ. ποιεῖτε κ. ποιήσετε.

ὁ κύρ. is our Lord, as before.

ἡ ἀγάπη τ. θεοῦ here, from the fact of his wishing that their hearts may be directed into it, must be subjective, the love of man to God. The objective meaning, God’s love, is out of the question. The other subjective meanings, the love which God works (Pelt), … which God commands (LeClerc), are far-fetched. ἡ ὑπομονὴ τ. χριστοῦ has very generally been understood as in E. V., ‘the patient waiting for Christ.’ So Œc., Ambr., Erasm., Corn.-a-lap., Beza, all. But ὑπομονή will not bear this meaning. It occurs thirty-four times in the N. T., and always in the sense of endurance,—patience. Nor again can the expression mean ‘endurance for Christ’s sake,’ which the simple genitive will not convey: but it must be, as Chrys. (1) ἵνα ὑπομένωμεν, ὡς ἐκεῖνος ὑπέμεινεν, the patience of Christ (gen. possess.),—which Christ shewed.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. ὁ δὲ κύριος κτλ. The new point, introduced by δε, is slightly adversative. Although Paul has confidence in the Lord that they will do what he commands (v. 5 looks not to ποιεῖτ but to ποιήσετ), yet he is certain that the help of the Lord is indispensable to incline their hearts to keep his command. What they need especially is a sense of God’s love to them and a reminder that Christ can give them an endurance adequate to face the persecutions. Hence the prayer: “May the Lord ( = Christ) direct (I 3:11) your hearts (I 3:13, II 2:17) unto the love of God and the endurance of Christ.”

In Paul, ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεου (Rom 5:5, Rom 5:8:39, 2Co 13:13) means not our love to God but God’s love to us, the thought here being that their inner life may be directed to a sense of the divine love (see SH on Rom 5:5). With an appreciation of the meaning of God’s love, there would be no temptation to infringe upon φιλαδελφί by the continuance of idle habits (cf. I 4:9-12).—Since elsewhere in Paul ὑπομονη = “endurance,” the rendering Patientem exspectationem (Beza), “patient waiting” (AV), which demands the objective genitive, is here improbable (see Vincent); see, however, Lft., Schmiedel, and Deb. and compare Ign. Rom 10:3, ἐν ὑπομονῇ Ἰησοῦ Χριστου, an expression which is “probably derived from St. Paul” (Lft.). Taking ὑπομονη = “endurance,” Χριστου; may mean either the endurance which Christ possesses and shares (cf. δόξα τοῦ κυρίο in 2:14), or which is characteristic of him, and hence an object of imitation as in Polyc. Phil. 8:2; or it may mean the endurance which Christ inspires, as ὁ θεὸς τῆς ὑπομονῆ (Rom 15:5) suggests (cf. Moff.).—ὁ Χριστό is not found elsewhere in II; cf., however, I 2:6, 3:2, 4:16, and see Mill. 136. The total phrase ἡ ὑπομονὴ τοῦ Χριστου appears to be found only here in the Gk. Bib.—The phrase κατευθύνει (or εὐθύνει) τᾶς καρδία (or τὴν καρδία) occurs frequently in the Lxx (1Ch 29:18, 2Ch 12:14, 2Ch 19:3, 2Ch 20:33, Pro 21:2, etc.); on εἰ (cf. πρό in I 3:11), see Sir. 51:20, Judith 12:8. DE, Vulg have τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶ (I 2:4); but ὑμῶ referring to ἐφʼ ὑμᾶ in v. 4 is emphatic (B. Weiss).

VI. COMMAND AND EXHORTATION (3:6-15)

This section contains the second main point of the letter, prepared for in vv. 1-5, “the case of the idlers” (Find.). Word has come to Paul (v. 11) orally and by letter to the effect that the idle minority, in spite of his oral (v. 10, I 4:11) and written (I 4:11-12, 5:14) instructions are still begging and meddlesome, some of them still refusing to obey his epistolary injunctions (I 5:27 and below, v. 14). The case having become acute, Paul orders the majority to take severer measures against the idle minority, to add to νουθετεῖ (v. 15, I 5:14), στέλλεσθα (v. 6) and μὴ συναναμίγνυσθα (v. 14). Insisting, however, that the delinquents are brothers (vv. 6, 15), and surmising that the majority have not always dealt tactfully with the excited idlers (vv. 13, 15), Paul is careful to explain just why he gives the command (vv. 7-12) and to have it understood that the discipline, being intended for reformation, is to be administered in love (vv. 14-15). In fact, his attitude throughout is not that of an apostle exercising his apostolic authority but that of a brother appealing to brothers in the name of a common authority, the Lord Jesus Christ. He believes that his word will suffice; but he contemplates the probability that a few of the idlers will persist in being recalcitrant.

The connection of thought is clear, the divisions being marked by δε (vv. 6, 12, 13, 14) and γά (vv. 7, 10, 11). Though the brethren as a whole are addressed throughout the section (even in v. 12), it is really the majority whom Paul has in mind and upon whom he places the responsibility for the peace of the brotherhood.

6Now we command you, brothers, using the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every brother who walks in idleness and not in accordance with the instruction which you received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, for we were not idle among you, nor did we receive the means of support from any one without paying for it; 8but in toil and hardship, night and day we kept at our work in order that we might not put on any of you the burden of our maintenance.—9not because we have no right to free support, but that we might give in ourselves an examplep for you to imitate. 10For also, when we were with you, this we used to command you: “If any one refuses to work, neither let him eat.” 11For we are informed that some among you are walking in idleness, not working themselves but being busybodies. 12Now such as these we command and exhort, prompted by the Lord Jesus Christ, that with tranquillity of mind they work and earn their own living. 13Now as for you, brothers, do not grow tired of doing the right thing. 14In case, however, any one is not for obeying our word expressed in this letter, designate that man; let there be no intimate association with him; in order that he may be put to shame; 15and so count him not as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hearts [καρδιας] . See on Rom 1:21; Rom 10:10; Eph 1:18.

Patient waiting for Christ [υπομονην του χριστου] . Rather patience of Christ. The prayer is that their hearts may be directed to love God and to exhibit the patience of Christ 37

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.