Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Thessalonians 3:12

ὑμᾶς δὲ ὁ κύριος πλεονάσαι καὶ περισσεύσαι τῇ�. But you may the Lord make to increase and overflow in your love toward one another and toward all. 1 Thessalonians 3:12 passes from writers to readers with the contrastive δέ. “The Lord,” in St Paul’s general usage—above all, where it directly follows ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χ.—means Jesus Christ, not the Father: cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:8; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 4:15 ff., 1 Thessalonians 5:27, and the ἡμῖν … εἶς κύριος of 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 4:5. In 2 Thessalonians 3:5; 2 Thessalonians 3:16 “the Lord” is again addressed, quite unreservedly, in prayer: cf. 2 Corinthians 12:8; 2 Timothy 1:16-18; Acts 1:24; Acts 7:59 f. The Lord Jesus is asked, in effect, to aid the fulfilment of His own command of love (John 13:34, &c.) and to perfect in His disciples the grace of which He is the example and channel (see Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2, &c.).

Περισσεύσαι (make abundant) caps πλεονάσαι (make more): cf. the variation in Romans 5:20; 2 Corinthians 4:15. Elsewhere in the N.T. the latter verb is always, the former usually, intransitive—the original usage in each case; πλεονάζω (הִרְבָּה) has the active sense in Numbers 26:54; Ps. 70:21; 1Ma 4:35 : cf. the double usage of the Eng. increase, multiply. In 1 Thessalonians 4:10 the wish is expressed that the Thessalonians may “abound (still) more in love”; in 2 Thessalonians 1:3 thanks are given because their “love multiplies.” The passages just referred to speak of ἀγάπη εἰς�, 1 Thessalonians 4:10 embracing “all the brethren in all Macedonia”; but here, as in 1 Thessalonians 5:15, καὶ εἰς πάντας is added: cf. Romans 12:16; Romans 12:18; Galatians 6:10; 1 Timothy 2:1; 1 Peter 2:17. For the cruelly persecuted Thessalonians this wider love was peculiarly difficult—and necessary; it meant loving their enemies, according to Christ’s command (Matthew 5:44).

καθάπερ καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς ὑμᾶς, as verily we also (do) towards you—i.e. “as we increase and abound in love toward you”; for the Apostles’ love to their flock was not stationary, nor limited; the εὐαγγέλιον of 1 Thessalonians 3:6 gives it a new impulse. This clause (repeated from 1 Thessalonians 3:6) rests naturally upon the foregoing verbs, mentally resumed in their intransitive sense; or, after Theodoret, we may supply διετέθημεν, affecti sumus erga vos (Calvin); see also Lightfoot ad loc. In support of this claim of the writers, cf. the statement of 1 Thessalonians 1:5 b, and the language of 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12; 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 : for similar references on St Paul’s part, see 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9; Philippians 3:17; Philippians 4:9; 1 Corinthians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 11:1; Acts 20:35; cf. also the appeal of Jesus in John 13:15; John 13:34, &c.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Thessalonians 3:12

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