1 Thessalonians 3:13

to the end he may stablish your hearts On "stablish" see note to 1 Thessalonians 3:2; and on "hearts," ch. 1 Thessalonians 2:4; comp. also 2 Thessalonians 2:17.

This is an O.T. phrase, found in Psalms 104:15, "Bread that strengtheneth(Greek, stablisheth) man's heart"; and Psalms 112:8, "His heartis established, he shall not be afraid." The only N.T. parallel is in James 5:8, "Be patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord is at hand." In all these places it signifies the imparting of conscious strength; and denotes here, therefore, not so much a making firm or steadfast in character, but giving a firm confidence, a steadfast and assured heart(contrast the language of 2 Thessalonians 2:2). This would be the effect of the abounding love prayed for in the last verse. The Apostle's thought runs in the same groove as St John's in 1 John 3:18-21 and 1 John 4:16-17, "Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgement.… Perfect love casteth out fear." The Church was living in the expectation of Christ's speedy return to judgement, a prospect before which the heart naturally quails; in order to "assure their hearts before Him," the Thessalonian believers must increase and abound in love. "Love" is the one thing that "never faileth" (1 Corinthians 13:8). Ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:18, and 1 Thessalonians 5:14 show that courage and joyous confidence in Christ were wanting in some members of this Church.

The words unblameable in holinessform, then, a secondary predicate of the sentence: "to the end He may establish your hearts, making them unblameable," or "so as to be unblameable in holiness before our God," &c. The clause appears to be proleptic, or anticipatory (comp. 1 Corinthians 1:8; Philippians 3:21). Similarly in ch. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 the keepingof "spirit, soul and body" prayed for belongs to the present, but unblameablycarries our thoughts at once to "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (see note). We take the Apostle's thought, amplified, to be this: "May the Lord make you to abound in love … so that you may have the confidence and strength of heart in which abiding you will be found blameless in holiness before God at Christ's coming." This blamelessness will be manifest at the coming of the Judge; but it is imparted already, and belongs to those whose hearts are filled with love to their fellow-men, and so with confidence toward God (comp. again 1 John 4:16-17); in which confidence they anticipate the day when they shall be found "holy and without blemish before Him." This assurance of heart resembles St Paul's, expressed in 2 Corinthians 1:12: "Our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience that in holiness and sincerity of God we have behaved ourselves in the world." Such confidence must always be guarded by strict self-scrutiny and absolute dependence upon Christ. It was encouragement, however, rather than caution that St Paul's readers just now required (see 1 Thessalonians 3:2). This verse and the last set forth Christian perfection in its twofold aspect, as constituted at once by an unbounded love to men and a blameless consecration to God.

On "holiness" see notes to ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:7, also 1 Thessalonians 2:10.

This "blamelessness" of the Thessalonians will be approved before our God and Father, Who listens to the Apostle's prayers and thanksgivings and witnesses his joy on their account (1 Thessalonians 3:9, ch. 1 Thessalonians 1:3), and delights to see the good pleasure of His will accomplished in His children. He, the Trier of hearts (ch. 1 Thessalonians 2:4), permits them now through Christ, and will surely permit them hereafter to stand in His presence with hearts unafraid in the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

This is the goal of the Apostle's prayers and labours for the Church (comp. ch. 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12); and the aim of the hopes and strivings of the Thessalonian believers (ch. 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; 1Th 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 1:5, &c.). He prays that they may be able with good right to look forward confidently toward that Day, trusting not to be "ashamed before Him at His coming" (1 John 2:28; 1 John 3:3). On the title "Lord Jesus" see notes to 1 Thessalonians 3:11, and ch. 1 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:19; and on "coming" (parousia), ch. 1 Thessalonians 2:19.

Observe that "the Lord" (Christ) is the Agent of all that is set forth in 1 Thessalonians 3:12. Christ fills His people's hearts with love and sanctifies them by His Spirit, so that at the last He may present them to the Father as His joy and crown. Then He will be "glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believed" (2 Thessalonians 1:10-12).

His saints(or holy ones) are those, "unblameable in holiness," whom Christ will acknowledge and associate with Himself at His coming. These last words have been shaping the Apostle's prayer all along. To those who possess abundantly the spirit of love (1 Thessalonians 3:12) the hope is given of being found amongst the "holy ones," approved by God, who will attend the Lord Jesus on His glorious return to earth. Christ will not then be solitary, but will have a vast retinue of "the saints," visible in forms of splendour like His own (Philippians 3:20-21) and "with Himin glory" (Colossians 3:4). For this association of the returning Saviour and His saints, see further ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:14; 1 Thessalonians 4:17, and notes; 1 Thessalonians 5:10; and 2 Thessalonians 2:1, "The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him."