We trust in the Lord for you. The Greek text also allows for the following translation: we hope in you in the Lord; but the idea is the same. Theophylact writes: "In the Lord, that is, we believe in God's love for mankind, that He will fill you with power; to show them that everything depends on God. And again He did not simply say, "In the Lord," but, "Concerning you, what do you do, and so forth, lest they, relating all things to God, become lazy." We must entrust everything to God, but in such a way that we ourselves act."

As we command you, we do not understand only the present instructions, but we embrace all the commandments, decrees, and institutions that come from the Apostles, all the will of God, whatever we may say to you. In the determination to act in this way consists of conversion; on it stands the baptism itself, before the performance of which it is asked: you have denied Satan and all his works... and, "Be united to Christ, in readiness to do all His will."

And create and create. "There is no need," he says, "to exhort you much. You have already shown obedience by your deeds. And you are not satisfied with what has already been done, but are ready to add other things after this" (Damascene). Not only that: do the command already, and whatever we command, you will do; but in general he sees in them a submissiveness, ready, as long as they live, to faithfully fulfill whatever they are commanded. Because in the beginning they decided to obey the will of God, which alone the Apostles proclaimed to them. "He was not content to say: create, but added: create, showing that we must be zealous for virtue until our last breath" (Theophylact). And here he exposes their perfect obedience, in order to dispose them to do what he had to command after that. The path leads to a moral correctional lesson. "He said this as an inducement to them, so that, having learned what the Apostle thought of them, they would confirm it by deed" (Theodoret).

We consider it not superfluous to cite a quite lengthy exposition of the thoughts of the Apostle hidden in this text, made by St. Chrysostom. "See to it that the Apostle does not lead them to inactivity, and that they themselves, believing that everything depends on God, do not fall asleep, and demand cooperation on their part, when he says to them: We trust in the Lord for you, for we command you, and do and do. He says, as it were: True, God is faithful, and having given the promise to save you, He will surely save you, but (He will save you) as He promised. And how did He promise? "If we ourselves desire this, if we obey Him, if we ourselves do not remain inactive, like trees and stones, not unconditionally. The Apostle also correctly used this expression: we trust in the Lord, that is, we trust in His love for mankind. Again he brings them down (pride), showing that everything depends on God. For if he were to say that we believe you, then although this would be a great praise for them, he would not show that they make everything dependent on God; on the contrary, if he had said, "We trust in the Lord that He will preserve you," and did not add that expression about you, and the other, "As we command you, and do and do," then, placing all his hope in the power of God alone, he would have made them more devoted to sloth. For although we must rely on God in everything, nevertheless we ourselves must be active, we must resolve to work and feats. Here the Apostle also shows that our virtue must reach the proper degree and perfection and remain with us until our last breath."

Verse 5. May the Lord correct your hearts in the love of God and in the patience of Christ.

What the Thessalonians hoped for from the Lord, and what he expected from them in the Lord, he now prays to the Lord. He hoped that the Lord would keep them firm in faith and virtue and steadfast against the evil one, and he prayed to grant them patience; he expected from the Thessalonians in the Lord that they had fulfilled and would continue to fulfill every will of God revealed to them through the Apostles, and he prayed to give them love, in which the fulfillment of the law and the strength of patience itself, prayed to direct their hearts to both of them, so that they would not only be in good order and steadfast, but inwardly, in the very depths of their souls. Thus, hope does not remove the need for prayer, but, on the contrary, it gives birth to prayer, warms it up and makes it tireless.

May He correct, from the Greek, may He direct, "may He create that you go straight to true love, without deviating into the highways" (Theodoret). May He correct the hearts. How? — Of course, by the action of grace in the depths of the soul. And yet, it seems that grace does not produce everything, but only directs. The procession is made by the soul itself, seeking and straining, although always with the help of God's grace. Theodoret writes in this passage: "We need both, and a good intention, and assistance from above. The prophet also beseeches us to obtain it: "Perfect my steps in Thy paths, that my feet may not be moved" (Psalm 16:5).

Into the love of God — into love for God and for all that is Divine, or into the embrace of God's love, from which love for Him, and for every person, and for every good thing will burn — or into Divine love, great, pure, heavenly. There are differences in the sayings, but the essence of the matter is the same. But why is the march to this love supposed to be long, subject to the danger of deviations? "Because love does not suddenly settle in the heart, because of the passions and passionate inclinations and sympathies that remain in it. The seed of love is placed in the soil of the heart at the moment of conversion, and it grows stronger and matures as the heart is cleansed of passions. Work on the purification of the heart is crowned with full love. In the course of this inner work on oneself, deviations from the right path to love are possible, and do occur. "Many things deviate from the right path of love, and covetousness, and vanity, and sorrows, and temptations. This and many other things do not allow us to march directly to the love of God and to love Him as we should" (Theophylact). St. Chrysostom explains this in more detail, saying: "There are many objects that turn us away from love, and there are many paths that forcibly draw us away from there. And, in the first place, the vice of covetousness, as if embracing our soul with its shameless hands, so to speak, and, holding it firmly, even against our will, draws it away and removes it from it. Then vanity and sorrows distract (us from love), often temptations as well. That is why we need God's help, as if in a certain wind, so that our sail may be moved to the love of God as if by some strong breath. Therefore, do not tell me that you love God even more than yourself. These are only words: prove it to me by deeds that you truly love Him more than yourself. Love Him more than money, and then I will believe that you love Him more than yourself. For how can he deny himself who does not value money for God's sake? If you do not turn away from covetousness, which should be done without the command of God, then how will you turn away from yourself?"

And in the patience of Christ, or in patience for Christ's sake, or in patience in imitation of Christ, Who suffered for us, such as Christ Himself showed when He lifted up passions and death for our salvation, or in patient expectation of the second coming of Christ, when He will reward those who suffer with glory and blessedness, the expectation by which patience alone is maintained after love. In patience, when it exists, all these features are combined. The Apostle combined all of them in one expression, calling the patience of Christ. He prays only for two moral forces – love and patience. Love is the inner driving force of the Christian life; patience is also an inner force, but it protects that life. Patience is held by hope, but it receives indestructible strength from love. Whoever does not love will hardly have patience for long. And he who does not endure it has hardly strong love. "The prayer of the Apostle," says St. Damascene, "concerns important subjects, namely, to love God and patiently endure sorrows for Christ, so that patience may be combined with love, or, better, love may be crowned with patience. For as soon as we love, but do not show patience, then love is ruined." Theophylact writes the same: "Speak in the patience of Christ, or understand it thus: that we may endure as He endured; or thus: that we wait patiently for Christ and do not despair, but firmly believe that He will fulfill what He has promised. He combined patience with love because to love God means to endure everything for Him, without murmuring, good-naturedly." Both borrowed their thoughts from St. Chrysostom, who explains this at greater length.

With this the holy Apostle concludes his concluding speech, in which, however, he combined such good wishes and expectations, after which the unsorrowful acceptance of the reproachful speech was not subject to doubt. By all this he "showed paternal care for them. Since he had to reproach some of them, he anoints their hearts beforehand, so that they do not doubt that he is giving them a mandate out of much love" (Theophylact).

b) Moral Corrective Speech (3:6-15)

The defect denounced here was already reproached by St. Paul in the first Epistle, 4:11; 5, 14. But there it is shorter and more lenient, and here it is stricter and more extensive. It is true that this old vice was common among the Thessalonians before their conversion and was not considered a sin; which is why they were not quickly corrected. But it was obvious and was so pronounced that St. Paul noticed it during his first stay in Thessalonica and then gave the necessary commandments and suggestions (1 Thessalonians 4:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:10). In support of these instructions, he made a mandate in the first epistle. As they went into the same thing, here, in the second epistle, he sets aside for rebuke a whole section of 10 verses, where he sets forth the reason for the inappropriateness of the rebuked behavior, gives a strict commandment against it, and imposes punishment on the disobedient, if they are guilty. The train of thought here is this: Imitating me, verses 7-9, and remembering the commandment I have personally given, believers should behave modestly and live by their labors, verse 10. But some of you do otherwise, do nothing, but stagger here and there, verse 11. I command them to reform themselves, so that they may eat their bread while laboring. As for those who will not listen to this word of mine, let me know; In the meantime, do not have communion with them, verse 14, not with hostile feelings, and in the form of correction, verse 15. Apparently, the Apostle desires to stop the spread of evil as soon as possible, or to hasten the correction that has begun. For this purpose, with special insistence, he enjoins those who are in good working in this respect to cease communion with those who are defective. In this way two advantages were achieved: those who were in good order were freed from infection and were more confirmed in good order, while those who were defective were put to shame and, in addition to other motives to work, received a new factual in that because of their lack of work they were all shunned and made in the midst of society as if they were exiles. Considering this means to be so powerful, St. Paul especially insists on it, mentioning it both at the beginning of the discourse, verse 6, and at the end, verse 14, and raises it to an immutable law, spoken in the presence of the Lord Himself.

Nowhere is it seen that this lack of labor, idle and idle life was manifested in such force among the Christians of Thessaloniki as a result of the false conviction that the day of the Lord had come. If there had been any relation of this love of idleness to the expectation of the coming of the Lord, the Apostle would have signified it with some kind of trait. But he has no indication of this. Rather, it is necessary to put it because it was a common vice of pagan life. In crowded cities, a noisy, cheerful, idle, dissolute life catches everyone's eye. Such is it now among us. If the Apostle had appeared in one of our great cities, he would also have seen what he had seen among the Thessalonians, and he would have told us the same thing that he said to them: "They do nothing, only fuss, run from end to end, chase after pleasure and rejoice." It is unseemly for Christians to live like this. They should behave modestly, sit at home, do work, in order to have the consolation of eating their bread. A consoling, idle life is so contrary to the spirit of Christianity. And so the Apostle wants to wean Christians from it, so that there would be no trace of them on these paths of pagan life.

Verse 6. And we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you depart from every brother who walks without order, and not according to tradition, which he has received from us.