The thanksgiving follows the benediction of grace and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Upon every remembrance of the believers thanks is given to God, expressed in constant prayer always for them all with joy. Grateful remembrance of fellow believers prompts thanksgiving and prayer before God. The joy is for their fellowship and sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. The thanks is because they have become converts to the faith.
The thanks is for their steadfastness in the faith under persecution, their whole-hearted devotion to their Redeemer, and their high prizing of the precious truths for which suffering and sacrifice had been endured among them. This followed the deep and lasting example of zeal, devotion, and willingness to suffer for Christ set before them when their steadily increasing church was established. They are held in the heart with tender interest, harmony, Christian fellowship, compassionate affection, confidence, and longing, as partakers of grace both in bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. That confidence and affection remain even though they are still struggling against temptation and are not yet perfect in character.
There is confidence that God who began a good work in them will continue and perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, which is kept constantly in view. Joined to the thanksgiving is prayer that their love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that they may approve things that are excellent, that they may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. The verse sets the pattern ministers should have toward churches newly come to the faith, and those churches by good works, Christlike character, and sincerity of faith should give the ministers who labored for them reason to pray for them with joy and confidence.
The thanksgiving follows the benediction of grace and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Upon every remembrance of the believers thanks is given to God, expressed in constant prayer always for them all with joy. Grateful remembrance of fellow believers prompts thanksgiving and prayer before God. The joy is for their fellowship and sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. The thanks is because they have become converts to the faith.
The thanks is for their steadfastness in the faith under persecution, their whole-hearted devotion to their Redeemer, and their high prizing of the precious truths for which suffering and sacrifice had been endured among them. This followed the deep and lasting example of zeal, devotion, and willingness to suffer for Christ set before them when their steadily increasing church was established. They are held in the heart with tender interest, harmony, Christian fellowship, compassionate affection, confidence, and longing, as partakers of grace both in bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. That confidence and affection remain even though they are still struggling against temptation and are not yet perfect in character.
There is confidence that God who began a good work in them will continue and perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, which is kept constantly in view. Joined to the thanksgiving is prayer that their love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that they may approve things that are excellent, that they may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. The verse sets the pattern ministers should have toward churches newly come to the faith, and those churches by good works, Christlike character, and sincerity of faith should give the ministers who labored for them reason to pray for them with joy and confidence.