Ambrosiaster : Those who persevere in a life of faith and good works have the assurance that they will be accepted by God and receive their reward and that they will not be led astray by wicked arguments. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES Fabian of Rome : We exhort you also, according to the word of the apostle, to be "stedfast and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not vain in the Lord." John Chrysostom : "Wherefore, brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable." Just and seasonable is this exhortation after all that had gone before. For nothing so disquiets as the thought that we are buffeted without cause or profit. "Always abounding in the work of the Lord:" i.e., in the pure life. And he said not, "working that which is good," but "abounding;" that we might do it abundantly, and might overpass the lists. "Knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." What sayest thou? Labor again? But followed by crowns, and those above the heavens. For that former labor on man's expulsion from paradise, was the punishment of his transgressions; but this is the ground of the rewards to come. So that it cannot in fact be labor, both on this account and by reason of the great help which it receives from above: which is the cause of his adding also, "in the Lord." For the purpose of the former was that we might suffer punishment; but of this, that we might obtain the good things to come. — Homily on 1 Corinthians 42 Tertullian : Besides, he who bids us shine as sons of light, does not bid us hide away out of sight as sons of darkness. He commands us to stand stedfast, certainly not to act an opposite. — On Flight in Persecution