393 Homily V. 2 Thessalonians iii. 3–5 “ But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ.” Neither ought we, having committed everything to the prayers of the Saints, to be idle ourselves, and run into wickedness, and to lay hold of nothing; nor again when working good to despise that succor. For great indeed are the things which prayer for us can effect, but it is when we ourselves also work. For this reason Paul also, praying for them, and again giving them assurance from the promise, says, “But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and guard you from the evil one.” For if He has chosen you to salvation, He does not deceive you, nor suffer you utterly to perish. But that he may not by these means lead them to sloth, and lest they thinking the whole to be of God should themselves sleep, see how he also demands coöperation from them, saying, “And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.” “The Lord” indeed, he says, “is faithful,” and having promised to save will certainly save; but as He promised. And how did He promise? If we be willing, and hear Him; not simply (hearing), nor like stocks and stones, being inactive. And he has well introduced the words, “We have confidence in the Lord,” that is, we trust to His lovingkindness. Again he brings them down, making everything depend thereupon. For if he had said, We have confidence in you, the commendation indeed was great, but it would not have taught them to make all things dependent upon God. And if he had said, We have confidence in the Lord, that He will preserve you, and had not added “as touching you,” and, “that ye do and will do the things which we command you,” he would have made them more slothful, by casting everything upon the power of God. For it becomes us indeed to cast everything upon Him, yet working also ourselves, embarked in the labors and the conflicts. And he shows that even if our virtue alone were sufficient to save, yet nevertheless it ought to be persevering, and to abide with us until we come to our latest breath. “But the Lord,” he says, “direct your hearts into the love of God, and the patience of Christ.” Again he commends them, and prays, showing his concern for them. For when he is about to enter upon reproof, he previously smooths down their minds, by saying, “I am confident that ye will hear,” and by requesting prayers from them, and by again invoking upon them infinite blessings. “But the Lord,” he says, “direct your hearts into the love of God.” For there are many things that turn us aside from love, and there are many paths that draw us away from thence. 2 Thessalonians 3:3-5 690 2 Thessalonians 3:3-5