16, 17. ‘ May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father Who loved us, and in His Divine bounty bestowed upon us abiding comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen you to do and to say everything that is right.’ 16. Αὐτὸςδὲὁκύριοςἡμ. κτλ.] The invocation is identical with 1 Thessalonians 3:11 except that ὁκύρ. Ἰης. Χρ. is now placed first, and that the def. art. is substituted before πατήρ for the more ordinary καί, while the first ὁ before θεός is doubtful. The order (cf. 2 Corinthians 13:13, Galatians 1:1) may have been determined by the immediately preceding reference to the glory of the Lord Jesus (v. 14), or be due to the fact that He is the intermediary through whom the purposes of God for His people are carried out. In either case we have another striking ex. of the equal honour ascribed to the Son with the Father throughout these Epp. (Intr. p. 66). Chrys.: ποῦνῦνεἰσινοἱτὸνυἱὸνἐλλατοῦντεσ; Thdt.: τῇτῆςτάξεωςἐναλλαγῇτὴνὁμοτιμίανδεικνύων. ὁἀγαπήσαςἡμ. κ. δούςκτλ.] The two participles under the vinculum of the common art. belong to ὁθεός alone, and the use of the aor. shows that the reference is to the definite historical act in which the Gospel originated. For παράκλησις see 1 Thessalonians 2:3 note, and for αἰωνίαν (for form, WSchm. p. 96) as bringing out the ‘ final and abiding’ character of this ‘ comfort’ compared with the transitory joys of earth see 1:9 note. Ἀγαθήν ‘ good’ both in its character and results; cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:15, and for the phrase ἀγαθὴἐλπίς in Gk. literature see Dem. Cor. 258 (§ 120) δεῖδὲτοὺςἀγαθοὺςἄνδραςἐγχειρεῖνμὲνἅπασινἐεὶτοῖςκαλοῖς, τὴνἀγαθὴνπροβαλλομένουςἐλπίδα. ἐνχάριτι] not the human disposition in which the gifts just spoken of were received, but the Divine favour or bounty by which the ‘ consolation of Israel’ was freely extended to those who were Gentiles by birth, cf. 1:12 note.