Jesus was a man of patience

JESUS WAS A MAN OF PATIENCE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 Thessalonians3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts
into God's loveand Christ'sperseverance.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The Apostle's Further Prayer ForHis Converts
2 Thessalonians 3:5
T. Croskery
They needed grace to enable them to discharge all these duties.
I. THE LORD JESUS IS THE TRUE DIRECTOR OF THE HEART. "The
Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and the patience of Christ."
1. The heart needs direction. It is the fountain of life and feeling and action.
But it is often waywardin its impulses.
2. The heart that is self-ledis misled. We cannot direct our own hearts, neither
can apostles do it for us; the Lord only cando it. He directs us by his Spirit,
not only into all truth, but into all right feeling and all acceptable obedience.
He only can change us into his own likeness.

II. THE RIGHT DIRECTION OF THE CHRISTIAN HEART. "Into the love
of God, and the patience of Christ."
1. The love of Godis the spring of all evangelicalobedience, andthe motive
force of all spiritual power. The Thessalonians hadlove already, but the
apostle prays for fuller measures ofit, that they may be prepared for yet more
exactand thorough and unquestioning obedience.
2. The patience of Christ, which so characterizedhim, is to be copied in the
lives of his followers exposedto similar persecutions. His sufferings are their
sufferings; and they need his patience to enable them to endure thrum, as well
as to sustainthat "patient continuance in well doing" in the midst of evil
which will keepthem free from restlessnessand disorderly walking. - T.C.

Biblical Illustrator
THE LORD DIRECT YOUR HEARTS INTO THE LOVE OF GOD, AND
INTO THE PATIENT WAITING FOR CHRIST
2 Thessalonians 3:5
Soul elevation
D. Thomas, D. D.
There are many kinds of elevationthat man aspires to.
1. Mercantile elevation:men struggle to become the leading merchants of the
age.
2. Civic: men strive hard for the posts of magistrate, mayor, statesman,
premier.
3. Ecclesiastical:men labour to attain the posts of canon, dean, bishop. But all
these involve not the true elevationof man. What, then, is true elevation?
I. A CERTAIN STATE OF HEART IN RELATION TO THE DIVINE.
1. "The love of God" — the love of gratitude for the kindestBeing, the love of
reverence for the greatestBeing, the love of adoration for the holiestand best
Being. And all this is supreme. Thus centreing the soul on God we dwell in
love, and therefore dwell in Him.
2. "Waiting for Christ." Looking forward and anticipating His advent to
release us from all the sorrows and sins of this mortal state. This waiting
requires patience:the wheels of His chariot seemto tarry.

II. A CERTAIN STATE OF HEART PRODUCED BY THE DIVINE. "The
Lord direct your hearts." The hearts of men in their unregenerate state are
everywhere but in this direction, they are as sheep that have gone astray,
prodigals that have left their Father's house, stars that have wanderedfrom
their orbits. Who shall bring them back? None canbut the Almighty.
Ministers may argue and entreat, but unless the Lord come to work their
labour is all in vain.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
Love and patience
W. B. Pope, D. D.
1. This prayer bears that peculiar triune stamp which we often meet, and
which cannot be satisfactorilyaccountedfor save on the theory of a Trinity in
all Christian supplication. The Holy Ghostis always to be regarded as
referred to when a Third Personjoins the Father and the Son.
2. The prayer is one of those terse sentences whichexhibit all religion in a
symmetrical pair of counterparts, the precise relationof which is shown by
the context.(1)The promise (ver. 3) pledges the faithfulness of the Lord, i.e.,
Christ, to their confirmation in grace and the restraint of the evil one, the two
kinds of guardianship being alike necessaryand mutually supplementary. By
confirming our inward stability, the Lord often keeps the tempter from us,
and when he comes, the blessing of the Lord on our resistance tends to
confirm our steadfastness. But —(2) The apostle does not leave all to the
Lord's fidelity. He rejoices in the confidence that the Lord's protectedones
will protectthemselves (ver. 4) by fortifying their own minds with truth and
their lives by obedience. The Divine and human are balancedin our
protection. "The Lord is faithful if you may be trusted."(3)But as God must
have, in all things, the preeminence, the prayer follows which gives to the

Spirit the prerogative of directing the soul into the love of God which confirms
the soul, and into the patience of Christ which will endure and survive the
enemy's attacks.
I. THE LOVE OF GOD is exhibited under two aspects in the New Testament.
1. Our love to God; but that is not here meant. When the Apostle makes that
the objectof prayer, he asks it as a benediction of God.
2. It means here God's love to us.(1)That love beams through Christ upon all
the world; but those only rejoice in it who are brought into a state of mind
from which every impediment is removed.(2) It is not the heart as the sphere
of the affections that is here meant, but the whole man. In the strength of the
love of God there is no duty past performance, and no difficulty that may not
be overcome.(3)No higher prayer can be offered than this, that by the
influence of the Spirit we may be drawn from every loweraffectionand have
an entire being open to the unhindered operationof the love of God.
II. THE PATIENCE OF CHRIST.
1. The Apostle prays literally for the steadfastnessofpatience of which Christ
is at once the source, example, and reward. "Patientwaiting for" or "patience
for the sake of" Christ would have required different words, although both
meanings are included and are appropriate. The Divine Spirit does direct the
souls of believers into tranquil and earnestexpectationof Christ's coming,
and into the patient endurance of trials for His sake. Butthe specific meaning
here is, that it may please the Lord to remove every hindrance to our perfect
union with Christ in His example of obedience unto death.

2. Our wayis directed into this patience when we are led into self-renouncing
submission, when all things that minister to earthly mindedness are put away,
and when we are brought into fellowshipwith His mind, who "endured the
cross" forthe joy that was setbefore Him.
3. We can offer no more important prayer than that we may have our self-will
bound, and be girded and led by Another into the way of our Saviour's self-
sacrifice.
III. THE FULL FORCE OF THE PRAYER IS NOT FELT UNLESS WE
UNITE ITS TWO BRANCHES. Love and patience are here for the first and
last time joined.
1. In our salvationtheir union has its most impressive exhibition. The mercy
of the Fatherreaches us only through the endurance of the Son: at the Cross
the love of God and the patience of Christ are blended in the mystery of their
redeeming unity; and only that union savedthe world.
2. The mercy of God waits on the free will of man with a patience that owes its
long-suffering to the intercessionofChrist.
3. The economy of grace provides the full power of the love of God for the
progressive salvationofthe saints, waiting for their full conformity to holy law
with a patience that is the most precious fruit of the Redeemer's passion.
4. Eternal glory will be the last demonstration of the love of God and the
crowning victory of the patience of Christ.

IV. WE MUST REGARD THIS COMBINATION AS THE OBJECT OF
OUR PRAYER. With St. Paul, all that the Christian needs for the struggle
and victory of life is the love of God in the heart as an active principle, and the
patience of Christ as a passive grace. Butthe form of the prayer shows that he
did not separate the two as much as we do. All duty and resistance find their
strength in the love of God, and must be perfectedin the patience of Christ In
due time the patience of Christ shall be lost in the "partaking of Christ," and
the greatsurviving grace, the love of God in us, will abide forever.
(W. B. Pope, D. D.)
The love of God and the patience of Christ
G. W. Olver, B. A.
I. THE LOVE OF GOD is employed in three senses — God's love to us; our
love to Him; and Divine love in us, i.e., a love like God's. The latter is
probably the meaning here. What then is God's love? And may the Divine
Spirit direct us into the enjoyment of it. God's love is —
1. The very Being of God; and when love is the supreme and dominating
motive and energy in us, swaying all the powers and manifesting itself to the
utmost, we are directed into the love of God.
2. Comprehensive:it knows no limit. So our love, if Divine, will not be fettered
by circumstances orthe characterof the objects. Like God's, it will be
discriminating, and discern differences in moral character, but it will seek the
goodof all.
3. Unstinting. God gave His only-begottenSon — this is the characteristic of
true love everywhere. It never calculates the cost, and when the best is done
there is the willingness to do more.

4. Constantin its manifestation:it never wearies orceases:And Divine love in
man knows no discouragement, is baffled by no obstacles, succumbs to no
injury.
II. THE PATIENCE OF CHRIST — a patience like Christ's. How much this
is needed is shownby the fact that Christ our example was and is patient, and
taught patience by word and life.
1. To understand this we must travel beyond the millenniums to the
foundation of the world when, the Lamb to be slain was foreordained for
sacrifice. Thenover the long centuries during which sin held swaywhen the
Son was waiting for the fulness of time. And then during that earthly life in
which he endured unimaginable suffering waiting for the accomplishmentof
His baptism. Then waiting for Pentecost;and now waiting with unwearied
patience until those in Christian countries who are resisting the Spirit shall
yield, and those in heathen lands shall own His sway, and those who profess to
be His people shall consecrate themselveswholly to His work.
2. It is a patience something like that we want. And if Christ can afford to
work and wait, surely we can. What are you? A Sunday schoolteacher? A
preacher? A church officer? Working, praying, your heart discouraged, and
sometimes ready to question whether the glad day will ever dawn? He can be
patient; be patient with Him and like Him. The counselof the Lord, it shall
stand.
(G. W. Olver, B. A.)
The love of God

E. Bickersteth.
I. THE NATURAL FEELINGS OF THE HEART TOWARDS GOD.
Originally man delighted in God; but the moment he sinned, fear and distrust
entered his mind, and he became a "child of wrath." Notice —
1. Man's enmity againstGod, "the carnal mind," etc. We think it would be a
happy thing were there no God to trouble us. It is this feeling that makes
prayer burdensome instead of delightful, and duty irksome insteadof a means
of happiness. And so men converse with God, and do for Him as little as
possible.
2. The consequentmisery of man. Cut off from the fountain of happiness, he
hews broken cisterns, and places his delight in the disappointing creature
instead of the unchangeable Creator.
II. THE MIND OF GOD TOWARD MEN IN THIS CONDITION. Consider
—
1. The love of Godto sinners. This is the true source ofHis dealings with men,
and His love is not like ours, but disinterested, free, costly, pure. How we
wrong it when we try to merit it! "God commendeth His love," etc.
2. The effects of this love.
(1)Forgiveness.
(2)The provision of His Spirit.

(3)Divine likeness.
(4)Eternal fife.
III. THE HEART DIRECTED INTO THIS LOVE.
1. The means. Ample provision is made for its enjoyment. No man candirect
his ownheart, nor his parent or minister. But Christ has given His Spirit who
can change the heart by directing it into the love of God. This Spirit is secured
by prayer.
2. The consequence. Love begottenin our hearts to God and men.
(E. Bickersteth.)
The love of God
J. Vaughan, M. A.
It is sometimes difficult when we meet the expression, "the love of God," to
discriminate whether it means God's love to us, or our love to God. But the
truth is, they are one and the same thing. We cannot love God, but as He loves
us; it is the consciousnessofHis love to us which makes our to Him. Just as
any objectI see is only an image of the object formed on the retina of my eye,
so whatever love I feel is only the reflectionof the love of God laid upon my
heart; and the ray which lays the image is the Spirit of God. The love of the
saints in heavenis the brightest and truest because the Original is nearestand
dearest.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Waiting for the secondAdvent
F. W. Robertson, M. A.
The first epistle was written to correctcertainenthusiastic views concerning
that advent; but the secondtells us that the effort had failed. For meanwhile a
forged epistle (2 Thessalonians2:2), asserting that the day was near, opened
the floodgatesoffanaticism. Consequentlymen forsook their employments,
and, being idle, indulged in useless discussionsand in prying curiously into the
affairs of others. Hence the injunctions (1 Thessalonians 4:11;2 Thessalonians
3:6-8). Moreovertwo opposite lines of conduct were adopted by persons of
different temperament. Some greedily receivedevery wild tale about the
advent; others perceiving that there was so much imposture, concludedthat it
was safestto believe nothing. To the first Paul says, "Prove all things," etc.; to
the second, "Quenchnot the Spirit," etc. These opposite tendencies of
scepticismand credulity will be found near togetherin all ages;some refusing
to believe that God speaks inthe signs of the times; others running after every
book on prophecy, and believing anything providing it be marvellous. To meet
this feverish state Paul takes two grounds. He first points out the signs which
will precede the advent; self-idolatry, excluding the worship of God — sinful
humanity "the man of sin." These signs workedthen and now. Next Paul
calledthe Church to a real preparation for that event in the text. The
preparation is twofold.
I. THE LOVE OF GOD.
1. The love of Godis the love of goodness.God is the GoodOne — personified
goodness.To love God is to love what He is.(1)No other love is real; none else
lasts. Love basedon personal favours, e.g., will not endure. You may believe
that God has made you happy. While that happiness lasts, you will love God.
But a time comes whenhappiness goes as it did with Job. The natural feeling
would be "Curse Godand die." Job said, "ThoughHe slay me," etc. Plainly
he had some other reasonfor His love than personalfavours.(2)The love of

goodness onlybecomes realby doing good — otherwise it is a sickly
sentiment, "If any man love Me, he will keep My commandments."
2. The love of Godis the love of man expanded and purified. We begin with
loving men. Our affections wrapthemselves round beings createdin God's
image — then they widen in their range. "No man hath seenGod at any time.
If we love one another...His love is perfectedin us." "He that loveth not his
brother whom he hath seen," etc. An awful day is coming. How shall we
prepare for it? Not by unnatural forcedefforts at loving God, but by
persistence in the appointed path of our common attachments. "Inasmuch as
ye did it unto the leastof these," etc.
3. It is not merely love of goodness, but love of goodness concentratedonthe
GoodOne. Nor merely love of man, but love of man expanded into love of
Him in whom all that is excellentin men is perfect.
II. PATIENT WAITING.
1. What is waited for? There are many comings of Christ, in the incarnation,
at the destruction of Jerusalem, as a spiritual presence whenthe Holy Ghost
was given in every signal manifestationof redeeming power, in any great
reformation of morals and religion, in revolutions which sweepthe evil away
to make way for good, at the end of the world, when the spirit of all these
comings will be concentrated. Thus we may see in what wayChrist is ever
coming and evernear, and how the early Church was not deceivedin
expecting Christ. He did come, though not in the waythey expected.
2. What is meant by waiting? Throughout St. Paul's writings, the Christian
attitude is that of expectation — salvation in hope. Nota perfection attained,

but one that is to be. The golden age lies onward. We are longing for, not the
Church of the past, but that of the future. Ours is not yearning for the
imaginary perfectionof ages gone by, nor a conservative contentwith things
as they are, but hope. It is this spirit which is the preparation for the advent.
3. It is patient waiting. Every one who has longedfor any spiritual blessing
knows the temptation to impatience, "Where is the promise of His coming?"
The true preparation is not having correctideas of how and when He shall
come, but being like Him (1 John 3:3).
III. THE LORD WILL DIRECT US INTO THIS. Notan infallible human
teacher, but God.
(F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Love begets love
Prof. Drummond.
Love begets love. It is a process ofproduction. You put a piece of iron in the
mere presence ofan electrifiedbody, and that piece for a time becomes
electrified. It becomes a temporary magnet in the presence ofa permanent
magnet, and as long as you leave the two side by side, they are both magnets.
Remain side by side with Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us, and you
too will become a permanent magnet — a permanent attractive force; and like
Him you will draw all men — be they white men or black men — unto you.
That is the inevitable effectof love. Any man who fulfils that cause must have
that effectproduced in him. Gentlemen, give up the idea that religion comes to
us by chance, orby mystery, or by caprice. It comes to us by natural law; or
by supernatural law, for all law is Divine. Edward Irving went to see a dying
boy once, and when he entered the room, he just put his hand on the sufferer's

head, and said, "My boy, God loves you," and went away. And the boy started
from his bed, and he calledout to the people in the house, "God loves me! God
loves me!" One word; one word! It changedthat boy. The sense that God
loved him had overpoweredhim, melted him down and begun the making of a
new heart. And that is how the love of God melts down the unlovely heart in
us, and begets in us this new creature, who is patient and humble and
unselfish. And there is no other way to getit. There is no trick about it. Oh,
truth lies in that! — we love others, we love everybody, we love our enemies,
because He first loved us.
(Prof. Drummond.)
A brief prayer for greatthings
R. Fergusson.
Two blessings only are here prayed for, but they are of transcendentmoment.
I. THAT THE HEARTS OF THE THESSALONIANS MIGHT BE
BROUGHT INTO THE LOVE OF GOD. To be in love with Godas the most
excellentand suitable Being — the best of all beings, is not only most
reasonable and necessaryin order to happiness, but is happiness itself. It is
the chief part of the beatitude of heaven where this love will be made perfect.
But none canever attain to this unless the Lord, by His grace and Spirit,
direct the heart aright; for the love of the best creature is apt to go astray
after other things. Great damage is sustainedby misplacing the affections
upon Wrong objects;but if He who is infinitely above and before all things,
control and fix the love of the heart on Himself, the rest of the affections will
thereby be rectified.
II. THAT A PATIENT WAITING FOR CHRIST MIGHT BE JOINED
WITH THIS LOVE OF GOD. There is no true love of God without faith in
Christ. To wait for Christ, supposeth faith in Him — that He came to our
world once in flesh, and will come againin glory. This secondcoming must be

expected, and carefulpreparation must be made for it. There must be a
patient waiting, enduring with courage and constancyall that may be met
with in the interval. We not only have greatneed of patience, but of greatneed
of Divine grace to exercise it — "the patience of Christ," as some interpret the
words, that is — patience for Christ's sake and after Christ's example.
(R. Fergusson.)
St. Paul
C. Simeon, M. A.
The Apostle meant only to express a benevolent wish on behalf of the Church
at Thessalonica:but he expressedit in such terms as a person habituated to
the doctrine of the Trinity would naturally use: he prayed that the Lord the
Spirit would direct their hearts into the love of God the Father, and into the
patient waiting for Christ.
I. THE OBJECTS OF THE APOSTLE'S WISH. A very little observationof
the world is sufficient to convince us that the love of Godis not the supreme
passionof mankind, nor a due preparation for a final advent of Christ.
Nevertheless,to possessthis state of heart and mind is essentialto the
Christian character. Of ourselves we never shall, or can, attain to this. In full
persuasionof this fact, St. Paul poured out the benevolent aspirationthat the
Christians to whom he wrote might experience more deeply the truths they
possessed.
II. THE REASONS OF THAT WISH. Among the most important of these
were doubtless two.
1. The attainment of such a state would prove highly conducive to their
present happiness. This the Apostle knew: he knew it from the universal tenor

of the Holy Scripture (Psalm 63:5; Matthew 5:3-12); and he knew it from his
own experience (2 Timothy 4:7, 8).
2. It was also indispensably necessaryto their eternalwelfare. What is a
Christian without the love of God? He cannotcall himself a disciple of Christ
who has no delight in following the steps of Christ, or in looking forward to
His future advent. Application —(1) We express the same benevolentwish
respecting you;(2) and we also requestthat you will adopt the same wish for
yourselves.
(C. Simeon, M. A.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(5) The Lord.—See Note on 2Thessalonians 3:3. The Personof the Blessed
Trinity to whom this guidance immediately belongs is the Holy Ghost. So far,
the Greek expositors are right who are agreedto considerthis a proof of the
Holy Ghost’s divinity. Their right conclusionis, however, drawn from wrong
premise, for the name is not here to be takenas consciouslyintending Him.
The ground for their supposition is that the names “God” and “Christ” occur
immediately after, and not (as we might expect)“His” or “for Him.” But in
1Thessalonians3:12-13, there occurs preciselythe same arrangement of the
three words: the Greek equivalent for the sacredHebrew Name standing first,
and then, for clearness’sake,being explained by the personaltitles, “Godour
Father,” “our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Directyour hearts into the love of God.—This prayer in itself implies that
they had not yet reachedthe point which St. Paul would have them reach, and

were perhaps not taking the directestcourse. The same word is used in Luke
1:79; 1Thessalonians 3:11. The “love of God” here meant is that practicallove
which consists in keeping the commandments (John 14:21), as may be seen
from the context:—“I am sure that the Lord will strengthenyou, and that you
are doing and will continue to do as you are bidden: may Godhelp you to the
obedience of true love, and to such perseverance in obedience as was shownby
Christ; and it is in this hope that we bid you take steps to repress the
disorders which are prevalent among you.”
The patient waiting for Christ.—This rendering is so beautiful in itself, and so
well in keeping with the leading thoughts of these two Epistles, that it is
painful to be forced to rejectit. But the only rendering which is possible is,
Christ’s patience;and the simplest meaning of that phrase is “the endurance
which characterisesChrist,” the genitive being, as in 1Thessalonians 1:3,
almost a descriptive adjective, “Christ-like,” “Christianendurance.” This
“patience” includes both the thought of bearing up under their present
persecutions and also the thought of “patient continuance in well doing,” as
opposedto the fitful restlessnesswhichhad begun to prey upon the
ThessalonianChurch.
MacLaren's Expositions
2 Thessalonians
THE HEART’S HOME AND GUIDE
2 Thessalonians 3:5.
A word or two of explanation of terms may preface our remarks on this, the
third of the Apostle’s prayers for the Thessaloniansin this letter. The first

point to be noticed is that by ‘the Lord’ here is meant, as usually in the New
Testament, Jesus Christ. So that here againwe have the distinct recognitionof
His divinity, and the direct address of prayer to Him.
The next thing to notice is that by ‘the love of God’ is here meant, not God’s
to us, but ours to Him; and that the petition, therefore, respects the emotions
and sentiments of the Thessalonianstowards the Fatherin heaven.
And the last point is that the rendering of the Authorised Version, ‘patient
waiting for Christ,’ is better exchangedfor that of the RevisedVersion, ‘the
patience of Christ,’ meaning thereby the same patience as He exhibited in His
earthly life, and which He is ready to bestow upon us.
It is not usual in the New Testamentto find Jesus Christset forth as the great
Example of patient endurance; but still there are one or two instances in
which the same expressionis applied to Him. Forexample, in two contiguous
verses in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we read of His ‘enduring contradiction of
sinners againstHimself,’ and ‘enduring the Cross, despising the shame,’in
both of which caseswe have the verb employed of which the noun is here
used. Then in the Apocalypse we have such expressions as ‘the patience of
Christ,’ of which John says that he and his brethren whom he is addressing
are ‘participators,’and, again, ‘thou hast kept the word of my patience.’
So, though unusual, the thought of our text as presentedin the amended
version is by no means singular. These things, then, being premised, we may
now look at this petition as a whole.
I. The first thought that it suggeststo me is, the home of the heart.

‘The Lord direct you into the love of God and the patience of Christ.’ The
prayers in this letter with which we have been occupiedfor some Sundays
present to us Christian perfectionunder various aspects.But this we may,
perhaps, sayis the most comprehensive and condensedof them all. The
Apostle gathers up the whole sum of his desires for his friends, and presents to
us the whole aim of our efforts for ourselves, in these two things, a steadfast
love to God, and a calm endurance of evil and persistence in duty, unaffected
by suffering or by pain. If we have these two we shall not be far from being
what God wishes to see us.
Now the Apostle’s thought here, of ‘leading us into’ these two seems to suggest
the metaphor of a greathome with two chambers in it, of which the inner was
entered from the outer. The first room is ‘the love of God,’ and the secondis
‘the patience of Christ.’ It comes to the same thing whether we speak ofthe
heart as dwelling in love, or of love as dwelling in the heart. The metaphor
varies, the substance ofthe thought is the same, and that thought is that the
heart should be the sphere and subject of a steadfast, habitual, all-pleasing
love, which issues in unbroken calmness ofendurance and persistence of
service, in the face of evil.
Let us look, then, for a moment at these two points. I need not dwell upon the
bare idea of love to God as being the characteristic ofthe Christian attitude
towards Him, or remind you of how strange and unexampled a thing it is that
all religion should be reduced to this one fruitful germ, love to the Father in
heaven. But it is more to the purpose for me to point to the constancy, the
unbrokenness, the depth, which the Apostle here desires should be the
characteristicsofChristian love to God. We sometimes cherishsuch emotion;
but, alas, how rare it is for us to dwell in that calm home all the days of our
lives! We visit that serene sanctuaryat intervals, and then for the rest of our
days we are hurried to and fro betweencontending affections, and wander
homeless amidst inadequate loves. But what Paul asked, and what should be
the consciousaim of the Christian life, is, that we should ‘dwell all our days in

the house of the Lord, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His
temple.’
Alas, when we think of our own experiences, how fair and far seems that
other, contemplatedas a possibility in my text, that our hearts should ‘abide
in the love of God’!
Let me remind you, too, that steadfastnessofhabitual love all round our
hearts, as it were, is the source and germ of all perfectness oflife and conduct.
‘Love and do as Thou wilt,’ is a bold saying, but not too bold. For the very
essenceoflove is the smelting of the will of the lover into the will of the
beloved. And there is nothing so certain as that, in regardto all human
relations, and in regardto the relations to God which in many respects follow,
and are moulded after the pattern of, our earthly relations of love, to have the
heart fixed in pure affectionis to have the whole life subordinated in glad
obedience. Nothing is so sweetas to do the beloved’s will. The germ of all
righteousness, as wellas the characteristic spirit of every righteous deed, lies
in love to God. This is the mother tincture which, variously colouredand with
various additions, makes all the different precious liquids which we can pour
as libations on His altar. The one saving salt of all deeds in reference to Him is
that they are the outcome and expressionof a loving heart. He who loves is
righteous, and doeth righteousness. So, ‘love is the fulfilling of the law.’
That the heart should be fixed in its abode in love to God is the secretofall
blessedness, as it is the source ofall righteousness.Love is always joy in itself;
it is the one deliverance from self-bondage to which self is the one curse and
misery of man. The emancipation from care and sorrow and unrest lies in that
going out of ourselves which we call by the name of love. There be things
masquerading about the world, and profaning the sacredname of love by
taking it to themselves, which are only selfishness under a disguise. But true
love is the annihilation, and therefore the apotheosis andglorifying, of self;

and in that annihilation lies the secretcharm which brings all blessedness into
a life.
But, then, though love in itself be always bliss, yet, by reasonof the
imperfections of its objects, it sometimes leads to sorrow. Forlimitations and
disappointments and inadequacies of all sorts haunt our earthly loves whilst
they last; and we have all to see them fade, or to fade awayfrom them. The
thing you love may change, the thing you love must die; and therefore love,
which in itself is blessedness, hathoften, like the little book that the prophet
swallowed, a bitter taste remaining when the sweetness is gone. But if we set
our hearts on God, we setour hearts on that which knows no variableness,
neither the shadow of turning. There are no inadequate responses, no changes
that we need fear. On that love the scythe of death, which mows down all
other products of the human heart, hath no power; and its stem stands
untouched by the keenedge that levels all the restof the herbage. Love God,
and thou lovesteternity; and therefore the joy of the love is eternal as its
object. So he who loves God is building upon a rock, and whosoeverhas this
for his treasure carries his wealth with him whithersoeverhe goes.Wellmay
the Apostle gather into one potent word, and one mighty wish, the whole
fulness of his desires for his friends. And wise shall we be if we make this the
chiefestof our aims, that our hearts may have their home in the love of God.
Still further, there is anotherchamber in this house of the soul. The outer
room, where the heart inhabits that loves God, leads into another
compartment, ‘the patience of Christ.’
Now, I suppose I need not remind many of you that this greatNew Testament
word ‘patience’ has a far wider area of meaning than that which is ordinarily
coveredby that expression. Forpatience , as we use it, is simply a passive
virtue. But the thing that is meant by the New Testamentword which is
generallyso rendered has an active as wellas a passive side. On the passive

side it is the calm, unmurmuring, unreluctant submission of the will to
whatsoeverevil may come upon us, either directly from God’s hand, or
through the ministration and mediation of men who are His sword. On the
active side it is the steadfastpersistencein the path of duty, in spite of all that
may array itself againstus. So there are the two halves of the virtue which is
here put before us--unmurmuring submission and bold continuance in well-
doing, whatsoeverstorms may hurtle in our faces.
Now, in both of these aspects, the life of Jesus Christ is the great pattern. As
for the passive side, need I remind you how, ‘as a sheepbefore her shearers is
dumb, so He opened not His mouth’? ‘When He was reviled He reviled not
again, but committed Himself unto Him that judgeth uprightly.’ No anger
ever flushed His cheek or contractedHis brow. He never repaid scorn with
scorn, nor hate with hate. All men’s malice fell upon Him, like sparks upon
wet timber, and kindled no conflagration.
As for the active side, I need not remind you how ‘He setHis face to go to
Jerusalem’--how the greatsolemn ‘ must ‘ which ruled His life bore Him on,
steadfastand without deflectionin His course, through all obstacles. There
never was such heroic force as the quiet force of the meek and gentle Christ,
which wastedno strength in displaying or boasting of itself, but simply,
silently, unconquerably, like the secularmotions of the stars, dominated all
opposition, and carried Him, unhasting and unresting, on His path. That life,
with all its surface of weakness, hadan iron tenacity of purpose beneath,
which may well stand for our example. Like some pure glacierfrom an Alpine
peak, it comes silently, slowlydown into the valley; and though to the eye it
seems not to move, it presses onwith a force sublime in its silence and gigantic
in its gentleness,and buries beneath it the rocks that stand in its way. The
patience of Christ is the very sublimity of persistence in well-doing. It is our
example, and more than our example--it is His gift to us.

Such passive and active patience is the direct fruit of love to God. The one
chamber opens into the other. Forthey whose hearts dwell in the sweet
sanctities of the love of God will ever be those who say, with a calm smile, as
they put out their hand to the bitterest draught, ‘the cup which My Father
hath given Me, shall I not drink it?’
Love, and evil dwindles; love, and duty becomes supreme;and in the
submission of the will, which is the true issue of love, lies the foundation of
indomitable and inexhaustible endurance and perseverance.
Nor need I remind you, I suppose, that in this resolve to do the will of God, in
spite of all antagonismand opposition, lies a condition at once of moral
perfection and of blessedness. So, dearfriends, if we would have a home for
our hearts, let us pass into that sweet, calm, inexpugnable fortress provided
for us in the love of God and the patience of Christ.
II. Now notice, secondly, the Guide of the heart to its home.
‘The Lord direct you.’ I have already explained that we have here a distinct
address to Jesus Christ as divine, and the hearerof prayer. The Apostle
evidently expects a present, personalinfluence from Christ to be exerted upon
men’s hearts. And this is the point to which I desire to draw your attention in
a word or two. We are far too oblivious of the present influence of Jesus
Christ, by His Spirit, upon the hearts of men that trust Him. We have very
imperfectly apprehended our privileges as Christians if our faith do not
expect, and if our experience have not realised, the inward guidance of Christ
moment by moment in our daily lives. I believe that much of the present
feebleness ofthe Christian life amongstits professors is to be traced to the fact
that their thoughts about Jesus Christ are predominantly thoughts of what He
did nineteen centuries ago, and that the proportion of faith is not observed in

their perspective of His work, and that they do not sufficiently realise that to-
day, here, in you and me, if we have faith in Him, He is verily and really
putting forth His power.
Paul’s prayer is but an echo of Christ’s promise. The Mastersaid, ‘He shall
guide you into all truth.’ The servant prays, ‘The Lord direct your hearts into
the love of God.’And if we rightly know the whole blessednessthatis ours in
the gift of Jesus Christ, we shall recognise His present guidance as a reality in
our lives.
That guidance is given to us mainly by the Divine Spirit laying upon our
hearts the greatfacts which evoke our answering love to God. ‘We love Him
because He first loved us’; and the wayby which Jesus directs our hearts into
the love of God is mainly by shedding abroad God’s love to us in our spirits by
the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
But, besides that, all these movements in our hearts so often neglected, so
often resisted, by which we are impelled to a holier life, to a deeperlove, to a
more unworldly consecration--allthese, rightly understood, are Christ’s
directions. He leads us, though often we know not the hand that guides;and
every Christian may be sure of this--and he is sinful if he does not live up to
the height of his privileges--that the ancient promises are more than fulfilled
in his experience, and that he has a present Christ, an indwelling Christ, who
will be his Shepherd, and lead him by greenpastures and still waters
sometimes and through valleys of darkness and rough defiles sometimes, but
always with the purpose of bringing him nearer and nearerto the full
possessionofthe love of Godand the patience of Christ.
The vision which shone before the eyes of the father of the forerunner, was
that ‘the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to guide our feet into the way

of peace.’It is fulfilled in Jesus who directs our hearts into love and patience,
which are the wayof peace.
We are not to look for impressions and impulses distinguishable from the
operations of our owninward man. We are not to fall into the error of
supposing that a conviction of duty or a conceptionof truth is of divine origin
because it is strong. But the true test of their divine origin is their
correspondence withthe written word, the standard of truth and life. Jesus
guides us to a fuller apprehension of the greatfacts of the infinite love of God
in the Cross. Shedding abroad a Saviour’s love does kindle ours.
III. Lastly, notice the heart’s yielding to its guide.
If this was Paul’s prayer for his converts, it should be our aim for ourselves.
Christ is ready to direct our hearts, if we will let Him. All depends on our
yielding to that sweetdirection, loving as that of a mother’s hand on her
child’s shoulder.
What is our duty and wisdom in view of these truths? The answermay be
thrown into the shape of one or two brief counsels.
First, desire it. Do you Christian people want to be led to love God more? Are
you ready to love the world less, which you will have to do if you love God
more? Do you wish Christ to lay His hand upon you, and withdraw you from
much, that He may draw you into the sanctities and sublimities of His own
experiencedlove? I do not think the lives of some of us look very like as if we
should welcome that direction. And it is a sharp test, and a hard
commandment to say to a Christian professor, ‘Desire to be led into the love
of God.’

Again, expect it. Do not dismiss all that I have been saying about a present
Christ leading men by their own impulses, which are His monitions, as
fanaticaland mystical and far awayfrom daily experience. Ah! it is not only
the boy Samuel whose infancy was an excuse for his ignorance, who takes
God’s voice to be only white-bearded Eli’s. There are many of us who, when
Christ speaks, think it is only a human voice. Perhaps His deep and gentle
tones are thrilling through my harsh and feeble voice;and He is now, even by
the poor reed through which He breathes His breath, saying to some of you,
‘Come near to Me.’Expect the guidance.
Still your own wills that you may hear His voice. How canyou be led if you
never look at the Guide? How canyou hear that still small voice amidst the
clattering of spindles, and the roar of wagons, andthe noises in your own
heart? Be still, and He will speak.
Follow the guidance, and at once, for delay is fatal. Like a man walking
behind a guide across some morass,setyour feet in the print of the Master’s
and keepclose atHis heels, and then you will be safe. And so, dear friends, if
we want to have anchorage forour love, let us setour love on God, who alone
is worthy of it, and who alone of all its objects will neither fail us nor change.
If we would have the temper which lifts us above the ills of life and enables us
to keepour course unaffectedby them all, as the gentle moon moves with the
same silent, equable pace through piled masses ofcloud and clearstretches of
sky, we must attain submission through love, and gain unreluctant endurance
and steadfastwills from the example and source of both, the gentle and strong
Christ. If we would have our hearts calm, we must let Him guide them, sway
them, curb their vagrancies, stimulate their desires, and satisfythe desires
which He has stimulated. We must abandon self, and say, ‘Lord, I cannot
guide myself. Do Thou direct my wandering feet.’The prayer will not be in
vain. He will guide us with His eye, and that directing of our hearts will issue
in experiences oflove and patience, whose ‘very sweetnessyieldeth proof that

they were born for immortality.’ The Guide and the road foreshadow the
goal. The only natural end to which such a path can lead and such guidance
point is a heaven of perfect love, where patience has done its perfect work,
and is calledfor no more. The experience of present direction strengthens the
hope of future perfection. So we may take for our own the triumphant
confidence of the Psalmist, and embrace the nearestand the remotest future
in one calm vision of faith that ‘Thou wilt guide me with Thy counsel, and
afterwards receive me to glory.’
BensonCommentary
2 Thessalonians 3:5. And the Lord — By his Holy Spirit, whose proper work
this is; direct — Powerfully incline; your hearts unto the love of God — That
is, into the exercise oflove to God, in return for his love to you; and into the
patient waiting for Christ — Namely, the patient waiting for his second
coming, or for his coming to callyou hence by death, 1 Thessalonians 1:10.
Macknight, however, interprets the verse rather differently, thus: “May the
Lord direct your heart to imitate the love which God hath showedto
mankind, and the patience which Christ exercisedunder sufferings.” The
patience of Christ has this sense Revelation1:9 : A partakerin the kingdom
and patience of Jesus. As the patience of Job means the patience of which Job
was so greatan example, so the patience of Christ may signify the patience
which he exercisedin his sufferings.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
3:1-5 Those who are far apart still may meet togetherat the throne of grace;
and those not able to do or receive any other kindness, may in this way do and
receive realand very greatkindness. Enemies to the preaching of the gospel,
and persecutors ofits faithful preachers, are unreasonable and wickedmen.
Many do not believe the gospel;and no wonder if such are restless andshow
malice in their endeavours to oppose it. The evil of sin is the greatestevil, but
there are other evils we need to be preservedfrom, and we have
encouragementto depend upon the grace ofGod. When once the promise is
made, the performance is sure and certain. The apostle had confidence in
them, but that was founded upon his confidence in God; for there is otherwise

no confidence in man. He prays for them for spiritual blessings. It is our sin
and our misery, that we place our affections upon wrong objects. There is not
true love of God, without faith in Jesus Christ. If, by the specialgrace ofGod,
we have that faith which multitudes have not, we should earnestlypray that
we may be enabled, without reserve, to obey his commands, and that we may
be enabled, without reserve, to the love of God, and the patience of Christ.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God - So direct your hearts
that you may love God. "And into the patient waiting for Christ." Margin,
"patience of Christ." The marginal reading is in accordance withthe Greek,
and seems bestto express the apostle's meaning. The prayer of the apostle
was, that they might have the love of God in their hearts, and "the patience of
Christ;" that is, the same patience which Christ evinced in his trials. They
were then suffering affliction and persecution. They needed patience, that
they might endure their trials in a proper manner. It was natural for the
apostle to refer them to the Saviour, the greatexample of patience, and to
pray that they might have the same which he had. That it does not mean that
they were to wait patiently for the appearing of Christ, as our translation
seems to imply, is quite clear, because the apostle had just been showing them
that he would not appear until after a long series ofevents had occurred.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
5. If "the Lord" be here the Holy Ghost (2Co 3:17), the three Persons ofthe
Trinity will occur in this verse.
love of God—love to God.
patient waiting for Christ—rather as Greek, "the patience (endurance) of
Christ," namely, which Christ showed[Alford] (2Th 2:4; 1Th1:3). Estius,
however, supports English Version (compare Re 1:9; 3:10). At all events, this
grace, "patience," orpersevering endurance, is connectedwith the "hope"
(1Th 1:3, 10) of Christ's coming. In Alford's translation we may compare Heb
12:1, 2, "Run with patience (endurance) … looking to Jesus … who, for the

joy that was before Him, endured the cross";so WE are to endure, as looking
for the hope to be realized at His coming (Heb 10:36, 37).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Here the apostle prays for them again, as he had done a little before, 2
Thessalonians 2:17;and as this shows how much they were in his heart, so the
frequent mingling of prayers with his exhortations shows they could not be
effectualwithout God. And he prays for two things:
1. To have their hearts directed into the love of God; which is either meant
passively, for God’s love to them, to have their hearts, that is, their whole soul,
engagedin the study, contemplation, and admiration of this love; or rather
actively, for their love to God, to have their hearts set straight into the love of
God, as the Greek word imports; drawn out towards him as a straight line to
its centre, or as an arrow directed to the mark. Till man’s love is setupon
God, the motions of the heart are crookedandirregular; as the ways of sin
are calledcrookedways, Psalm125:5;and John Baptist’s ministry was to
make crookedthings straight, Isaiah 40:4. The turning man’s heart and ways
towards God makes them straight. David prays, Psalm 119:36:Incline my
heart unto thy testimonies;ybm-jh or, bend my heart; as we bend a crooked
stick to make it straight. Or as he prays Godto unite his heart to his fear,
Psalm86:11; so here Paul, to direct theirs to his love, by which some
understand all religion. We learn hence, that to direct man’s heart to the love
of God is the work of God, and beyond our power. And the hearts of the best
saints stand in need of a more perfect and constantdirection unto the love of
God. Patientsufferings for Christ’s sake;as the apostle calls his sufferings for
Christ’s sake, the sufferings of Christ, often, 2 Corinthians 1:5 Philippians
3:10, &c.;and patience for his sake, is calledthe patience of Christ, Revelation
1:9. In this sense, the apostle prays they may have hearts ready to suffer, and
patiently to suffer for Christ’s sake, Hebrews 10:36 Jam5:10; and suited to a
suffering state, which the heart is naturally averse and disinclined unto. And
the word is often used in this sense for patience under the cross. And so the

apostle hath his eye in his prayer upon the suffering state these believers were
in for Christ’s sake. If the sense be rendered as in our translation, he prays for
their hearts to be fixed upon the coming of Christ, to look towards it, and
patiently to wait for it; the Greek wordbeing often takenfor the patience of
expectationas well as of suffering, Romans 8:25 Hebrews 10:36:and so it is
the same as waiting for the Son of God from heaven, mentioned 1
Thessalonians 1:10, and looking for the Saviour, Philippians 3:20; that hereby
they might not faint under his sufferings, nor be surprised by his coming. And
because the hearts of the best are apt either to be remiss or secure upon the
delay of Christ’s coming, he therefore prays their hearts might be directed to
a patient waiting for it, as the apostle Peterupon the same accountexhorts
believers to the girding up the loins of their mind, 1 Peter1:13.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God,.... By which may be
meant either the love with which Godis loved. This is the sum and substance
of the first and chief commandment in the law, and is what every man in a
state of nature is destitute of; it is implanted in the heart in regeneration, and
is a fruit of the Spirit of God; and where it is it oftentimes grows cold, and
needs to be stirred up and reinflamed, by the Spirit of God, which may be
intended, by a directing of the heart into it, that is, to a lively exercise ofit: or
else the love with which God loves his people is designed, which is free,
sovereign, unchangeable, andfrom everlasting to everlasting;and to have the
heart directed into this, is to be led into it directly; or by a straight line, as the
word signifies, and not in a round about way, by works and duties, as the
causes orconditions of it; and to be led further into it, so as to wade into these
waters of the sanctuary, from the ankles to the knees, and from thence to the
loins, and from thence till they become a broad river to swim in; or so as to
comprehend the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of this love, and
to be rootedand grounded in it, and firmly persuadedof interest in it; and
that nothing shall separate from it; and so as to have the heart sensibly
affectedwith it. The phrase of directing the heart to God, and to seek him, is
used in the Septuagint, in 2 Chronicles 19:3. And this is not to be done by a
believer himself, nor by the ministers of the Gospel:the apostle could not do
it, and therefore he prays "the Lord" to do it; by whom is meant the Spirit of

God, since he is distinguished from God the Father, into whose love the heart
is to be directed, and from Christ, a patient waiting for whom it is also desired
the heart may be directed into; and since it is his work to shed abroad the love
of God in the heart, and to lead unto it, and make application of it; and which
is a proof of his deity, for none has the direction, management, and
government of the heart, but God, Proverbs 21:1, and in this passageof
Scripture appear all the three Persons;for here is the love of the Father,
patient waiting for Christ, the Spirit and the Lord. For it follows, as another
branch of the petition,
and into the patient waiting for Christ; or "patience of Christ", as the Vulgate
Latin and Arabic versions render it; and may intend either that patience, of
which Christ was the subject; and which appeared in his quiet submission to
all that outward meanness he did in his state of humiliation; in bearing the
insults and reproaches ofmen, and the frowardness of his own disciples, in
suffering himself to be tempted by Satan; and in bearing the sins of his people,
the wrath of God, and strokes ofjustice in the manner he did: and for the
saints to have their hearts directed into this patience of Christ, is of great use
unto them, to endear Christ unto, them; to lead them into the greatnessofhis
love, and also of his person; and to make them more patient under the cross,
when they considerhim, and have him for an example. Or else it may respect
the grace ofpatience, which he is the author of, for all grace comes fromhim;
and he from hence may be calledthe God of patience, as his word, which is
the means of it, is the word of his patience;and it is by his strength that saints
are strengthenedunto all patience, and longsuffering: and to be directed into
this, or to the exercise of it, is of greatuse under afflictions from the hand of
God, and under the reproaches and persecutions ofmen, and under divine
desertions, and want of an answerof prayer, and under the temptations of
Satan, and in an expectationof the heavenly glory. And the heart is never
more in the exercise ofthis, than when it is directed into the love of God; see
Romans 5:2. Or this may refer to that patience of which Christ is the object,
and be understood, either of a patient bearing the cross for his sake;for every
believer has a cross to take up and bear for Christ, and which is to be borne
constantly, cheerfully, and patiently; and nothing more strongly animates to
such a patient bearing of it, than a sense ofthe love of God; so that a being

directed into that, leads also to this: or as our versionpoints out the sense, it
may be understood of a patient waiting for the secondcoming of Christ.
Christ will certainly come a secondtime, though when he will come is
uncertain; and his coming will be very glorious in itself, and of great
advantage to the saints: hence it becomes them, not only to believe it, hope for
it, love it, and look for it, but to wait patiently for it; which being directed to
by the Spirit of God, is of great use unto them in the present state of things.
Geneva Study Bible
{4} And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient
waiting for Christ.
(4) Thirdly, he diligently and earnestlyadmonishes them of two things which
are given to us only by the grace of God, that is, of charity, and a watchful
mind to the coming of Christ.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
2 Thessalonians 3:5. A fresh involuntary effusion of piety on the part of the
apostle, by means of which he calls down the divine blessing on every actionof
man as a condition of its success. Theodoret:ʼΑμφοτέρων ἡμῖν χρεία, καὶ
προθέσεως ἀγαθῆς καὶ τῆς ἄνωθεν συνεργείας. To assume that 2
Thessalonians 3:5 was added by Paul, because he could not yet entirely trust
the Thessalonians (de Wette), is without foundation.
ὁ κύριος]Christ, as in 2 Thessalonians 3:3-4.

κατευθύναι ὑμῶντὰς καρδίας εἰς τὴν ἀγάπηντοῦ Θεοῦ]direct your hearts to
the love of God, namely, in order to be filled and pervaded by it, not in order
to remain contemplating it (Koppe, Olshausen).
ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ]is not “amora deo praeceptus” (Clericus), or “amor, quem
deus hominum quasi infundit animis” (Pelt), also not the love of Godto men,
which was to be the pattern for Christian brotherly love (Macknight, Koppe),
or, more specially, the manifestation of the love of God in Christ and in His
work of redemption (Olshausen, Riggenbach);but love toward God (Gen.
object.). Paul wishes the Thessaloniansto be inspired with it, because it is the
centre uniting all commandments; comp. Matthew 22:37 ff.
καὶ εἰς τὴν ὑπομονὴντοῦ Χριστοῦ] Oecumenius, Ambrose, FaberStapulensis,
Erasmus, Vatablus, Cornelius a Lapide, Beza, Bernard a Piconio, and Benson,
to whom recently Hofmann has attachedhimself, understand by this the
patient waiting for Christ, that is, for His coming. Erroneous, because—(1)
ἀναμονήν(comp. 1 Thessalonians1:10)would require to be written insteadof
ὑπομονήν;and (2) the idea of patient waiting, by which addition the statement
becomes only suitable, would require to be expressly brought forward by an
additional clause. The stedfastnessofChrist (Gen. possessiv.)is meant,
inasmuch as the endurance which the Christian manifests in tribulation for
the sake ofthe gospelis in its nature nothing else than the stedfastness which
was peculiar to Christ Himself in His sufferings. Comp. the analogous
expressionτὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, 2 Corinthians 1:5, and Meyer in loco.
The simple genitive cannot express stedfastnessforthe sake ofChrist, as it is
usually explained.
Expositor's Greek Testament
2 Thessalonians 3:5. κατευθύναι, κ.τ.λ. Paulno longer(I., 1 Thessalonians
3:11) entertains the hope of revisiting them soon. “God’s love and Christ’s
patient endurance” (i.e., the ὑπομονή which Christ inspires and requires, cf.
Ignat. ad. Rom., last words) correspondto the double experience of love and

hope in 2 Thessalonians2:16. It is by the sense ofGod’s love alone, not by any
mere acquiescence in His will or stoicalendurance of it, that the patience and
courage ofthe Christian are sustained. Cf. Ep. Arist., 195, ἐπὶ τῶν καλλίστων
πράξεων οὐκ αὐτοὶ κατευθύνομεντὰ βουλευθέντα·θεὸς δὲ τελειοῖ τὰ πάντων.
Connectwith 2 Thessalonians 3:3 and cf. Mrs. Browning’s line, “I waited with
patience, which means almostpower”.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
5. And (or But) the Lord direct your hearts] “The Lord” is still Christ: see
note, 2 Thessalonians 3:3.
“MayHe direct (or guide) you as Lord of His people, Shepherd of the sheep”
(John 10). The Apostle expects his Thessalonianflock to follow his directions
(2 Thessalonians3:4); but above both himself and them is the Supreme
Directorof hearts, Whose guidance he invokes. Forthe transitional,
contrastive But, comp. notes on ch. 2 Thessalonians 2:16 and 1 Thessalonians
3:11. “Directyour hearts” is a Hebraism, used in the LXX to translate the
words rendered “set” or“prepare the heart” in our Version (Psalm 78:8; 1
Chronicles 29:18‚&c.) It denotes giving a fixed direction, a steady purpose, as
to “stablishthe heart” (ch. 2 Thessalonians 2:17)signifies to give a sure
position. On direct see also 1 Thessalonians 3:11.
into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ] A. V. margin and
R.V., patience of Christ. Patience (or endurance) is what the Greek noun
signifies in ch. 2 Thessalonians1:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (see note), and in the
other numerous examples of its use in the N.T. For the way in which “Christ’s
endurance” is made a model for our own, see 1 Peter2:19-24;1 Peter3:17-18;
1 Peter4:1-2, and Hebrews 12:2-3. Elsewhere StPaul speaks ofHis sufferings
as shared by His people (2 Corinthians 1:5; Php 3:10, &c.); and if the
sufferings, surely the patience. The Thessalonians were eagerlyawaiting His
return (1 Thessalonians 1:10;2 Thessalonians 2:1-2);let them wait for it in
His patient spirit. Had the Apostle wishedto speak of waiting for the glorified

Christ, he would surely have called Him, as so often in these Epistles, “the
Lord Jesus.”
Christ is in this place the patient Christ, who “endured the cross” andthe
“contradictionof sinners,” fulfilling the prophetic ideal of Jehovah’s suffering
Servant, Isaiah53; comp. 1 Peter2:21-25;Matthew 11:29-30, &c. The Greek
article is therefore not otiose, but has its distinctive and graphic force—Christ
as the prophets foresaw Him, and we know Him: the patience of the Christ.
Comp. Romans 15:3, “The Christ did not please Himself;” Ephesians 4:20,
“You did not so learn (get to know)the Christ,”—the greatIdeal. We wish
that the Revisers had seentheir way to restore to us the expressive definite
article in such passages.
To “love God” was the Lord’s “greatand first commandment” (Matthew
22:36-38);it is the soul of religion (see Romans 8:28; 1 Corinthians 8:1-3; and
1 John, passim). “God our Father has loved” the Thessalonianbelievers (ch. 2
Thessalonians 2:16);Christ must teachthem to reciprocate the Divine love,
and in the strength of this love to endure evil and sorrow evenas He Himself
endured.
Bengel's Gnomen
2 Thessalonians 3:5. Κύριος, the Lord) Christ.—εἰς τὴν ἀγαάπηντοῦ Θεοῦ,
into the love of God) You will thus favour the running (free course)of the
word of God, and will not be ἄτοποι, unreasonable.—εἰςὑπομονὴντοῦ
Χριστοῦ, to the patience of Christ) It is thus you will endure the hatred of the
wickedenemies of Christ. Eachmust be takenobjectively: love towards God,
patience shown on accountof Christ [But Engl. Vers. patient waiting for
Christ].
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 5. - And the Lord; namely, Christ, for so the word "Lord" is to be
rendered in St. Paul's Epistles. BishopWordsworth supposes that the Holy

Ghostis here invoiced, as both God and Christ are afterwards mentioned in
the petition; but the term "Lord" is not applied by, the apostle to the Holy
Ghost; '2 Corinthians 3:17 is the only apparent exception. Directyour hearts;
as the heart is the fountain of Christian life - the centre of the will. Into the
love of God. Here not God's love to us, specially"the manifestationof the love
of God in Christ and his work of redemption" (Olshausen);nor the love of
God to man, which is to be the pattern of our love to God; but, objectively,
our love to God. This love of God is the fulfilment of the Law; and hence the
apostle prays that the Thessaloniansmay be directed into it as the source and
essenceofall acceptable obedience. And into the patient waiting for Christ.
The words, "patient waiting," are but one word in the original, generally
translated "patience" or"endurance." The clause has been differently
interpreted. Some (Calvin, Hofmann, Jowett)render it, as in the A.V.,
"patient waiting for Christ." And this is conformable to the context, as the
objectof Paul was to repress all impatient longing for the advent. But such a
meaning is not linguistically justifiable. Others render it, "patience for
Christ," that is, steadfastendurance for his sake (De Wette); but there is no
preposition in the original. The words simply mean "Christ's patience," or
"the patience of Christ" (R.V.), the patience which he exhibited under his
unparalleled sufferings. The Thessalonianswere exposedto persecutions, and
therefore the apostle prays that they might be directed into the patience of
Christ, as this would enable them to bear all their sufferings with composure.
Love and patience comprehend the active and passive virtues of Christianity.
Now follows a warning againstthe disorderly life and conduct which the
expectationof the immediate advent of Christ had produced. On accountof
the supposednearness ofthe day of the Lord, greatdisorders had arisenin the
ThessalonianChurch. Work had been given up by many, who walkedabout
in fanaticalidleness. The apostle had censured this conduct in his former
Epistle (1 Thessalonians 4:11, 12), but the evil had rather increasedthan
diminished; and, accordingly, he severelyrebukes this spirit, and sets himself
to correctthe disorders occasionedby it.
Vincent's Word Studies
Hearts (καρδίας)

See on Romans 1:21; see on Romans 10:10; see on Ephesians 1:18.
Patient waiting for Christ (ὑπομονὴντοῦ χριστοῦ)
Rather patience of Christ. The prayer is that their hearts may be directed to
love God and to exhibit the patience of Christ.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
WILLIAM BARCLAY
In the last verse of this passagewe see whatwe might call the inward and the
outward characteristicsofthe Christian. The inward characteristic is the
awarenessofthe love of God, the deep awareness thatwe cannotdrift beyond
his care, the sense that the everlasting arms are underneath us. One of the
basic needs of life is security and we find that need met in the consciousness of
the unchanging love of God. The outward characteristic is the endurance
which Christ can give. We live in a world where there are more nervous
breakdowns than at any time in history. It is a sign that more and more
people have the feeling that they cannot cope with life. The outward
characteristic ofthe Christian is that when others break he stands erectand
when others collapse he shoulders his burden and goes on. With the love of
God in his heart and the strength of Christ in his life a man can face anything.

JOSEPHBENSON
Verse 5
As if he had said, "That we may not be mistakenin this our confidence, we
pray that the Lord will direct your hearts into the love of God, which will
constrainyou to this obedience."
Where note, That to direct man's heart right into the love of God, is the work
of God; The Lord directs your heart into the love of God.
Note farther, That these Thessalonians did love God already for the apostle
had before commended their work of faith, their labour of love, and yet here
he prays, that their hearts may be directed into the love of God, &c.
Learn hence, That the hearts of the holiest and bestof saints do stand in need
of a more perfect and constantdirection into the love of God; as ships that are
best riggedneed a pilot, so they that love God must need to have their love
ordered and directed to the bestadvantage of his glory.
Observe farther, From the phrase here used, (direct,) that God works upon us
as rational creatures;he changeththe heart indeed, but he doth it by
direction, not by violence and compulsion: the Spirit's conduct is sweet, yet
powerful; it changes the will, but without offering violence to the freedom and
liberty of the will; we are not forcedbut directed; The Lord direct your
hearts.--
Again, the Lord direct your hearts; it implies, there are many things that
would wreath and bend, crook and turn, our hearts anotherway, and direct

our love to a contrary object, to the world and the flesh; therefore we had
need pray with earnestness, The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God;
it follows,--andinto the patient waiting for Christ.
Note here, 1. The true characterof a sincere Christian; he waits for the
coming of Christ: such as love Christ fervently, long for his coming greatly.
Note, 2. How patience qualifies those holy ardours, and longing desires, which
the saints have to be with Christ: though love sets us upon the wing to be gone,
yet patience commands us to wait Christ's own time for going; vehement love
needs the allay of patience;most need much patience to die, but some need as
much patience to live: therefore says the apostle, The Lord direct your hearts
into a patient waiting for Christ; intimating, that the saints of God have great
need of patience to enable them to endure that state of distance and separation
from Christ so long as they must endure it in this world: well then might the
apostles pray on behalf of the Thessalonians,The Lord direct your hearts into
the love of God, and patient waiting for Christ.
WILLIAM BURKITT
Verse 5
As if he had said, "That we may not be mistakenin this our confidence, we
pray that the Lord will direct your hearts into the love of God, which will
constrainyou to this obedience."
Where note, That to direct man's heart right into the love of God, is the work
of God; The Lord directs your heart into the love of God.

Note farther, That these Thessalonians did love God already for the apostle
had before commended their work of faith, their labour of love, and yet here
he prays, that their hearts may be directed into the love of God, &c.
Learn hence, That the hearts of the holiest and bestof saints do stand in need
of a more perfect and constantdirection into the love of God; as ships that are
best riggedneed a pilot, so they that love God must need to have their love
ordered and directed to the bestadvantage of his glory.
Observe farther, From the phrase here used, (direct,) that God works upon us
as rational creatures;he changeththe heart indeed, but he doth it by
direction, not by violence and compulsion: the Spirit's conduct is sweet, yet
powerful; it changes the will, but without offering violence to the freedom and
liberty of the will; we are not forcedbut directed; The Lord direct your
hearts.--
Again, the Lord direct your hearts; it implies, there are many things that
would wreath and bend, crook and turn, our hearts anotherway, and direct
our love to a contrary object, to the world and the flesh; therefore we had
need pray with earnestness, The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God;
it follows,--andinto the patient waiting for Christ.
Note here, 1. The true characterof a sincere Christian; he waits for the
coming of Christ: such as love Christ fervently, long for his coming greatly.
Note, 2. How patience qualifies those holy ardours, and longing desires, which
the saints have to be with Christ: though love sets us upon the wing to be gone,
yet patience commands us to wait Christ's own time for going; vehement love

needs the allay of patience;most need much patience to die, but some need as
much patience to live: therefore says the apostle, The Lord direct your hearts
into a patient waiting for Christ; intimating, that the saints of God have great
need of patience to enable them to endure that state of distance and separation
from Christ so long as they must endure it in this world: well then might the
apostles pray on behalf of the Thessalonians,The Lord direct your hearts into
the love of God, and patient waiting for Christ.
JAMES DENNY
Love to God is naturally joyous;but life has other experiences than those
which give free scope for its joyous exercise;and so the Apostle adds, "into the
patience of Jesus Christ." The Authorised Version renders, "the patient
waiting for Christ," as if what the Apostle prayed for were that they might
continue steadfastlyto hope for the Last Advent; but although that idea is
characteristic ofthese Epistles, it is hardly to be found in the words. Rather
does he remind his readers that in the difficulties and sufferings of the path
which lies before them, no strange thing is happening to them, nothing that
has not already been borne by Christ in the spirit in which it ought to be
borne by us. Our Saviour Himself had need of patience. He was made flesh,
and all that the children of God have to suffer in this world has already been
suffered by Him. This prayer is at once warning and consoling. It assures us
that those who will live godly will have trials to bear: there will be untoward
circumstances;feeble health; uncongenialrelations; misunderstanding and
malice; unreasonable and evil men; abundant calls for patience. But there will
be no sense ofhaving missedthe way, or of being forgotten by God; on the
contrary, there will be in Jesus Christ, ever present, a type and a fountain of
patience, which will enable them to overcome all that is againstthem. The love
of God and the patience of Christ may be calledthe active and the passive
sides of Christian goodness, -its free, steadyoutgoing to Him who is the source
of all blessing;and its deliberate, steady, hopeful endurance, in the spirit of

Him who was made perfectthrough suffering. The Lord direct our hearts into
both, that we may be perfect men in Christ Jesus.
J HAMPTON KEATHLEY III
The endurance of Christ: Endurance is hupomone, “patience, endurance,
fortitude, perseverance,” etc. This is a prayer (1) that they might wait
patiently for the coming Savior as translatedby the KJV (objective genitive);
(2) that they might have the kind of endurance that Christ gives, an
endurance that comes from relationship with Him (subjective genitive); (3)
that they might experience the kind of endurance that belongs to Christ or
that was demonstratedin His sufferings on earth and that He is
demonstrating even now as He waits for His enemies to be made a footstool
for His feet (Heb. 12:2; 10:13, either a possessive orattributive genitive).
Again, all three are true and perhaps all are intended. While a too rigid
exegesisis to be avoided, it may, perhaps, be permissible to paraphrase:“the
Lord teachand enable you to love as God loves, and to be patient as Christ is
patient
STEVE LEWIS
Paul [again] prays for them (2 Thess. 3:5)
May the Lord = the optative mood expresses a wishfor the future (see 2 Th
2:16-17). Paul is praying for them again!
Directyour hearts = to make straight; to lay out a smooth and direct route.
Into the love (agape)of God = Paul prays that their hearts would be directed
into the sphere or realm of the unselfish, sacrificiallove that is characteristic

of God Himself. This would provide increasing appreciationfor God's own
love for them, as well as the ability to express this kind of love to others (see 1
Th 1:3; 3:6, 12;5:13; 2 Th 1:3).
Into the steadfastness(hupomone) of Christ = literally, "abiding under." This
is the kind of patience that grows only under trial and affliction. The
Thessalonians (and we)need this kind of steadfastnessin order to endure
affliction in a godly manner.
JOHN GILL
Verse 5
And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God,.... By which may be
meant either the love with which Godis loved. This is the sum and substance
of the first and chief commandment in the law, and is what every man in a
state of nature is destitute of; it is implanted in the heart in regeneration, and
is a fruit of the Spirit of God; and where it is it oftentimes grows cold, and
needs to be stirred up and reinflamed, by the Spirit of God, which may be
intended, by a directing of the heart into it, that is, to a lively exercise ofit: or
else the love with which God loves his people is designed, which is free,
sovereign, unchangeable, andfrom everlasting to everlasting;and to have the
heart directed into this, is to be led into it directly; or by a straight line, as the
word signifies, and not in a round about way, by works and duties, as the
causes orconditions of it; and to be led further into it, so as to wade into these
waters of the sanctuary, from the ankles to the knees, and from thence to the
loins, and from thence till they become a broad river to swim in; or so as to
comprehend the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of this love, and
to be rootedand grounded in it, and firmly persuadedof interest in it; and
that nothing shall separate from it; and so as to have the heart sensibly
affectedwith it. The phrase of directing the heart to God, and to seek him, is
used in the Septuagint, in 2 Chronicles 19:3. And this is not to be done by a

believer himself, nor by the ministers of the Gospel:the apostle could not do
it, and therefore he prays "the Lord" to do it; by whom is meant the Spirit of
God, since he is distinguished from God the Father, into whose love the heart
is to be directed, and from Christ, a patient waiting for whom it is also desired
the heart may be directed into; and since it is his work to shed abroad the love
of God in the heart, and to lead unto it, and make application of it; and which
is a proof of his deity, for none has the direction, management, and
government of the heart, but God, Proverbs 21:1, and in this passageof
Scripture appear all the three Persons;for here is the love of the Father,
patient waiting for Christ, the Spirit and the Lord. For it follows, as another
branch of the petition,
and into the patient waiting for Christ; or "patience of Christ", as the Vulgate
Latin and Arabic versions render it; and may intend either that patience, of
which Christ was the subject; and which appeared in his quiet submission to
all that outward meanness he did in his state of humiliation; in bearing the
insults and reproaches of men, and the frowardness of his own disciples, in
suffering himself to be tempted by Satan; and in bearing the sins of his people,
the wrath of God, and strokes ofjustice in the manner he did: and for the
saints to have their hearts directed into this patience of Christ, is of great use
unto them, to endear Christ unto, them; to lead them into the greatnessofhis
love, and also of his person; and to make them more patient under the cross,
when they considerhim, and have him for an example. Or else it may respect
the grace ofpatience, which he is the author of, for all grace comes fromhim;
and he from hence may be calledthe God of patience, as his word, which is
the means of it, is the word of his patience;and it is by his strength that saints
are strengthenedunto all patience, and longsuffering: and to be directed into
this, or to the exercise of it, is of greatuse under afflictions from the hand of
God, and under the reproaches and persecutions ofmen, and under divine
desertions, and want of an answerof prayer, and under the temptations of
Satan, and in an expectationof the heavenly glory. And the heart is never
more in the exercise ofthis, than when it is directed into the love of God; see
Romans 5:2. Or this may refer to that patience of which Christ is the object,
and be understood, either of a patient bearing the cross for his sake;for every

believer has a cross to take up and bear for Christ, and which is to be borne
constantly, cheerfully, and patiently; and nothing more strongly animates to
such a patient bearing of it, than a sense ofthe love of God; so that a being
directed into that, leads also to this: or as our versionpoints out the sense, it
may be understood of a patient waiting for the secondcoming of Christ.
Christ will certainly come a secondtime, though when he will come is
uncertain; and his coming will be very glorious in itself, and of great
advantage to the saints: hence it becomes them, not only to believe it, hope for
it, love it, and look for it, but to wait patiently for it; which being directed to
by the Spirit of God, is of great use unto them in the present state of things.
MATTHEW HENRY
He makes a short prayer for them, 2 Thessalonians3:5. It is a prayer for
spiritual blessings. Two things of the greatestimportance the apostle prays
for: - 1. That their hearts may be brought into the love of God, to be in love
with God as the most excellentand amiable Being, the best of all beings;and
this is not only most reasonable and necessaryin order to our happiness, but
is our happiness itself; it is a greatpart of the happiness of heaven itself,
where this love shall be made perfect. We cannever attain to this unless God
by his grace directour hearts aright, for our love is apt to go astrayafter
other things. Note, We sustaina greatdeal of damage by misplacing our
affections;it is our sin and our misery that we place our affections upon
wrong objects. If God directs our love aright upon himself, the restof the
affections will thereby be rectified. 2. That a patient waiting for Christ may be
joined with this love of God. There is no true love of God without faith in
Jesus Christ. We must wait for Christ, which supposes our faith in him, that
we believe he came once in flesh and will come again in glory: and we must
expectthis secondcoming of Christ, and be careful to get ready for it; there
must be a patient waiting, enduring with courage and constancyall that we
may meet with in the mean time: and we have need of patience, and need of

divine grace to exercise Christianpatience, the patience of Christ (as some
read the word), patience for Christ's sake and after Christ's example
IRONSIDE
. Patience. Oh, how much we need the patience mentioned in 2 Thessalonians
3:5! A better rendering of the verse would read, “The Lord direct your hearts
into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ.”
We see the patience of Christ illustrated in James 5:7: “Be patient therefore,
brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for
the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive
the early and latter rain.” Likewise, the divine Husbandman sits at God’s
right hand in Heaven, and He is waiting for “the precious fruit of the earth.”
This means that He is waiting until the last soul is savedin order to complete
the body of Christ. Then the Man of Patience, who has been tarrying for all
these centuries (as we count time on earth), will rise from the throne and
“descendfrom heaven with shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with
the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up togetherwith them in the clouds, to meet
the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians
4:16-17).
We need patience as we wait for Him. This patience rests on our realizationof
the unchanging love of our heavenly Father, so Paul wrote, “The Lord direct
your hearts into the love of God” (2 Thessalonians3:5). What did he mean?

In Jude 1:21 we find a similar thought: “Keep yourselves in the love of God.”
What did Jude mean? How canwe keepourselves in the love of God? Are we
responsible to keepGod loving us? No, for He says, “I have loved thee with an
everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). Did Jude mean that we are to keeploving
God? No, for 1 John 4:19 says, “We love him, because he first loved us.”
The following illustration may help to explain what Paul and Jude meant.
Suppose my child has been ill and during dark and murky weatherhe has to
be kept in the house. Then one day the sun shines brightly and the doctorsays,
“He can go out today for a few hours, but be sure to warn him to keepin the
sunshine.” So I sayto my boy, “Son, you may go out and enjoy yourself, but
the doctorsays you are to keepin the sunshine.” Then the boy asks, “How can
I keepthe sun shining?” So I explain, “I am not telling you to keepthe sun
shining; I am telling you to keepin the sunshine.” This story, I think, makes
clearwhat is meant by “Keep yourselves in the love of God” and “The Lord
direct your hearts into the love of God.” We are to keepin the realization of
His love, in the constantenjoyment of it.
As we enjoy His love and learn to rely on it, we can wait in patience for the
day when all our trials will be ended and the Lord Jesus will come to take us
to be foreverwith Him.
JAMIESON, FAUSSET, BROWN
Verse 5
If “the Lord” be here the Holy Ghost (2 Corinthians 3:17), the three Persons
of the Trinity will occur in this verse.
love of God — love to God.

patient waiting for Christ — rather as Greek, “the patience (endurance) of
Christ,” namely, which Christ showed[Alford] (2 Thessalonians 2:4;1
Thessalonians 1:3). Estius, however, supports English Version (compare
Revelation1:9; Revelation3:10). At all events, this grace, “patience,”or
persevering endurance, is connectedwith the “hope” (1 Thessalonians 1:3, 1
Thessalonians 1:10)of Christ‘s coming. In Alford‘s translation we may
compare Hebrews 12:1, Hebrews 12:2, “Run with patience (endurance) …
looking to JESUS … who, for the joy that was before Him, endured the
cross”;so WE are to endure, as looking for the hope to be realized at His
coming (Hebrews 10:36, Hebrews 10:37).
RAY PRITCHARD
The Fifth Request:Cheerful Perseverance
This is the lastpart of verse 5: “Maythe Lord direct your hearts into God’s
love and Christ’s perseverance.”Fascinating phrase:Christ’s perseverance.
In what sense did Christ persevere? How about this from I Peter2:23: “When
they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he
made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” But
what about the “cheerful” part? Where does that come from? Listen to the
words of Hebrews 12:2, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter
of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its
shame, and satdown at the right hand of the throne of God.” In case thatisn’t
clear, here’s how Eugene Peterson(The Message)translates it, “Keepyour
eyes on Jesus, who both beganand finished this race we’re in. Study how he
did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—thatexhilarating
finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: cross,
shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside
God.” I like that phrase: “he never lost sight of where he was headed.” He

knew he was bringing salvation to the world and would soonbe with his
Father in heaven again. Therefore, he could put up with anything along the
way. To pray for cheerful perseverancemeans praying that you will never lose
sight of the big picture, that you will always remember where you are going. If
you have that perspective, you can endure anything.
A. MACLAREN
THE HEART’S HOME AND GUIDE
2 Thessalonians 3:5.
A word or two of explanation of terms may preface our remarks on this, the
third of the Apostle’s prayers for the Thessaloniansin this letter. The first
point to be noticed is that by ‘the Lord’ here is meant, as usually in the New
Testament, Jesus Christ. So that here againwe have the distinct recognitionof
His divinity, and the direct address of prayer to Him.
The next thing to notice is that by ‘the love of God’ is here meant, not God’s
to us, but ours to Him; and that the petition, therefore, respects the emotions
and sentiments of the Thessalonianstowards the Fatherin heaven.
And the last point is that the rendering of the Authorised Version, ‘patient
waiting for Christ,’ is better exchangedfor that of the RevisedVersion, ‘the
patience of Christ,’ meaning thereby the same patience as He exhibited in His
earthly life, and which He is ready to bestow upon us.

It is not usual in the New Testamentto find Jesus Christset forth as the great
Example of patient endurance; but still there are one or two instances in
which the same expressionis applied to Him. Forexample, in two contiguous
verses in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we read of His ‘enduring contradiction of
sinners againstHimself,’ and ‘enduring the Cross, despising the shame,’in
both of which caseswe have the verb employed of which the noun is here
used. Then in the Apocalypse we have such expressions as ‘the patience of
Christ,’ of which John says that he and his brethren whom he is addressing
are ‘participators,’and, again, ‘thou hast kept the word of my patience.’
So, though unusual, the thought of our text as presentedin the amended
version is by no means singular. These things, then, being premised, we may
now look at this petition as a whole.
I. The first thought that it suggeststo me is, the home of the heart.
‘The Lord direct you into the love of God and the patience of Christ.’ The
prayers in this letter with which we have been occupiedfor some Sundays
present to us Christian perfectionunder various aspects.But this we may,
perhaps, sayis the most comprehensive and condensedof them all. The
Apostle gathers up the whole sum of his desires for his friends, and presents to
us the whole aim of our efforts for ourselves, in these two things, a steadfast
love to God, and a calm endurance of evil and persistence in duty, unaffected
by suffering or by pain. If we have these two we shall not be far from being
what God wishes to see us.
Now the Apostle’s thought here, of ‘leading us into’ these two seems to suggest
the metaphor of a greathome with two chambers in it, of which the inner was
entered from the outer. The first room is ‘the love of God,’ and the secondis

‘the patience of Christ.’ It comes to the same thing whether we speak ofthe
heart as dwelling in love, or of love as dwelling in the heart. The metaphor
varies, the substance ofthe thought is the same, and that thought is that the
heart should be the sphere and subject of a steadfast, habitual, all-pleasing
love, which issues in unbroken calmness ofendurance and persistence of
service, in the face of evil.
Let us look, then, for a moment at these two points. I need not dwell upon the
bare idea of love to God as being the characteristic ofthe Christian attitude
towards Him, or remind you of how strange and unexampled a thing it is that
all religion should be reduced to this one fruitful germ, love to the Father in
heaven. But it is more to the purpose for me to point to the constancy, the
unbrokenness, the depth, which the Apostle here desires should be the
characteristicsofChristian love to God. We sometimes cherishsuch emotion;
but, alas, how rare it is for us to dwell in that calm home all the days of our
lives! We visit that serene sanctuaryat intervals, and then for the rest of our
days we are hurried to and fro betweencontending affections, and wander
homeless amidst inadequate loves. But what Paul asked, and what should be
the consciousaim of the Christian life, is, that we should ‘dwell all our days in
the house of the Lord, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His
temple.’
Alas, when we think of our own experiences, how fair and far seems that
other, contemplatedas a possibility in my text, that our hearts should ‘abide
in the love of God’!
Let me remind you, too, that steadfastnessofhabitual love all round our
hearts, as it were, is the source and germ of all perfectness oflife and conduct.
‘Love and do as Thou wilt,’ is a bold saying, but not too bold. For the very
essenceof love is the smelting of the will of the lover into the will of the
beloved. And there is nothing so certain as that, in regardto all human

relations, and in regardto the relations to God which in many respects follow,
and are moulded after the pattern of, our earthly relations of love, to have the
heart fixed in pure affectionis to have the whole life subordinated in glad
obedience. Nothing is so sweetas to do the beloved’s will. The germ of all
righteousness, as wellas the characteristic spirit of every righteous deed, lies
in love to God. This is the mother tincture which, variously colouredand with
various additions, makes all the different precious liquids which we can pour
as libations on His altar. The one saving salt of all deeds in reference to Him is
that they are the outcome and expressionof a loving heart. He who loves is
righteous, and doeth righteousness. So, ‘love is the fulfilling of the law.’
That the heart should be fixed in its abode in love to God is the secretofall
blessedness, as it is the source ofall righteousness.Love is always joy in itself;
it is the one deliverance from self-bondage to which self is the one curse and
misery of man. The emancipation from care and sorrow and unrest lies in that
going out of ourselves which we call by the name of love. There be things
masquerading about the world, and profaning the sacredname of love by
taking it to themselves, which are only selfishness under a disguise. But true
love is the annihilation, and therefore the apotheosis andglorifying, of self;
and in that annihilation lies the secretcharm which brings all blessedness into
a life.
But, then, though love in itself be always bliss, yet, by reasonof the
imperfections of its objects, it sometimes leads to sorrow. Forlimitations and
disappointments and inadequacies of all sorts haunt our earthly loves whilst
they last; and we have all to see them fade, or to fade awayfrom them. The
thing you love may change, the thing you love must die; and therefore love,
which in itself is blessedness, hathoften, like the little book that the prophet
swallowed, a bitter taste remaining when the sweetness is gone. But if we set
our hearts on God, we setour hearts on that which knows no variableness,
neither the shadow of turning. There are no inadequate responses, no changes
that we need fear. On that love the scythe of death, which mows down all

other products of the human heart, hath no power; and its stem stands
untouched by the keenedge that levels all the restof the herbage. Love God,
and thou lovesteternity; and therefore the joy of the love is eternal as its
object. So he who loves God is building upon a rock, and whosoeverhas this
for his treasure carries his wealth with him whithersoeverhe goes.Wellmay
the Apostle gather into one potent word, and one mighty wish, the whole
fulness of his desires for his friends. And wise shall we be if we make this the
chiefestof our aims, that our hearts may have their home in the love of God.
Still further, there is anotherchamber in this house of the soul. The outer
room, where the heart inhabits that loves God, leads into another
compartment, ‘the patience of Christ.’
Now, I suppose I need not remind many of you that this greatNew Testament
word ‘patience’ has a far wider area of meaning than that which is ordinarily
coveredby that expression. Forpatience , as we use it, is simply a passive
virtue. But the thing that is meant by the New Testamentword which is
generallyso rendered has an active as wellas a passive side. On the passive
side it is the calm, unmurmuring, unreluctant submission of the will to
whatsoeverevil may come upon us, either directly from God’s hand, or
through the ministration and mediation of men who are His sword. On the
active side it is the steadfastpersistencein the path of duty, in spite of all that
may array itself againstus. So there are the two halves of the virtue which is
here put before us--unmurmuring submission and bold continuance in well-
doing, whatsoeverstorms may hurtle in our faces.
Now, in both of these aspects, the life of Jesus Christ is the great pattern. As
for the passive side, need I remind you how, ‘as a sheepbefore her shearers is
dumb, so He opened not His mouth’? ‘When He was reviled He reviled not
again, but committed Himself unto Him that judgeth uprightly.’ No anger
ever flushed His cheek or contractedHis brow. He never repaid scorn with

scorn, nor hate with hate. All men’s malice fell upon Him, like sparks upon
wet timber, and kindled no conflagration.
As for the active side, I need not remind you how ‘He setHis face to go to
Jerusalem’--how the greatsolemn ‘ must ‘ which ruled His life bore Him on,
steadfastand without deflectionin His course, through all obstacles. There
never was such heroic force as the quiet force of the meek and gentle Christ,
which wastedno strength in displaying or boasting of itself, but simply,
silently, unconquerably, like the secularmotions of the stars, dominated all
opposition, and carried Him, unhasting and unresting, on His path. That life,
with all its surface of weakness, hadan iron tenacity of purpose beneath,
which may well stand for our example. Like some pure glacierfrom an Alpine
peak, it comes silently, slowlydown into the valley; and though to the eye it
seems not to move, it presses onwith a force sublime in its silence and gigantic
in its gentleness,and buries beneath it the rocks that stand in its way. The
patience of Christ is the very sublimity of persistence in well-doing. It is our
example, and more than our example--it is His gift to us.
Such passive and active patience is the direct fruit of love to God. The one
chamber opens into the other. Forthey whose hearts dwell in the sweet
sanctities of the love of God will ever be those who say, with a calm smile, as
they put out their hand to the bitterest draught, ‘the cup which My Father
hath given Me, shall I not drink it?’
Love, and evil dwindles; love, and duty becomes supreme;and in the
submission of the will, which is the true issue of love, lies the foundation of
indomitable and inexhaustible endurance and perseverance.
Nor need I remind you, I suppose, that in this resolve to do the will of God, in
spite of all antagonismand opposition, lies a condition at once of moral

perfection and of blessedness. So, dearfriends, if we would have a home for
our hearts, let us pass into that sweet, calm, inexpugnable fortress provided
for us in the love of God and the patience of Christ.
II. Now notice, secondly, the Guide of the heart to its home.
‘The Lord direct you.’ I have already explained that we have here a distinct
address to Jesus Christ as divine, and the hearerof prayer. The Apostle
evidently expects a present, personalinfluence from Christ to be exerted upon
men’s hearts. And this is the point to which I desire to draw your attention in
a word or two. We are far too oblivious of the present influence of Jesus
Christ, by His Spirit, upon the hearts of men that trust Him. We have very
imperfectly apprehended our privileges as Christians if our faith do not
expect, and if our experience have not realised, the inward guidance of Christ
moment by moment in our daily lives. I believe that much of the present
feebleness ofthe Christian life amongstits professors is to be traced to the fact
that their thoughts about Jesus Christ are predominantly thoughts of what He
did nineteen centuries ago, and that the proportion of faith is not observed in
their perspective of His work, and that they do not sufficiently realise that to-
day, here, in you and me, if we have faith in Him, He is verily and really
putting forth His power.
Paul’s prayer is but an echo of Christ’s promise. The Mastersaid, ‘He shall
guide you into all truth.’ The servant prays, ‘The Lord direct your hearts into
the love of God.’And if we rightly know the whole blessednessthatis ours in
the gift of Jesus Christ, we shall recognise His present guidance as a reality in
our lives.
That guidance is given to us mainly by the Divine Spirit laying upon our
hearts the greatfacts which evoke our answering love to God. ‘We love Him

because He first loved us’; and the wayby which Jesus directs our hearts into
the love of God is mainly by shedding abroad God’s love to us in our spirits by
the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
But, besides that, all these movements in our hearts so often neglected, so
often resisted, by which we are impelled to a holier life, to a deeperlove, to a
more unworldly consecration--allthese, rightly understood, are Christ’s
directions. He leads us, though often we know not the hand that guides;and
every Christian may be sure of this--and he is sinful if he does not live up to
the height of his privileges--that the ancient promises are more than fulfilled
in his experience, and that he has a present Christ, an indwelling Christ, who
will be his Shepherd, and lead him by greenpastures and still waters
sometimes and through valleys of darkness and rough defiles sometimes, but
always with the purpose of bringing him nearer and nearerto the full
possessionofthe love of Godand the patience of Christ.
The vision which shone before the eyes of the father of the forerunner, was
that ‘the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to guide our feet into the way
of peace.’It is fulfilled in Jesus who directs our hearts into love and patience,
which are the wayof peace.
We are not to look for impressions and impulses distinguishable from the
operations of our owninward man. We are not to fall into the error of
supposing that a conviction of duty or a conceptionof truth is of divine origin
because it is strong. But the true test of their divine origin is their
correspondence withthe written word, the standard of truth and life. Jesus
guides us to a fuller apprehension of the greatfacts of the infinite love of God
in the Cross. Shedding abroad a Saviour’s love does kindle ours.
III. Lastly, notice the heart’s yielding to its guide.

Jesus was a man of patience

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Jesus was a man of patience