1 Thessalonians 3:12

Contextual Overview

¹¹ We pray that our God and Father and our Lord Jesus will prepare the way for us to come to you. ¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you; ¹¹ God him silfe oure father and oure lorde Iesus Christ gyde oure iorney vnto you: ¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, direct our way to you; ¹¹ Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you; ¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus prepare the way for us to come to you. ¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you: ¹¹ Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. ¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, ¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the Lord: 1 Thessalonians 4:10, Psalms 115:4, Luke 17:5, 2 Corinthians 9:10, James 1:17, 2 Peter 3:18

abound: 1 Thessalonians 4:9, 1 Thessalonians 4:10, Philippians 1:9, 2 Thessalonians 1:3

love: 1 Thessalonians 5:15, Matthew 7:12, Matthew 22:39, Romans 13:8, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, Galatians 5:6, Galatians 5:13, Galatians 5:14, Galatians 5:22, 2 Peter 1:7, 1 John 3:11-19, 1 John 4:7-16

even: 1 Thessalonians 2:8

Reciprocal: Mark 4:28 - first John 13:34 - That ye love John 15:12 - General Acts 14:23 - they commended 1 Corinthians 15:58 - abounding 1 Corinthians 16:14 - General Ephesians 1:4 - love Ephesians 4:16 - edifying Colossians 2:19 - increaseth 1 Timothy 2:1 - all men Hebrews 10:24 - love 1 Peter 1:22 - see 1 Peter 4:8 - fervent 2 Peter 1:8 - and abound

Cross-References

Genesis 2:18
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."

Genesis 2:18
And Yahweh God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a matching helper for him.

Genesis 2:18
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him."

Genesis 2:18
The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him."

Genesis 2:18
And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone: I will make him a help meet for him.

Genesis 2:18
Yahweh God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

Genesis 2:18
Now the LORD God said, "It is not good (beneficial) for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [one who balances him—a counterpart who is] suitable and complementary for him."

Genesis 2:18
And the Lord God seide, It is not good that a man be aloone, make we to hym an help lijk to hym silf.

Genesis 2:18
And Jehovah God saith, `Not good for the man to be alone, I do make to him an helper -- as his counterpart.'

Genesis 2:18
The LORD God also said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Lord make you to increase,.... That is, the Lord the Spirit; so that the object of prayer, addressed by the apostle, is Father, Son, and Spirit, as in Revelation 1:4. The Alexandrian copy reads "God". The Spirit is God, equally with the Father and the Son, and so a fit object of prayer with them, which otherwise he would not be. The request is, that he would cause these saints to increase in number, as the first churches greatly did: and in the gifts of the Spirit, which he divides to men severally as he will; and in his graces, as in faith, in hope, in holiness, in humility, in knowledge, in spiritual joy and strength, an increase in all which is from him:

and abound in love one towards another; for though they were taught of God to love one another, and did do so, and the apostle had had good tidings of their love; yet it was not perfect, there was room for a further exercise of it, by serving each other by it, in things spiritual and temporal; and he had his request, for it did abound in everyone of them towards each other, 2 Thessalonians 1:3

and towards all men; the men of the world, who were without, were not members of the church, nor professors of the Christian religion, but enemies to that, and to Christ, and to them; and yet they were to love them as men, and pray for them, and do them all the good that lay in their power:

even as we do towards you; for the love of the apostle, and those with him, abounded more and more towards these saints, and was so far from being weakened, that it was increased by their absence from them; and they were more abundantly desirous of seeing them, and were even quite impatient until they sent to them, and heard of them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love - compare notes, 2 Corinthians 9:8. The word “Lord” here probably refers to the Lord Jesus, as this is the name by which he is commonly designated in the New Testament; see the notes on Acts 1:24. If this be so, then this is a petition to the Lord Jesus as the fountain of all grace and goodness.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 12. Make you to increase and abound in love — They had already love to each other, so as to unite them in one Christian body; and he prays that they may have an increase and an abundance of it; that they might feel the same love to each other which he felt for them all.