And may the Lord multiply you, and make you abound in charity towards one another, and towards all men: as we do also towards you,

But you, may the Lord make to exceed and abound in love toward one another, and toward all, even as we also towards you,

And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another, and towards all men, even as we do towards you:

and you the Lord cause to increase and to abound in the love to one another, and to all, even as we also to you,

and as for you, may the Lord teach you to love one another and all men, with a growing and a glowing love, resembling our love for you.

And the Lord give you increase of love in fullest measure to one another and to all men, even as our love to you;

And may the Lord multiply you, and make you abound in your charity toward one another and toward all, just as we also do toward you,

And for you, may the Lord fill you to overflowing with love for one another and for everyone, just as we are filled with love for you;

And the Lord fill you. Here we have another prayer -- that in the mean time, while his way is obstructed, the Lord, during his absence, may confirm the Thessalonians in holiness, and fill them with love. And from this again we learn in what the perfection of the Christian life consists -- in love and pure holiness of heart, flowing from faith. He recommends love mutually cherished towards each other, and afterwards towards all, for as it is befitting that a commencement should be made with those that are of the household of faith, (Galatians 6:10) so our love ought to go forth to the whole human race. Farther, as the nearer connection must be cherished, [1] so we must not overlook those who are farther removed from us, so as to prevent them from holding their proper place. He would have the Thessalonians abound in love and be filled with it, because in so far as we make progress in acquaintance with God, the love of the brethren must at the same time increase in us, until it take possession of our whole heart, the corrupt love of self being extirpated. He prays that the love of the Thessalonians may be perfected by God, intimating that its increase, no less than its commencement, was from God alone. Hence it is evident how preposterous a part those act who measure our strength by the precepts of the Divine law. The end of the law is love, says Paul, (1-Timothy 1:5) yet he himself declares that it is a work of God. When, therefore, God marks out our life, [2] he does not look to what we can do, but requires from us what is above our strength, that we may learn to ask from him power to accomplish it. When he says -- as we also towards you, he stimulates them by his own example.

Footnotes

1 - "Il faut recognoistre et entretenir;" -- "We must recognize and maintain."

2 - "Nous prescrit en ses commandemens la regle de viure;" -- "Prescribes to us in his commandments the rule of life."

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.

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.

(3) And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all [men], even as we [do] toward you:
(3) Another part of the epistle, in which he speaks of the duties of a Christian life. And he shows that the perfection of a Christian life consists in two things, that is, in charity toward all men, and inward purity of the heart. And the accomplishment of these things is nonetheless deferred to the next coming of Christ, who will then perfect his work by the same grace with which he began it in us.

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.

The "you" in the Greek is emphatically put first; "But" (so the Greek for "and") what concerns "YOU," whether we come or not, "may the Lord make you to increase and abound in love," &c. The Greek for "increase" has a more positive force; that for "abound" a more comparative force, "make you full (supplying 'that which is lacking,' 1-Thessalonians 3:10) and even abound." "The Lord" may here be the Holy Spirit; so the Three Persons of the Trinity will be appealed to (compare 1-Thessalonians 3:13), as in 2-Thessalonians 3:5. So the Holy Ghost is called "the Lord" (2-Corinthians 3:17). "Love" is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), and His office is "to stablish in holiness" (1-Thessalonians 3:13; 1-Peter 1:2).