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12. ὑμᾶς δὲ ὁ κύριος πλεονάσαι καὶ περισσεύσαι τῇ ἀγάπῃ εἰς ἀλλήλους καὶ εἰς πάντας. But you may the Lord make to increase and overflow in your love toward one another and toward all. 1Th 3:12 passes from writers to readers with the contrastive δέ. “The Lord,” in St Paul’s general usage—above all, where it directly follows ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χ.—means Jesus Christ, not the Father: cf. 1Th 3:8, 1Th 1:6, 1Th 4:15 ff., 1Th 5:27, and the ἡμῖν … εἶς κύριος of 1Co 8:6; Eph 4:5. In 2Th 3:5; 2Th 3:16 “the Lord” is again addressed, quite unreservedly, in prayer: cf. 2Co 12:8; 2Ti 1:16-18; Act 1:24; Act 7:59 f. The Lord Jesus is asked, in effect, to aid the fulfilment of His own command of love (Joh 13:34, &c.) and to perfect in His disciples the grace of which He is the example and channel (see Gal 2:20; Eph 5:2, &c.).
Περισσεύσαι (make abundant) caps πλεονάσαι (make more): cf. the variation in Rom 5:20; 2Co 4:15. Elsewhere in the N.T. the latter verb is always, the former usually, intransitive—the original usage in each case; πλεονάζω (הִרְבָּה) has the active sense in Num 26:54; Ps. 70:21; 1Ma 4:35 : cf. the double usage of the Eng. increase, multiply. In 1Th 4:10 the wish is expressed that the Thessalonians may “abound (still) more in love”; in 2Th 1:3 thanks are given because their “love multiplies.” The passages just referred to speak of ἀγάπη εἰς ἀλλήλους, 1Th 4:10 embracing “all the brethren in all Macedonia”; but here, as in 1Th 5:15, καὶ εἰς πάντας is added: cf. Rom 12:16; Rom 12:18; Gal 6:10; 1Ti 2:1; 1Pe 2:17. For the cruelly persecuted Thessalonians this wider love was peculiarly difficult—and necessary; it meant loving their enemies, according to Christ’s command (Mat 5:44).
καθάπερ καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς ὑμᾶς, as verily we also (do) towards you—i.e. “as we increase and abound in love toward you”; for the Apostles’ love to their flock was not stationary, nor limited; the εὐαγγέλιον of 1Th 3:6 gives it a new impulse. This clause (repeated from 1Th 3:6) rests naturally upon the foregoing verbs, mentally resumed in their intransitive sense; or, after Theodoret, we may supply διετέθημεν, affecti sumus erga vos (Calvin); see also Lightfoot ad loc. In support of this claim of the writers, cf. the statement of 1Th 1:5 b, and the language of 1Th 2:7-12; 1Th 2:17-20 : for similar references on St Paul’s part, see 2Th 3:7-9; Php 3:17; Php 4:9; 1Co 4:16; 1Co 11:1; Act 20:35; cf. also the appeal of Jesus in Joh 13:15; Joh 13:34, &c.