1 Thessalonians 3:12,13

The security and purity of the Christian life are rested upon its brotherly love (so Ep. Arist., 229); all breaches or defects of ἁγιωσύνη, it is implied, are due to failures there (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:6); even sensuality becomes a form of selfishness, on this view, as much as impatience or resentment. This profound ἀγάπη “is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken;” it fixes the believing man's life in the very life of God, by deepening its vital powers of growth; no form of ἁγιωσύνη which sits loose to the endless obligations of this ἀγάπη will stand the strain of this life or the scrutiny of God's tribunal at the end. ὑμᾶς δὲ, what ever becomes of us. ἁγίων, either (a) “saints” (as II., 2 Thessalonians 1:10, De Wette, Hofmann, Zimmer, Schmidt, Everling, Kabisch, Findlay, Wohl.), or (b) “angels” (Exodus 1:9; Ps. Sol. 17:49, etc., Hühn, Weiss, Schrader, Titius, Schmiedel, Lueken), or (c) both (cf. 4 Esd. 7:28, 14:9; Bengel, Alford, Wohl., Askwith, Ellicott, Lightfoot, Milligan). The reminiscence of Zechariah 14:5 (LXX) is almost decisive for (b), though Paul may have put another content into the term; πάντων must not be pressed to support (c). In any case, the phrase goes closely with παρουσίᾳ. The ἅγιοι are a retinue.