2 Thessalonians 3:5

κατευθύναι, κ. τ. λ. Paul no 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) correspond to the double experience of love and hope in 2 Thessalonians 2:16. It is by the sense of God's love alone, not by any mere acquiescence in His will or stoical endurance of it, that the patience and courage of the Christian are sustained. Cf. Ep. Arist., 195, ἐπὶ τῶν καλλίστων πράξεων οὐκ αὐτοὶ κατευθύνομεν τὰ βουλευθέντα · θεὸς δὲ τελειοῖ τὰ πάντων. Connect with 2 Thessalonians 3:3 and cf. Mrs. Browning's line, “I waited with patience, which means almost power”.