And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you both do and will do the things which we command you.
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Ambrosiaster
AD 400
Because they had deserved it, Paul was confident that they would be kept safe by the protection of God, and so he did not doubt that they would do the things which he preached for them in the name of the Lord.
And he has well introduced the words, We have confidence in the Lord, that is, we trust to His lovingkindness. Again he brings them down, making everything depend thereupon. For if he had said, We have confidence in you, the commendation indeed was great, but it would not have taught them to make all things dependent upon God. And if he had said, We have confidence in the Lord, that He will preserve you, and had not added as touching you, and, that you do and will do the things which we command you, he would have made them more slothful, by casting everything upon the power of God. For it becomes us indeed to cast everything upon Him, yet working also ourselves, embarked in the labors and the conflicts. And he shows that even if our virtue alone were sufficient to save, yet nevertheless it ought to be persevering, and to abide with us until we come to our latest breath.
