God and Christ. Our confidence and prayers are directed to God, inasmuch as He is the Father of our Lord ; and to Jesus Christ, inasmuch as He makes us, through Himself, stand in the presence of the Father.
8. up urov, first) A next does not always follow; and in this passage, the affectionate feeling and emotion of the writer have absorbed it. — The corresponding d's follows at ver. 13. You are, says he, already indeed in the faith ; but yet I am desirous to contribute something to your improvement. — zbya pasru, I give thanks) Even at the beginning alone [besides similar beginnings in other epistles] of this epistle, there are traces of all the spiritual emotions. Among these, thanksgiving takes the pre- eminence : and with it almost all the epistles commence. The categorical idea of the sentence is : You have found faith. Thanksgiving, which is an accessory idea, renders the discourse modal (i.e.j shows the manner in which the subject and pre- dicate, in the categorical sentence, are connected), — comp, note to ch. vi. 17. Paul rejoices that, what he considered should be effected by him elsewhere, as a debtor to all, was already effected at Pome. — rip 0s p [xov, my God) This phrase, my God , expresses faith , love, hope , and, therefore, the whole of true religion, Ps. cxliv. 15 ; Hab. i. 12. My God is the God whom I serve ; see next verse. — d/a, through ) The gifts of God come to us through Christ, our thanksgivings go to God through Christ. — i] <7ri6T/g, faith) In congratulations of this kind, Paul describes either the whole of Christianity, Col. i. 3, etc., or some part of it, 1 Cor. i. 5. He therefore mentions faith in this passage, as suited to the object, which he has in view, ver. 12, 17. — xarayy'sXXsra/, is spoken of) An abbreviated mode of expression for, You have obtained faith ; I hear of it, for it is everywhere openly declared ; so, 1 Thess. i. 8, he says, that the faith of the Thessalonians is spread abroad in every place. — iv oXurf jtoV/xw, throughout the whole world) The Divine good- ness and wisdom established the faith in the principal cities, especially in Jerusalem and Pome, from which it might be disseminated throughout the whole ’world.
9. Mdprvg, witness) A pious asseveration respecting a matter necessary [Paul’s secret prayer for them], and hidden from men, especially from those, who were remote and unknown, — 2 Cor.