Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

3:11-13 A Pastoral Prayer for the Thessalonians. Paul concludes his thanksgiving and encouragement (1:3-3:13) with a pastoral prayer for his converts. He prays that he may be able to revisit the community (3:11) and that the Thessalonians will abound in love (v. 12), with the result that they will be blamelessly holy at Jesus' second coming (v. 13). The fact that holiness will characterize those who participate in the second coming lends urgency to Paul's teaching on sexual holiness in 4:3-8. In 5:23-24 Paul assures the Thessalonians that God will produce the necessary holiness in them.