What Does 1 Thessalonians 3:11 Mean?

(11) **God himself and our Father.**—Better, *our God and Father Himself.* If we are to find any special person with whom the word “Himself” is intended to enforce a contrast, the contrast is probably not so much with the baffled efforts of St. Paul, as with Satan, who had hindered the journey. But the word is probably added without such specific reference: “May God Himself direct us; for in that case who could hinder?” **And our Lord . . .**—An important theological passage. From the use of the *singular* in the verb “direct” (which of course the English cannot express), some divines argue in favour of the Catholic doctrine of “homoüsion,” or *substantial* unity of the Son with the Father: it must not, however, be too strongly pressed, or it might otherwise lead to the false notion of a *personal* unity between Them. Nevertheless, we may admit that the prayer (or, rather, *wish*) implies the *equality* of the two Persons, and that it would have been inconceivable for a Catholic Christian to have used the verb in the plural. (See 2Thessalonians 2:17.)