And the Lord make you. — The word you in the Greek is emphatic and stands first. The wish in the previous verse concerned the writers:” But you (whether we come or not) may the Lord make,” &c. By “the Lord” here St. Paul seems to mean not only the Son: the word appears to be an equivalent for the name of God.
Increase and abound. — These words make the readers think first of progress and then of the state to which the progress will bring them — “Multiply you in love until you have enough and to spare of it” — and the same progress is expressed by the objects of the swelling charity: “So that you may not only love one another abundantly, but all mankind — missionary efforts being the supreme work of Christian love — “such loving missionary work” (the writers go on to say) “as ours among you.”