A Growing Faith: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-10, especially vs. 3: "We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, as is fitting, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing." (RSV) We cannot help but admire the early Christians in Thessalonika, a church of blessed souls with "patience and faith in all [their] persecutions and tribulations"(vs. 4). St. Paul was bound to give thanks to God for such disciples, for their faith had grown from simple trust, as a result of his preaching (vs. 10), into robust, mature reliance on Christ that manifested itself plainly in greater and greater mutual love, patience, and endurance (vss. 3,4). What may we learn from the Apostle about growing faith?
The first thing we surely ought to acknowledge is that faith is a gift from God. The miracle of this gift in a person's life must necessarily be traced straight back to Him Who is the cause in the Faithful of all true, robust, and mature belief. If we yearn for such faith, it is to Christ our God that we must turn to ask for it, to beg for it, and to hope for it.
Yes, our God sends out Apostles and preachers Yes, they preach the Gospel. And, yes, men believe (Rom. 10:14). For Heaven's sake, we have believed! But here, the Apostle Paul tells us that all these steps are from God. The Saint invites us to marvel at God for giving us faith - which is exactly how St. John Chrysostom understood St. Paul: "For...it is His riches that there are faithful men...His beneficence. 'And to be marveled at,' he [St. Paul] says, 'in all them that believed,' that is, 'through them that believed.' See here again, 'in' is used for 'through.' For through them He is shown to be admirable." The Apostle Paul was sent. He preached. And with his own eyes, he saw men and women in Thessalonika believe - a miracle of God!
Given that faith is a gift of God, how, after one receives the gift of believing in God, does one then develop a mature and robust faith that St. Paul saw in those early Thessalonian believers? Moving beyond what we have already seen, let us agree with St. John Cassian when he points out that growth in the faith, like faith itself, comes from God. As he says, "So much did the Apostles realize that everything which pertains to salvation was bestowed on them by the Lord that they...said: 'Increase our faith' (Lk. 17:5), for they did not presume that its fullness would come from free will but believed that it would be conferred on them by a gift of God."
Still, let us be cautious here. God's gift of faith - something which clearly He initially bestows and which reaches supra-human heights only by His grace - does not flower without the active reception and implementation by mortal sinners. We must participate with God the Lord, first in receiving faith and, afterwards, in its subsequent growth into great faith. We find solid clues which support this point scattered all through the present passage from Second Thessalonians as St. Paul commends the efforts of the good people of that congregation. He notes their patience (vs. 3), their endurance (vs. 4), their suffering (vs. 5), and their believing in the apostolic message which was preached in their midst (vs. 10).
St. John Chrysostom takes up the issue of growing faith this way: "And how, you say, can faith increase? It does so when we suffer something horrible for the sake of faith. It is a great thing for faith to be solidly established and not to be carried away by some sophistry. But when the winds assail us, when the rains burst upon us, when a violent storm is raised on every side and the waves follow upon one another, the fact that we are not shaken is a proof that faith grows, grows abundantly and becomes more exalted." Since suffering is our common lot, let us receive those trials that God lets befall us in hope, trusting in Him to see our faith enlarge.
Endow us with patience to endure our tribulations that we may rejoice in Thy mercy.