3:8 For now we {a} live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.
(a) For now you cannot otherwise think of me as at rest and in a good state of being, unless you go forward in religion and faith.
3:8 For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. How tender his affection for them if he could say that good news from them filled him with new life!
3:8 Now we live - Indeed; we enjoy life: so great is our affection for you.
3:6-10 Thankfulness to God is very imperfect in the present state; but one great end of the ministry of the word is to help faith forward. That which was the instrument to obtain faith, is also the means of increasing and confirming it, namely, the ordinances of God; and as faith cometh by hearing, so it is confirmed by hearing also.
