1 Thessalonians 3:12

and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you:

In 1 Thessalonians 3:10, Paul had mentioned what might be lacking in their faith, and here is a hint of one area in which they were not perfect. They no doubt loved one another, but Paul prayed that they might "abound and increase, but Paul prayed that they might "abound and increase" in that mutual love; and then, daringly, he extended it to require their love "toward all men"! In this virtue the Thessalonians, like all people, fell far short of the high and holy standards of true Christianity. As Morris declared, "The Christian quality of [Greek: agape] is never natural to man, and comes only to him who has been transformed by the power of God."[19]