---
title: 1 Thessalonians 3:11
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-thessalonians-3-11/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-thessalonians-3-11.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Thessalonians 3:11
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Thessalonians 3:11

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus make a way for us to come to you."

## JW Usage

Read as Paul expressing a wish that Jehovah, through Jesus, would open the way for a visit. Because JWs pray only to Jehovah and never to Jesus, a sentence addressing both together is understood as a request directed to the Father in which the Son is mentioned as the means.

## Protestant Usage

This is the strongest single verse in the Pauline-greeting cluster, so keep it for last. Paul names two subjects — our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus — and then uses one verb, and in the Greek that verb is singular. Two persons, one action, addressed together. Paul is praying, and the prayer is directed to both at once. That is difficult to accommodate in a system where prayer belongs to the Father alone and Jesus functions only as a channel. A channel is not co-addressed with the one you are praying to. And the request is not trivial or formal — Paul wants his travel plans arranged, and he asks the Father and the Son jointly to arrange them. Add John 14:14, where Jesus says "if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it," and Acts 7:59, where Stephen prays directly: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Ask kindly what a creature is doing on the receiving end of a prayer alongside the Creator. Compare Philippians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, John 16:23.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Paul's Greeting Puts Jesus Beside the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/pauline-greeting-formula.md) — Galatians 1:1-3 — Co-Source of Grace and Peace [Deity of Christ]