<p>2:16 <i>Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace</i>- &quot;Grace&quot; often refers to the gift of the Spirit (see on :13). The love of the Lord Jesus was in dying for us (Rom. 8:37; Gal. 2:20), and His death was likewise the Father's love for us (Jn. 3:16). It was through that death that the Comforter, the Spirit which would abide eternally, was given (Jn. 14-16). The ideas here are all connected together in Rom. 5:5: &quot;Hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us&quot;. The gift of the Spirit in our hearts, the Comforter, sanctifies us and propels us on the journey towards salvation (:13)</p><p><i>Everlasting consolation- </i>This comfort has been given us, and yet Paul prays they might have this comfort (:17). Clearly enough he realized that so much potential spiritual help is available, but it doesn&rsquo;t come automatically into our lives in practice; it must be perceived, desired and prayed for. Thus Paul prays that the Lord Jesus would &ldquo;establish&rdquo; them in their works (cp. Ps. 90:17) and then confidently proclaims in 3:3 that He will indeed do this for them- so confident was he that his prayer for their innermost strengthening would be heard. The eternal nature of the Holy Spirit comforter is in that we are now being sanctified, made holy (:13), transformed into the kind of characters we shall eternally be. In this sense the Comfort would abide with us for ever (Jn. 14:16).</p>