Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,
which hath loved us: Thayer comments on the phrase "hath loved us" (agopao) by saying "of the benevolence which God, in providing salvation for men, has exhibited by sending his Son to them and giving him up to death" (3-2-25). The phrase "hath loved us" here is the same word as the word "beloved" in verse 13.