3:7 in: Epi with a dative. Here, and in 2Cor. 7:7, the apostle states what gave occasion for comfort to him -- the circumstance, not the cause. It is a similar construction in ver. 9: 'for all the joy.' We can say 'for' perhaps there, but it is the occasion of his thanksgiving; his thanksgiving was conditional; that was necessary to it as a condition precedent.