Colossians 1:5

for the hope I.e. on account of the hope. "That blessed hope," full of Christ, and the object of an intensely unitedexpectation, gave special occasion, by its nature, for the exercise alike of the faith and the love just mentioned.

"Faith, love, hope," thus appear together, as 1 Corinthians 13:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; and cp. 1 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 1:5; 1 Peter 1:22. Lightfoot compares also Polycarp, Ep. to the Philippians, c. 3: "Faith, which is the mother of us all, followed by hope, whose precursor is love." See Lightfoot's note on that place (Apost. Fathers, Pt. ii. vol. ii. sect. ii. p. 911). The interaction of the three great graces has many different aspects. Faith, which alone accepts Christ, and so unites us to Him, is indeed the antecedent in the deepest sense to both the others, and their abiding basis. But in the experience of the life and walk of grace, faith itself may be stimulated by either or both of the sister-graces; and so on.

Meanwhile "hope" here, strictly speaking, is not the subjective grace but its glorious object, the Return of the exalted Lord to receive His people to Himself. See e.g. Philippians 3:20, with our note; Tit 2:13; 1 Peter 1:4-7; Revelation 22:20.

laid up for you in heaven See for a close parallel, 1 Peter 1:4; and cp. Hebrews 11:16; Hebrews 13:14.

" In heaven:" lit., in the heavens; as often in N.T. On this plural see our note on Ephesians 4:10. The hope is "laid up" there, because He who is its Essence (1 Timothy 1:1; cp. below Colossians 1:27) is there, "sitting at the right hand of God" (below, Colossians 3:1); and our final enjoyment of it, whatever the detailsof locality may prove to be, whatever e.g. be the destiny of this earth with regard to the abode of the Blessed, will take place under the full manifestation of His presence in heavenlyglory. See our Lord's own words, Matthew 6:20-21; Luke 12:34; Luke 18:22; John 14:3; John 17:24.

ye heard before He might have said simply, "ye heard." But the expression "seems intended to contrast their earlier with their later lessons the true Gospel of Epaphras with the false gospel of their recent teachers" (Lightfoot). On that "false gospel" see below, on Colossians 2:8, etc., and Introd., ch. 4.

the truth of the gospel Not merely "the true Gospel," but that holy and mighty Truth, "Jesus and the Resurrection" (Acts 17:18), which is the basis and the characteristic of the one Gospel. The rivals of that Gospel could produce on the contrary only arbitrary assertions and a priorispeculations, the cloud of a theory of existence and of observance instead of the rock of Jesus Christ.

The word "Gospel" (euangelion) occurs more than 60 times in St Paul's writings and addresses; elsewhere, 12 times in SS. Matthew and Mark together, once in the Acts, once in St Peter, once in the Revelation. The expositor must never forget its true meaning; "good tidings." Paradoxically but truly it has been said that the Gospel as suchcontains no precepts and no threatenings, though deeply and vitally related to Divine law and judgment. Its burthen is Jesus Christ as our perfect Peace, Life, and Hope, with a Divine welcome in His name to sinful man, believing.