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Col_1:5. Διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα κ . τ . λ .] on account of the hope, etc., does not belong to εὐχαρ . Col_1:3 (Bengel, “ex spe patet, quanta sit causa gratias agendi pro dono fidei et amoris;” comp. Bullinger, Zanchius, Calovius, Elsner, Michaelis, Zachariae, Storr, Rosenmüller, Hofmann, and others), because the ground for the apostolic thanksgiving at the beginnings of the Epistles, as also here at Col_1:4, always consists in the Christian character of the readers (Rom_1:8; 1Co_1:4 ff.; Eph_1:15; Php_1:5; 1Th_1:3; 2Th_1:3; 2Ti_1:5; Phm_1:5), and that indeed as a ground in itself,[12] and therefore not merely on account of what one has in future to hope from it; and, moreover, because εὐχαριστεῖν with ΔΙΆ and the accusative does not occur anywhere in the N. T. It is connected with ἫΝ ἜΧΕΤΕ Κ . Τ . Λ ., and thus specifies the motive ground of the love; for love guarantees the realization of the salvation hoped for. So correctly, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Erasmus, Calvin, Estius, Steiger, Bleek, and others. The more faith is active through love, the richer one becomes εἰς Θεόν (Luk_12:21), and this riches forms the contents of hope. He who does not love remains subject to death (1Jn_3:14), and his faith profits him nothing (1Co_13:1-3). It is erroneous to refer it jointly to πίστις , so as to make the hope appear here as ground of the faith and the love; so Grotius and others, including Bähr, Olshausen, and de Wette; comp. Baumgarten-Crusius and Ewald. For ἣν ἔχετε (or the Rec. τήν ) indicates a further statement merely as regards ΤῊΝ ἈΓΆΠΗΝ ; and with this accords the close of the whole outburst, which in Col_1:8 emphatically reverts to ΤῊΝ ὙΜῶΝ ἈΓΆΠΗΝ .
The ἘΛΠΊς is here conceived objectively (comp. ἐλπ . βλεπομένη , Rom_8:24): our hope as to its objective contents, that which we hope for. Comp. Job_6:8; 2Ma_7:14, and see on Rom_8:24 and Gal_5:5; Zöckler, de vi ac notione voc. ἐλπίς , Giss. 1856, p. 26 ff.
ΤῊΝ ἈΠΟΚΕΙΜ . ὙΜῖΝ ἘΝ Τ . ΟὐΡ .] What is meant is the Messianic salvation forming the contents of the hope (1Th_5:8; Rom_5:2; Rom_8:18 ff.; Col_3:3 f.), which remains deposited, that is, preserved, laid up (Luk_19:20), in heaven for the Christian until the Parousia, in order to be then given to him.[13] On ἀποκ . comp. 2Ti_4:8; 2Ma_12:45; Kypke, II. p. 320 f.; Loesner, p. 360; Jacobs, ad Ach. Tat. p. 678. Used of death, Heb_9:27; of punishments, Plat. Locr. p. 104 D, 4Ma_8:10. As to the idea, comp. the conception of the treasure in heaven (Mat_6:20; Mat_19:21; 1Ti_6:19), of the reward in heaven (see on Mat_5:12), of the πολίτευμα in heaven (see on Php_3:20), of the κληρονομία τετηρημένη ἐν οὐραν . (1Pe_1:4), and of the βραβεῖον τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως (Php_3:14).
ἣν προηκούσατε κ . τ . λ .] Certainty of this hope, which is not an unwarranted subjective fancy, but is objectively conveyed to them through the word of truth previously announced. The πρό in προηκούσατε (Herod, viii. 79; Plat. Legg vii. p. 797 A; Xen. Mem. ii. 4. 7; Dem. 759. 26, 955. 1; Joseph. Antt. viii. 12. 3) does not denote already formerly, whereby Paul premises se nihil allaturum novi (Calvin and many), but must be said with reference to the future, to which the hope belongs; hence the sense imported by Ewald: where with the word of truth began among you (Mar_1:15), is the less admissible. The conception is rather, that the contents of the ἐλπίς , the heavenly salvation, is the great future blessing, the infallible pre-announcement of which they have heard. As previously announced, it is also previously heard.
τῆς ἀληθείας is the contents of the λόγος (comp. on Eph_1:13); and by τοῦ εὐαγ ., the ἀλήθεια , that is, the absolute truth, is specifically defined as that of the gospel, that is, as that which is announced in the gospel. Both genitives are therefore to be left in their substantive form (Erasmus, Heinrichs, Baumgarten-Crusius, and many others understand τῆς ἀληθ . as adjectival: sermo verax; comp. on the contrary, on ἀλήθ . τοῦ εὐαγγ ., Gal_2:5; Gal_2:14), so that the expression advances to greater definiteness. The circumstantiality has something solemn about it (comp. 2Co_9:4); but this is arbitrarily done away, if we regard τοῦ εὐαγγ . as the genitive of apposition to τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθ . (Calvin, Beza, and many others, including Flatt, Bähr, Steiger, Böhmer, Huther, Olshausen, de Wette, Hofmann); following Eph_1:13, Paul would have written τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ .
[12] In opposition to the view of Hofmann, that Paul names the reason why the news of the faith and love of the readers had become to him a cause of thanksgiving.
[13] It is erroneous to say that the Parousia no longer occurs in our Epistle. It is the substratum of the ἐλπὶς ἀποκ . ἐν τ . οὐρ . Comp. Col_3:1 ff. (in opposition to Mayerhoff, and Holtzmann, p. 203 f.).