Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Colossians · About this commentary
Faith, Love, and Hope Laid Up
Colossians 1:3-5
3 We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, · WEB
The familiar triad appears again, and this time hope is not a companion of the other two but their source.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying for you. Paul is thanking God for people he has never seen, on the strength of a report — the same position he was in with the Thessalonians, though there he had at least founded the church.
The triad follows: faith in Christ Jesus, love toward all the saints, and hope. It is the sequence that runs through his letters 1 Thessalonians 1:3 1 Corinthians 13:13.
But the arrangement here is different, and the difference is the point. The faith and love exist because of the hope laid up for you in the heavens. Hope is not listed third as the last of three virtues; it is named as the ground the other two grow from.
And it is described as laid up — a word for something stored away and reserved, kept somewhere safe rather than held in the hand. In a letter written to people being offered spiritual advancement, the thing that matters most is already deposited elsewhere, out of reach of anything they could add or lose.
settled What this mark means