Faith Love and Hope.

angelystovar (49)in #steemchurch • 6 years ago

God bless all my brothers of steemchurch.

For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints, because of the hope that is kept in heaven. From this hope you have already heard by the true word of the gospel "

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Here Paul united the trinity of grace for believers: (1) faith that refers to the past, (2) love, which refers to the present, and (3) hope, which refers to the future.

The apostle was going to talk about the positive aspects of these believers. They had faith towards God. Faith is based on historical facts; It is based on the past. It was grounded in what they had heard before, in the true word of the gospel. This phrase referred to the content of the gospel, to the great truths that belong to the gospel of the grace of God. God has left us the only choice of a cross, and asks us to believe in Him. You have not really heard the gospel until you have heard of something to believe in. The gospel is not something we have to do. It informs us of what He did for you and for me more than 2,000 years ago. Said the same Paul in Romans 10:17, Faith comes from hearing, and hearing, by the word of God. Faith is not a leap in the dark. It consists in relying on historical facts; is to believe in God.

And verse 4 also says And of the love you have for all the saints. Just as faith is based on the past, love is for the present.

There is no point in boasting of having a Biblical or orthodox doctrine, and at the same time spending time criticizing other Christians, trying to find faults or defects in them. The world is not interested in that approach. The world observes whether Christians love each other or not. It is hypocrisy to consider oneself a Christian and not to show love for those who are spiritually brothers. If we do not agree with our brothers, we must have patience with them, pray for them, and love them. Remember that a Christian is a sinner saved by the grace of God. None of us will ever be perfect in this life.

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These Colossians had some good things. They remained firm in their faith towards God. Their beliefs were supported by the apostolic doctrinal foundation and they also showed love for their brothers. And in verse 5, Paul said they had hope for the future. Another version translates the phrase because of the hope reserved for you in the heavens.

Paul presented these three graces, but he listed them in a slightly different way. And he said in verse 13: Now faith, hope and love remain, these three: but the greatest of them is love. He placed hope in second place, and love in the last place. Why? Because love is the only thing that will remain. Love is for the present, it is true, (as we indicated before), but it will be projected in eternity. So it's very important that we start showing love here on earth, do not you think?

Now, in the first part of verse 5 it says, as we have just read: Because of the hope that is kept in heaven for you. This phrase refers to happy hope. We have to look forward to the coming of Christ; we should wait with love.

From this hope you have already heard by the true Word of the Gospel. Now, the gospel is a simple message that God asks you to simply believe it. You are asked to believe based on certain facts. He was born of a virgin. He performed miracles. He is the God-Man. He died on a cross. He was buried. And resurrected. He ascended back to heaven. He sent the Holy Spirit into the world on the day of Pentecost to form the Church. And today Christ is sitting in the place of honor at the right hand of God. Now, His position there indicates that our redemption has been consummated. And we are asked to enter into that spiritual rest He offers to those who come to Him. He has a ministry of intercession present for us. And we believe that it also has other ministries. And finally, He is going to return to this earth again. And all these facts are part of that glorious gospel. This is the content of the gospel, as Paul here expressed it.

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