Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: HOPE (10/29/20)
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TITLE: Heavenly Storage | Previous Challenge Entry
By Bruce Phenix
11/05/20 -
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What does Paul mean when he says that a ‘hope’ is ‘laid up in heaven’ for the Colossians? The Greek word translated as ‘laid up’ literally means ‘put away’, ‘put by’ or ‘put aside’, and is used of something stowed away, in store or in reserve. There is evidence from ancient inscriptions that the word was also a technical term for the granting of rewards for loyal service to the subjects of Oriental sovereigns. The Colossians’ ‘hope’ therefore seems to be the spiritual reward of salvation and eternal life which God has already granted and reserved for them and which they may claim in heaven if they remain loyal to Jesus’s teaching. The same Greek word is used in Paul’s second letter to Timothy when he says that the crown of righteousness is ‘reserved’ for him by the Lord (2 Timothy 4:8).
We may compare this hope stored up in heaven with the imperishable inheritance that Peter says is ‘kept in heaven’ for the scattered Christians he is writing to (1 Peter 1:4). And we may also think of Jesus’s instruction in Matthew 6:19-21 and Luke 12:33-34 to store up heavenly rather than earthly treasures. Earthly treasures such as money, precious metals or jewels may be stolen by burglars; costly garments may be consumed by moths, rust or vermin; and purses or money bags may wear out. Heavenly treasures, on the other hand, are unfailing.
Another striking image relating to the keeping of treasure occurs in 2 Corinthians 4:7, where Paul writes that he and the other apostles have the ‘treasure’ of the gospel in clay vessels. Here he is quite possibly comparing the frail and temporary ‘vessel’ of the human body with the cheap, fragile and disposable earthenware oil-lamps sold in the marketplace in Corinth. Paul seems to be saying that the human frailty of God’s messengers makes it obvious to the world that the glorious light and power of the gospel they carry come from him, not from them.
The Christian has a different perspective on rewards and treasures from the earthly or material one. The gospel is the treasure that lasts, the light that does not go out. The hope of salvation and eternal life that is already ‘laid up in heaven’ for us, as for the Colossians, should inspire our efforts and our loyalty. For, in Jesus’s beautifully poetic expression, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
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