τὴν ἀποκειμένην] ‘which is stored up.’ It is the θησαυρὸς ἐν οὐρανῷ of the Gospels (Matt. vi. 20, 21, Luke xii. 34, xviii. 22).
προηκούσατε] ‘of which ye were told in time past.’ The preposition seems intended to contrast their earlier with their later lessons—the true Gospel of Epaphras with the false gospel of their recent teachers (see the next note). The expression would gain force, if we might suppose that the heretical teachers obscured or perverted the doctrine of the resurrection (comp. 2 Tim. ii. 18); and their speculative tenets were not unlikely to lead to such a result. But this is not necessary; for under any circumstances the false doctrine, as leading them astray, tended to cheat them of their hope; see ver. 23. The common interpretations, which explain προ- as meaning either ‘before its fulfilment’ or ‘before my writing to you,’ seem neither so natural in themselves nor so appropriate to the context.
τῆς ἀληθείας τοῦ εὐαγγελίου] ‘the truth of the Gospel,’ i.e. the true and genuine Gospel as taught by Epaphras, and not the spurious substitute of these later pretenders: comp. ver. 6 ἐν ἀληθείᾳ. See also Gal. ii. 5, 14, where a similar contrast is implied in the use of ἡ ἀληθεία τοῦ εὐαγγελίου.
6. τοῦ παρόντος εἰς ὑμᾶς ‘which reached you.’ The expression παρεῖναι εἰς is not uncommon in classical writers; comp. παρεῖναι πρὸς in Acts xii. 20, Gal. iv. 18, 20. So also εὑρεθῆναι εἰς (Acts viii. 40), γενέσθαι εἰς (e.g. Acts xxv. 15), and even εἶναι εἰς (Luke xi. 7). See Winer § l. p. 516 sq.
ἐν παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ] For a similar hyperbole see Rom. i. 8 ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ; comp. 1 Thess. i. 8, 2 Cor. ii. 14, ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ. More lurks under these words than appears on the surface. The true Gospel, the Apostle seems to say, proclaims its truth by its universality. The false gospels are the outgrowths of local circumstances, of special idiosyncrasies; the true Gospel is the same everywhere. The false gospels address themselves to limited circles; the true Gospel proclaims itself boldly throughout the world. Heresies are at best ethnic: truth is essentially catholic. See ver. 23 μὴ μετακινούμενοι ἀπὸ τῆς ἐλπίδος τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ὁῦ ἠκούσατε, τοῦ κηρυχθέντος ἐν πάσῃ κτίσει τῇ ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν.
I. 6]
[← ] καρποφορούμενον καὶ αὐξανόμενον, καθὼς καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν, ἀφ’ ἧς ἡμέρας ἠκούσατε καὶ ἐπέγνωτε τὴν χάριν τοῦ [ →]
ἐστὶν καρποφορούμενον] ‘is constantly bearing fruit.’ The fruit, which the Gospel bears without fail in all soils and under every climate, is its credential, its verification, as against the pretensions of spurious counterfeits. The substantive verb should here be taken with the participle, so as to express continuity of present action; as in 2 Cor. ix. 12 οὐ μόνον ἐστὶν προσαναπληροῦσα κ.τ.λ., Phil. ii. 26 ἐπιποθῶν ἦν. It is less common in St Paul than in some of the Canonical writers, e.g. St Mark and St Luke; but probably only because he deals less in narrative.
Of the middle καρποφορεῖσθαι no other instance has been found. The voice is partially illustrated by κωδωνοφορεῖσθαι, σιδηροφορεῖσθαι, τυμπανοφορεῖσθαι, though, as involving a different sense of -φορεῖσθαι ‘to wear,’ these words are not exact parallels. Here the use of the middle is the more marked, inasmuch as the active occurs just below (ver. 10) in the same connexion, καρποφοροῦντες καὶ αὐξανόμενοι. This fact however points to the force of the word here. The middle is intensive, the active extensive. The middle denotes the inherent energy, the active the external diffusion. The Gospel is essentially a reproductive organism, a plant whose ‘seed is in itself.’ For this ‘dynamic’ middle see Moulton’s note on Winer § xxxviii. p. 319.