J. B. Lightfoot on Colossians 1:7-9

^9Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς, ἀφ’ ἧς ἡμέρας ἠκούσαμεν, οὐ παυόμεθα ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν προσευχόμενοι καὶ αἰτούμενοι ἵνα πληρωθῆτε τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ ἐν 9–14. ‘Hearing then that ye thus abound in works of faith and love, we on our part have not ceased, from the day when we received the happy tidings, to pray on your behalf. And this is the purport of our petitions; that ye may grow more and more in knowledge, till ye attain to the perfect understanding of God’s will, being endowed with all wisdom to apprehend His verities and all intelligence to follow His processes, living in the mind of the Spirit—to the end that knowledge may manifest itself in practice, that your conduct in life may be worthy of your profession in the Lord, so as in all ways to win for you the gracious favour of God your King. Thus, while ye bear fruit in every good work, ye will also grow as the tree grows, being watered and refreshed by this knowledge, as by the dew of heaven: thus will ye be strengthened in all strength, according to that power which centres in and spreads from His glorious manifestation of Himself, and nerved to all endurance under affliction and all long-suffering under provocation, not only without complaining, but even with joy: thus finally (for this is the crown of all), so rejoicing ye will pour forth your thanksgiving to the Universal Father, who prepared and fitted us all—you and us alike—to take possession of the portion which His goodness has allotted to us among the saints in the kingdom of light. Yea, by a strong arm He rescued us from the lawless tyranny of Darkness, removed us from the land of our bondage, and settled us as free citizens in our new and glorious home, where His Son, the offspring and the representative of His love, is King; even the same, who paid our ransom and thus procured our redemption from captivity—our redemption, which (be assured) is nothing else than the remission of our sins.’ 9. Διὰ τοῦτο] ‘_for this cause_,’ i.e. ‘by reason of your progressive faith and love,’ referring not solely to ὁ καὶ δηλώσας κ.τ.λ. but to the whole of the preceding description. For διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς in an exactly similar connexion, see 1 Thess. ii. 13; comp. Ephes. i. 15 διὰ τοῦτο κἀγὼ κ.τ.λ. In all these cases the καὶ denotes the _response_ of the Apostle’s personal feeling to the favourable character of the news; ‘we on our part.’ This idea of correspondence is still further emphasized by the repetition of the same words: καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἀφ’ ἧς ἡμέρας ἠκούσατε (ver. 6), καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφ’ ἧς ἡμέρας ἠκούσαμεν (ver. 9). καὶ αἰτούμενοι] The words have an exact parallel in Mark xi. 24 (as correctly read) πάντα ὅσα προσεύχεσθε καὶ αἰτεῖσθε. ἵνα] With words like προσεύχεσθαι, αἰτεῖσθαι, etc., the earlier and stronger force of ἵνα, implying _design_, glides imperceptibly into its later and weaker use, signifying merely _purport_ or _result_, so that the two are hardly separable, unless one or other is directly indicated by something in the context. See the notes on Phil. i. 9, and comp. Winer § xliv. p. 420 sq. τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν] A favourite word in the later epistles of St Paul; see the note on Phil. i. 9. In all the four epistles of the first Roman captivity it is an element in the Apostle’s opening prayer for his correspondents’ well-being (Phil. i. 9, Ephes. i. 17, Philem. 6, and here). The greater stress which is thus laid on the contemplative aspects of the Gospel may be explained partly by St Paul’s personal circumstances, partly by the requirements of the Church. His enforced retirement and comparative leisure would lead his own thoughts in this direction, while at the same time the fresh dangers threatening the truth from the side of mystic speculation required to be confronted by an exposition of the Gospel from a corresponding point of view. The compound ἐπίγνωσις is an advance upon γνῶσις, denoting a larger and more thorough knowledge. So Chrysostom here, ἔγνωτε, ἀλλὰ δεῖ τι καὶ ἐπιγνῶναι. Comp. Justin Mart. _Dial._ 3. p. 221 A, ἡ παρέχουσα αὐτῶν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων καὶ τῶν θείων _γνῶσιν_, ἔπειτα τῆς τούτων θειότητος καὶ δικαιοσύνης _ἐπίγνωσιν_. So too St Paul himself contrasts γινώσκειν, γνῶσις, with ἐπιγινώσκειν, ἐπίγνωσις, as the partial with the complete, in two passages, Rom. i. 21, 38, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. With this last passage (ἄρτι γινώσκω ἐκ μέρους, τότε δὲ ἐπιγνώσομαι) compare Clem. Alex. _Strom._ i. 17, p. 369, παρὰ τῶν Ἑβραϊκῶν προφητῶν _μέρη_ τῆς ἀληθείας οὐ κατ’ _ἐπίγνωσιν_ λαβόντες, where κατ’ ἐπίγνωσιν is commonly but wrongly translated ‘without proper recognition’ (comp. Tatian _ad Græc._ 40). Hence also ἐπίγνωσις is used especially of the knowledge of God and of Christ, as being the perfection of knowledge: e.g. Prov. ii. 5, Hos. iv. 1, vi. 6, Ephes. i. 17, iv. 13, 2 Pet. i. 2, 8, ii. 20, Clem. Alex. _Pæd._ ii. 1, p. 173.