Matthew Poole and continuators on Colossians 1:23

23 If ye continue in faith grounded and setled , and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which ye have heard , and whi[illegible: 1 letter]h was preached to every creature which is under heaven , whereof I Paul am made a minister .

This if doth not import the believers continuance in faith to depend meerly upon their own free will, or a carnal doubting of being kept to Salvation, 1 Pet. 1.5. but infer that they are then reconciled to God when they do indeed persevere in the faith; implying that by reason of the seducers amongst them all and every might not really have that sound faith they would be thought to have. Wherefore the Apostle engageth them to prove their faith, whereby onely they can have peace with God, Rom. 5.1. to be real by taking care it be well founded and firm, Mat. 13.23. as an House built on a sure foundation, a Tree well rooted, Eph. 3.17, 18 Heb. 13.9.

And be not as temporary believers which have no root, Luk. 8.13. or as those who want anchor-hold are toss'd to and fro, Eph. 4.14. and put off from that hope of Eternal Life, set before us in the Gospel, which is sure and certain, Heb. 6.18.19. upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, Eph. 2.20. the sweet promises of Eternal Life.

Not the works of vain Philosophy which leave the minds of Men unsetled, but the plain and solid doctrines of Christ, wherein the believers at Colosse had been instructed, v. 7.

And which the faithfull Apostles according to the commission of Christ, had Promulg'd to every creature beneath the Heavens, i. e. Every rational creature here below, i. e. to all men, collectively, or Nations in the world as, v. 6. Mat. 28.19. Mark. 16.15. Creature with the Hebrews doth eminently signifie Man, by an Antonomasie, or a Synecdoche putting the general for a particular. In the original it is in all the creature and so it may be in all the World, (creature being sometimes used for the systeme of the World, Rom. 8.19, 20, 21.) in opposition to Iudea, i. e. in those other parts of the Earth w[illegible: 1 letter]i[illegible: 1 letter]h the Greeks and Romans knew to be then inhabited, under Heaven which is a pleonasm but of the greatest emphasis as, Act. 4.12.

And the more to confirm them in what he had said, he adds of this Gospel of reconciliation so spread, he was immediately called, Gal. 1.1. and constituted to be a Minister for the promulgation of it amongst the Gentiles, it being with others most notably committed to him, 2 Cor. 5.19. 1 Tim. 1.11.