In Greek (see Revised Standard Version) the sentence continues without interruption; Good News Translation has quite radically reconstructed the verse; see also Phillips (Phillips), Translator’s New Testament (Translator’s New Testament), Barclay and New English Bible.
The true message, the Good News: in Greek this phrase is preceded by the preposition en, which some take instrumentally, that is, the gospel was the means by which they heard; it could be taken temporally, “in the time when” (so Moule; Turner admits this is possible). What Paul clearly intends to say is that the Colossians heard of this hope the first time the gospel was announced to them. The gospel is described as the word of truth. The word (ho logos) may be the act of preaching, proclamation, so that “the truth (of) the gospel” can be taken to mean “the true gospel,” as contrasted with the false message proclaimed by the heretics (so Lightfoot Moule New English Bible Translator’s New Testament); or else, “the true message of the gospel” [Goodspeed Twentieth Century (Twentieth Century New Testament)]; or else, “the gospel” is taken in apposition “the true message, that is, the gospel” [so Good News Translation Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch New American Bible (New American Bible); compare Abbott].
In some languages, the concept of true is expressed in one of two different ways. One may speak of (1) “a message about what really happened” or (2) “a message which is worthy of being believed” or “a message which merits confidence.” It is probably the latter of these forms of expressions which is more appropriate, especially in this type of context.
In a number of languages, it is not possible to translate literally Good News since this would imply that in some way or other “news” has some moral quality of “goodness.” A more satisfactory equivalent in a number of languages is “refreshing news,” or “happy news,” or “news which makes one happy.”
The term News is frequently expressed as “recent words” or by some term which combines at least three different components, namely, “recent,” “important,” and “words.”
First came to you, you heard: the compound verb “to hear before” occurs only here in the NT. Some take this “before” to refer to the time before the Colossians had actually hoped or to the time before receiving this letter; both of these possibilities seem highly unlikely. It seems more probable that it here refers to “the first time” they heard the gospel [so New English Bible Goodspeed Phillips French common language translation (Bible en français courant); Moffatt “you heard of this hope originally”]. It was Epaphras who proclaimed the gospel to them (verse 7).
Frequently, one cannot speak of “Good News coming”; only animate objects may actually “come,” and therefore, in this context it may be useful to use some such expression as “when you were first told about the good news” or “when for the first time someone announced the good news to you.”
It is quite clear that the hope does not here represent the attitude of hoping, held by the Colossians, since it is impossible to say that one’s attitude of hoping can be kept safe in heaven, that is, with God; it is, rather, the object of the Colossians’ hope that is kept safe in heaven. This object (as of faith) is, finally, Christ or God himself; but in this context, it seems not to be personal, but to refer to the reward that is kept safe in heaven for God’s people. In general, in the NT “hope” is not simply an uncertain expectation or an unfounded desire; it is assurance confidence, certainty.
Since the hope refers to the object for which one hopes, it may be important to express the hope by a clause, for example, “you heard about what you can hope for.” The term hope involves several important and closely related components of meaning. There is an element of time, often expressed as “waiting for.” A second element suggests some measure of patience, and a third factor is something good which is to happen at the end of a period of waiting. Thus, in this sense, hope is the opposite of “dread.” It may, therefore, be appropriate, in this context, to translate you heard about the hope it offers as “you heard about what the good news says concerning that good which you may expect, as you wait in confidence for it.”
There may be problems involved in speaking of “the Good News offering hope,” but one can usually speak of “the good news which talks about hope,” or “… which is a message about hope,” or “… about what one may hope for.”
In Greek, “the hope” is preceded by the preposition dia “because” (so Revised Standard Version). Some take it here to mean that “the hope” is the foundation or source of the readers’ faith and love. A connection is clearly intended, as Good News Translation so and Revised Standard Version “because” make explicit; see also Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch ja auch.
The statement so your faith and love are based on what you hope for becomes especially complex in languages in which one cannot readily speak of faith and love as nouns but must render these as verbs. This inevitably results in considerable expansion, for example, “this means that the fact that you have confidence in Christ Jesus and love for God’s people is the result of what you have hoped for” or, inversely, “what you hope for is what causes you to put confidence in Christ Jesus and love God’s people.”
The verb translated kept safe occurs only in three other passages in the NT: Luke 19.20, 2 Tim 4.8, and Heb 9.27 (where it is used impersonally). A similar passage (using different words) is found in 1 Peter 1.4. The verb means “put away for safekeeping,” “store up,” “keep safe.”
A more or less literally rendering of kept safe almost immediately suggests that the object of one’s hope is some physical object rather than the experience of the glory which will be the believer’s in the future. Furthermore, in some languages, it is important to render the passive is kept safe as an active verb with the agent, namely, God. Therefore, one must say “God is keeping safe for you in heaven what you are hoping for” or “… for you in heaven the reward that you are confident God will give to you.”
In a number of languages, an important distinction is made between “heaven” as the sky and “heaven” as the abode of God. This latter meaning must then be expressed as “where God is” or “where God dwells.”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .