3. μνημονεύοντες] ‘ remembering’ (Vg.memores, Est.memoria recolentes) in accordance with the general N.T. usage of the verb when construed with the gen., cf. Luke 17:32, Acts 20:35, Galatians 2:10. When construed with the acc. as in 2:9, Matthew 16:9; Matthew 16:16; 2 Timothy 2:8, Revelation 18:5, it is rather ‘ hold in remembrance.’ In Hebrews 11:22 with περί it is = ‘ make mention of,’ perhaps also in the same sense with the simple gen. in v. 15 (see Westcott ad l.). This second participial clause introduces us to the first mention of the famous Pauline triad of graces, viewed however not in themselves but in their results, the gen. in each case being subjective, so that the meaning is practically, ‘ remembering how your faith works, and your love toils, and your hope endures’ (cf. Blass, p. 96). The whole is thus a ‘ brevis Christianismi veri definitio’ (Calv.), while the order in which the graces are hero mentioned is not only in itself the natural order (cf. 5:8 and Colossians 1:4-5 with Lft.’ s note, ‘ Faith rests on the past; love works in the present; hope looks to the future’ ), but assigns to hope the prominence we would expect in an Ep. devoted so largely to eschatological teaching: cf. for the same order of results Revelation 2:2 οἶδατὰἔργασου, καὶτὸνκόπονκαὶτὴνὑπομονήνσου. ὑμῶν] placed first for emphasis and to be repeated with each of the three clauses. τ. ἔργουτ. πίστεως] not to be limited to any particular act of faith, but comprehending the whole Christian life-work, as it is ruled and energized by faith, cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:11, Galatians 5:6 (πίστιςδιʼ ἀγάπηςἐνεργουμένη), James 2:18 ff. The meaning of πίστις in the N.T. and in some Jewish writings is discussed by SH. p. 31 ff.: see also the careful note in Lietzmann Römerbrief p. 24 f. (in Handbuch zum N.T. 3. 1, 1906). καὶτ. κόπουτ. ἀγάπης] As distinguished from ἔργον, κόπος brings out not only the issue of work, but the cost associated with it: cf. its use in the vernacular for πόνος, e.g. B.G.U. 844, 10 f. (1./a.d.) κόπουςγάρμο[ι] παρέχει. ἀσθενοῦντει. It is thus here the laborious toil (Grot. molesti labores) from which love in its zeal for others does not shrink; cf. Revelation 2:2 f. For the use made of the word by St Paul to describe the character of his own life cf. 2:9, 3:5, 2 Thessalonians 3:8, 2 Corinthians 6:5; 2 Corinthians 11:23; 2 Corinthians 11:27, and for the corresponding verb κοπιάω see the note on 5:12. Ἀγάπη, not found in class, writers, is one of the great words of the N.T., where it is taken over from the LXX. to describe the new religious-ethical principle of love that Christianity has created (cf. SH. p. 374 ff.). The contention however, that it is a word actually ‘ born within the bosom of revealed religion’ can no longer be rigidly maintained: cf. Deissmann BS. p. 198 ff., and see further Ramsay Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia 1. p. 492, also Exp. T. 9. p. 567 f. καὶτ. ὑπομονῆςτ. ἐλπίδος] Ὑπομονή, though not unknown to profane literature, has also come like ἀγάπη to be closely associated with a distinctively Christian virtue. It is more than passive ‘ patience’ (O.L. patientia) under trial, and is rather a ‘ verbum bellicum’ pointing to the heroic ‘ endurance,’ the manly ‘ constancy’ (Vg. sustinentia), with which the Christian believer faces the difficulties that beset him in the world: cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 3:5, Romans 5:3 f., 2 Corinthians 6:4, Hebrews 12:1, Revelation 1:9; and for a full discussion of ὑπομονή and its synonyms see Trench Syn. § 53. τ. κυρίουἡμῶνκτλ.] The sentence would naturally have finished with ἐλπίδος, but in characteristic fashion St Paul lengthens it out by the addition of two clauses, both of which are best taken as dependent on ἐλπίδος alone, rather than on all three substantives. The first clause sets before us the true object of hope—τ. κυρίουἡμ. Ἰης. Χρ. (gen. obj.), in accordance with the teaching of the whole Ep. which centres Christian hope in the thought of the speedy Parousia of Christ: cf. Colossians 1:27 Χριστὸςἐνὑμῖν, ἡἐλπὶςτῆςδόξης and see Intr. p. 69 f. The second clause emphasizes the Divine presence in which this hope is manifested—ἔμπροσθεντ. θεοῦκ. πατρὸςἡμῶν, words which may be rendered either ‘ before God and our Father,’ or ‘ before our God and Father.’ The latter rendering is preferable, as the art., in itself unnecessary, is apparently introduced to bind the two clauses together, and to connect both with ἡμῶν: cf. Galatians 1:4 (with Lft.’ s note), Philippians 4:20, the only other places where the exact phrase occurs. The strongly affirmatory ἔμπροσθεντ. θεοῦκτλ. is characteristic of this Ep., cf. 2:19 (τ. κυρίου), 3:9, 3:13. For the more usual ἐνώπιοντ. θεοῦ see Romans 14:22, 1 Corinthians 1:29 al.