in place of `in'.  The word translated `in' is the Greek preposition epi.

This preposition when it governs the dative as it does here, is translated in

the A.V. `in' 52 times, `on' 10 times and `upon' 16; so that while its

primary meaning is `resting upon' (Green), `on, above, or over' (Winer),

`superposition' (The Companion Bible), the fact that the A.V. translates the

word `in' 52 times as against `on' and `upon' 26 times, must not be ignored.

Upon examination we shall discover that `on' might just as well have been

used, for example `on a charger' would be truer to fact than `in a charger'

(Matt. 14:11); and consequently the effect of mere number of examples does

not weigh very much as evidence.

It may be exceedingly difficult to explain why, in Mark 9:37 and 39 `In

My name' employs the preposition epi `on', and in verse 41 `In my Name' uses

the preposition en `in'.  The reader should therefore be very chary of

attempting to draw distinctions which may not actually exist.  When however

we limit our investigation to the phrase `in hope' we discover that the

preposition en `in' is used but twice, namely in Romans 15:13 and Ephesians

4:4, but that in eight places the phrase `in hope' is in the Greek ep'

elpidi.  The passages are as follows, and for the sake of clarity we will

alter each passage to read `on' instead of `in'.

`Also My flesh shall rest on hope' (Acts 2:26).

`Who against hope believed on hope' (Rom. 4:18).

`Rejoice on hope of the glory of God' (Rom. 5:2).

`Him Who hath subjected the same on hope' (Rom. 8:20).

`Should plough on hope ... thresheth on hope' (1 Cor. 9:10).

`On hope of eternal life' (Titus 1:2).

`Every man that hath this hope on Him' (1 John 3:3).

This last reference will illustrate the importance of care in the translation

of this phrase.  `Every man that hath this hope In Him' might lead the reader

to think of the hope which he entertains in his own heart; the R.V. to

counteract such a thought reads: `And every one that hath this hope set on

Him', thereby turning the believer's gaze away from anything within himself

to Christ, Who sits at the right hand on high.  Green, in his Handbook, reads

Romans 8:20 as:

`Resting on the basis of a hope that, etc'.

The reader would be helped if he returned to the list given above and

read, in each case, `resting on the basis of hope'.  This hope in Titus 1:2

is the hope of eternal life.  Dispensations change and the books of the New

Testament belong to more than one dispensation, but whether it be the gospel

of the kingdom as taught in Matthew, the world wide gospel as revealed in

John, the preaching of the apostle Paul at Antioch, his early epistles, the

Pastoral epistles, or the epistle of Jude, `eternal life' is held before the

wondering faith of the believer, even though it be associated with different

conditions according to the dispensation obtaining when the subject was made

known.  The five `Prison Epistles' (Eph.; Phil.; Col.; 2 Tim.; Philem.) make

no reference to eternal life, neither do Hebrews, 1 and 2 Peter, nor the book

of the Revelation, but Peter's omission is covered by Jude, whose epistle is

very similar to the second chapter of 2 Peter, and Hebrews implies it by

reason of the references to eternal salvation, eternal inheritance and the

everlasting covenant.  The omission from the Prison epistles is made up by

the inclusion of the term in the epistles to 1 Timothy and to Titus.