29:14 “But who am I and who are my people, that we should be in a position to contribute this much? 5 Indeed, everything comes from you, and we have simply given back to you what is yours. 6 29:15 For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; 7 our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security. 8 29:16 O Lord our God, all this wealth, which we have collected to build a temple for you to honor your holy name, comes from you; it all belongs to you.
12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, 10 by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God 11 – which is your reasonable service.
1 tn The words “and sovereign” are added in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Heb “head.”
3 tn Heb “wealth and honor [are] from before you.”
4 tn Heb “and in your hand [is] strength and might and in your hand to magnify and to give strength to all.”
5 tn Heb “that we should retain strength to contribute like this.”
6 tn Heb “and from you we have given to you.”
7 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 18, 20).
8 tn Or perhaps “hope.”
9 tn This word comes from the same root as “grace” in the following clause; it means “things graciously given,” “grace-gifts.”
10 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
11 tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.
12 sn Put off all such things. The commands in vv. 8-9 are based on two reasons given in vv. 9-10 – reasons which are expressed in terms of a metaphor about clothing oneself. Paul says that they have put off the old man and have put on the new man. Two things need to be discussed in reference to Paul’s statement. (1) What is the meaning of the clothing imagery (i.e., the “have put off” and “have been clothed”)? (2) What is the meaning of the old man and the new man? Though some commentators understand the participles “have put off” (v. 9) and “have been clothed” (v. 10) as imperatives (i.e., “put off!” and “put on!”), this use of participles is extremely rare in the NT and thus unlikely here. It is better to take them as having the semantic force of indicatives, and thus they give an explanation of what had happened to the Colossians at the time of their conversion – they had taken off the old man and put on the new when they trusted in Christ (cf. 1:4). While it is difficult to say for certain what the background to Paul’s “clothing” metaphor might be (whether it is primarily Jewish and comes from the OT, or primarily Gentile and comes from some facet of the Greco-Roman religious milieu), it is nonetheless clear, on the basis of Paul’s usage of the expression, that the old man refers to man as he is in Adam and dominated by sin (cf. Rom 6:6; Eph 4:22), while the new man refers to the Christian whose new sphere of existence is in Christ. Though the metaphor of clothing oneself primarily reflects outward actions, there is a distinct inward aspect to it, as the rest of v. 10 indicates: being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. Paul’s point, then, is that Christians should take off their dirty clothing (inappropriate behavior) and put on clean clothing (behavior consistent with knowing Christ) because this has already been accomplished in a positional sense at the time of their conversion (cf. Gal 3:27 with Rom 13:14).
13 tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).