3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? 1 3:2 You yourselves are our letter, 2 written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, 3:3 revealing 3 that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, 4 written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets 5 but on tablets of human hearts.
12:1 It is necessary to go on boasting. 8 Though it is not profitable, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.
1:1 From Paul, 9 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful 10 brothers and sisters 11 in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you 12 from God our Father! 13
1:3 We always 14 give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
1 tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply (“No, we do not”) which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ at the end, “do we?”
2 tn That is, “letter of recommendation.”
3 tn Or “making plain.”
4 tn Grk “cared for by us,” an expression that could refer either to the writing or the delivery of the letter (BDAG 229 s.v. διακονέω 1). Since the following phrase refers to the writing of the letter, and since the previous verse speaks of this “letter” being “written on our [Paul’s and his companions’] hearts” it is more probable that the phrase “cared for by us” refers to the delivery of the letter (in the person of Paul and his companions).
5 sn An allusion to Exod 24:12; 31:18; 34:1; Deut 9:10-11.
6 tn Or “patience,” “endurance.”
7 tn Or “and miracles.”
8 tn Grk “Boasting is necessary.”
9 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
10 tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.
11 tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).
12 tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”
13 tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these
14 tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).