11:27 At that time 7 some 8 prophets 9 came down 10 from Jerusalem 11 to Antioch. 12
12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, 17 by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God 18 – which is your reasonable service.
1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. 1:25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship 25 from God – given to me for you – in order to complete 26 the word of God,
4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, 29 urge you to live 30 worthily of the calling with which you have been called, 31
1 sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.
2 tn Grk “So it happened that” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
3 tn Grk “year they”; the referents (Barnabas and Saul) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Grk “a significant crowd.”
5 sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.
6 sn The term Christians appears only here, in Acts 26:28, and 1 Pet 4:16 in the NT.
7 tn Grk “In these days,” but the dative generally indicates a specific time.
8 tn The word “some” is not in the Greek text, but is usually used in English when an unspecified number is mentioned.
9 sn Prophets are mentioned only here and in 13:1 and 21:10 in Acts.
10 sn Came down from Jerusalem. Antioch in Syria lies due north of Jerusalem. In Western languages it is common to speak of north as “up” and south as “down,” but the NT maintains the Hebrew idiom which speaks of any direction away from Jerusalem as down (since Mount Zion was thought of in terms of altitude).
11 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
12 sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.
13 sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia).
14 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
15 sn The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; Luke 22:61, Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; here and in v. 36; Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.
16 tn This word comes from the same root as “grace” in the following clause; it means “things graciously given,” “grace-gifts.”
17 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
18 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.
19 tn Or “admonishing,” or “warning.” BDAG 679 s.v. νουθετέω states, “to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct,, admonish, warn, instruct.” After the participle νουθετοῦντες (nouqetounte", “instructing”) the words πάντα ἄνθρωπον (panta anqrwpon, “all men”) occur in the Greek text, but since the same phrase appears again after διδάσκοντες (didaskontes) it was omitted in translation to avoid redundancy in English.
20 tn The two participles “instructing” (νουθετοῦντες, nouqetounte") and “teaching” (διδάσκοντες, didaskonte") are translated as participles of means (“by”) related to the finite verb “we proclaim” (καταγγέλλομεν, katangellomen).
21 tn Here ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon) is twice translated as a generic (“people” and “person”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.
22 tn Since Paul’s focus is on the present experience of the Colossians, “mature” is a better translation of τέλειον (teleion) than “perfect,” since the latter implies a future, eschatological focus.
23 tn The Greek phrase εἴς ὅ (eis Jo, “toward which”) implies “movement toward a goal” and has been rendered by the English phrase “Toward this goal.”
24 tn The prepositional phrase ἐν δυνάμει (en dunamei) seems to be functioning adverbially, related to the participle, and has therefore been translated “powerfully.”
25 tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”
26 tn See BDAG 828 s.v. πληρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 82.
27 tn The emphasis on Christ is continued through the use of the intensive pronoun, αὐτός (autos), and is rendered in English as “it was he” as this seems to lay emphasis on the “he.”
28 sn Some interpreters have understood the phrase pastors and teachers to refer to one and the same group. This would mean that all pastors are teachers and that all teachers are pastors. This position is often taken because it is recognized that both nouns (i.e., pastors and teachers) are governed by one article in Greek. But because the nouns are plural, it is extremely unlikely that they refer to the same group, but only that the author is linking them closely together. It is better to regard the pastors as a subset of teachers. In other words, all pastors are teachers, but not all teachers are pastors. See ExSyn 284.
29 tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”
30 tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.
31 sn With which you have been called. The calling refers to the Holy Spirit’s prompting that caused them to believe. The author is thus urging his readers to live a life that conforms to their saved status before God.
32 tn Grk “for all.” The form “all” can be either neuter or masculine.