Colossians 1:10

1:10 so that you may live ¹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Colossians 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ³  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ⁴ 

Colossians 3:16

3:16 Let the word of Christ ⁵  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ⁶  in your hearts to God.

Colossians 4:11

4:11 And Jesus who is called Justus also sends greetings. In terms of Jewish converts, ⁷  these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

¹ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

² tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

³ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

⁴ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”

⁵ tc Since “the word of Christ” occurs nowhere else in the NT, two predictable variants arose: “word of God” and “word of the Lord.” Even though some of the witnesses for these variants are impressive (κυρίου [kuriou, “of the Lord”] in א* I 1175 pc bo; θεοῦ [qeou, “of God”] in A C* 33 104 323 945 al), the reading Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “of Christ”) is read by an excellent cross-section of witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א² B C² D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï lat sa). On both internal and external grounds, Χριστοῦ is strongly preferred.

⁶ tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.

⁷ tn Grk “those of the circumcision.” The verse as a whole is difficult to translate because it is unclear whether Paul is saying (1) that the only people working with him are Jewish converts at the time the letter is being written or previously, or (2) that Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus Justus were the only Jewish Christians who ever worked with him. Verses 12-14 appear to indicate that Luke and Demas, who were Gentiles, were also working currently with Paul. This is the view adopted in the translation. See M. J. Harris, Colossians and Philemon (EGGNT), 207-8.