2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits 3 of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?
4:18 I, Paul, write this greeting by my own hand. 6 Remember my chains. 7 Grace be with you. 8
1 tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.
2 tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”
3 tn See the note on the phrase “elemental spirits” in 2:8.
5 tn The expression “founded as they are” brings out the force of the Greek preposition κατά (kata).
6 tn Grk “The commands and teachings of men.”
7 tn Grk “the greeting by my hand, of Paul.”
8 tn Or “my imprisonment.”
9 tc Most witnesses, including a few important ones (א2 D Ψ 075 0278 Ï lat sy), conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, the external evidence for the omission is quite compelling (א* A B C F G 048 6 33 81 1739* 1881 sa). The strongly preferred reading is therefore the omission of ἀμήν.