1:1 From Paul, 1 an apostle (not from men, nor by human agency, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead)
1:1 From Paul, 2 an apostle (not from men, nor by human agency, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead)
1:1 From Paul, 6 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful 7 brothers and sisters 8 in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you 9 from God our Father! 10
1:3 We always 11 give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
1 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
2 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
3 sn In him all the fullness of deity lives. The present tense in this verse (“lives”) is significant. Again, as was stated in the note on 1:19, this is not a temporary dwelling, but a permanent one. Paul’s point is polemical against the idea that the fullness of God dwells anywhere else, as the Gnostics believed, except in Christ alone. At the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity assumed humanity, and is forever the God-man.
4 tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”
5 tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.
6 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
7 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.
8 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).
9 tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”
10 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
11 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).
12 tn Or “namely, that is.”
13 tn Or “mystery.”
14 tn Or “as I wrote above briefly.”
15 tn Grk “which, when reading.”
16 tn Grk “you are able to.”
17 tn Or “mystery.”
18 tn Grk “which.” Verse 5 is technically a relative clause, subordinate to the thought of v. 4.
19 tn Grk “the sons of men” (a Semitic idiom referring to human beings, hence, “people”).
20 tn Grk “other.”
21 tn Or “in.”
22 sn The phrase through the gospel is placed last in the sentence in Greek for emphasis. It has been moved forward for clarity.
23 tn Grk “and fellow members.”
24 tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”
25 tn Grk “according to.”
26 sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.
27 sn In Pauline writings saints means any true believer. Thus for Paul to view himself as less than the least of all the saints is to view himself as the most unworthy object of Christ’s redemption.
28 sn The parallel phrases to proclaim and to enlighten which follow indicate why God’s grace was manifested to Paul. Grace was not something just to be received, but to be shared with others (cf. Acts 13:47).