1:1 From Paul, 10 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn 11 from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. 12
1:19 For God 13 was pleased to have all his 14 fullness dwell 15 in the Son 16
1 tn Or “faithful.”
2 tn Grk “the unrighteous mammon.” See the note on the phrase “worldly wealth” in v. 9.
3 sn Entrust you with the true riches is a reference to future service for God. The idea is like 1 Cor 9:11, except there the imagery is reversed.
4 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the reports the man received about his manager.
5 tn Grk “him”; the referent (the manager) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 sn Although phrased as a question, the charges were believed by the owner, as his dismissal of the manager implies.
7 tn Or “stewardship”; the Greek word οἰκονομία (oikonomia) is cognate with the noun for the manager (οἰκονόμος, oikonomo").
8 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.”
9 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.”
10 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
11 tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.
12 tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”
13 tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).
14 tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.
15 tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.
16 tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
18 tn Or “know your suffering.” This could refer to suffering or distress caused by persecution (see L&N 22.2).
19 tn Because of the length and complexity of this Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the phrase “I also know” to link this English sentence back to “I know” at the beginning of the verse.
20 tn The words “against you” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
21 sn A synagogue was a place for Jewish prayer and worship, with recognized leadership (e.g., Mt 4:23, Mk 1:21, Lk 4:15, Jn 6:59).