Colossians 2:12-14

2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ¹  faith in the power ²  of God who raised him from the dead. 2:13 And even though you were dead in your ³  transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless ⁴  made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions. 2:14 He has destroyed ⁵  what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness ⁶  expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

[2:12]  ¹ tn The article with the genitive modifier τῆς πίστεως (th" pistew") is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[2:12]  ² tn The genitive τῆς ἐνεργείας (th" energeia") has been translated as an objective genitive, “faith in the power.”

[2:13]  ³ tn The article τοῖς (tois) with παραπτώμασιν (paraptwmasin) is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[2:13]  ⁴ tn The word “nevertheless,” though not in the Greek text, was supplied in the translation to bring out the force of the concessive participle ὄντας (ontas).

[2:14]  ⁵ tn The participle ἐξαλείψας (exaleiyas) is a temporal adverbial participle of contemporaneous time related to the previous verb συνεζωοποίησεν (sunezwopoihsen), but has been translated as a finite verb because of the complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences. For the meaning “destroy” see BDAG 344-45 s.v. ἐξαλείφω 2.

[2:14]  ⁶ tn On the translation of χειρόγραφον (ceirografon), see BDAG 1083 s.v. which refers to it as “a certificate of indebtedness.”