Colossians 1:18

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ¹  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ² 

Colossians 1:25

1:25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship ³  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ⁴  the word of God,

Colossians 1:27

1:27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious ⁵  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 2:20

2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits ⁶  of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?

[1:18]  ¹ 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.

[1:18]  ² tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

[1:25]  ³ tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”

[1:25]  ⁴ tn See BDAG 828 s.v. πληρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 82.

[1:27]  ⁵ tn The genitive noun τῆς δόξης (ths doxhs) is an attributive genitive and has therefore been translated as “glorious riches.”

[2:20]  ⁷ tn See the note on the phrase “elemental spirits” in 2:8.