Colossians 1:23-25

1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ¹  without shifting ²  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. 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,

[1:23]  ¹ tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”

[1:23]  ² tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.

[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.