Colossians 1:6

1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ¹  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ²  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Colossians 1:27

1:27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious ³  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 2:19

2:19 He has not held fast ⁴  to the head from whom the whole body, supported ⁵  and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. ⁶ 

Colossians 3:16

3:16 Let the word of Christ ⁷  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ⁸  in your hearts to God.

Colossians 4:12

4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a slave ⁹  of Christ, ¹⁰  greets you. He is always struggling in prayer on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured ¹¹  in all the will of God.

[1:6]  ¹ tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ² tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.

[1:27]  ³ tn The genitive noun τῆς δόξης (ths doxhs) is an attributive genitive and has therefore been translated as “glorious riches.”

[2:19]  ⁵ tn The Greek participle κρατῶν (kratwn) was translated as a finite verb to avoid an unusually long and pedantic sentence structure in English.

[2:19]  ⁶ tn See BDAG 387 s.v. ἐπιχορηγέω 3.

[2:19]  ⁷ tn The genitive τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou) has been translated as a genitive of source, “from God.”

[3:16]  ⁷ tc Since “the word of Christ” occurs nowhere else in the NT, two predictable variants arose: “word of God” and “word of the Lord.” Even though some of the witnesses for these variants are impressive (κυρίου [kuriou, “of the Lord”] in א* I 1175 pc bo; θεοῦ [qeou, “of God”] in A C* 33 104 323 945 al), the reading Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “of Christ”) is read by an excellent cross-section of witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א² B C² D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï lat sa). On both internal and external grounds, Χριστοῦ is strongly preferred.

[3:16]  ⁸ tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.

[4:12]  ⁹ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:12]  ¹⁰ tc ‡ Strong Alexandrian testimony, along with some other witnesses, suggests that ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou, “Jesus”) follows Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “Christ”; so א A B C I L 0278 33 81 365 629 1175 2464 al lat), but the evidence for the shorter reading is diverse (Ì⁴⁶ D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï it sy Hier), cutting across all major texttypes. There can be little motivation for omitting the name of Jesus; hence, the shorter reading is judged to be original. NA²⁷ has ᾿Ιησοῦ in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[4:12]  ¹¹ tn Or “filled.”