Colossians 2:15

2:15 Disarming ¹  the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ² 

Colossians 3:19

3:19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.

Colossians 3:7

3:7 You also lived your lives ³  in this way at one time, when you used to live among them.

Colossians 1:27

1:27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious ⁴  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 3:21

3:21 Fathers, ⁵  do not provoke ⁶  your children, so they will not become disheartened.

Colossians 1:28

1:28 We proclaim him by instructing ⁷  and teaching ⁸  all people ⁹  with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature ¹⁰  in Christ.

Colossians 3:22

3:22 Slaves, ¹¹  obey your earthly ¹²  masters in every respect, not only when they are watching – like those who are strictly people-pleasers – but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord.

Colossians 2:21

2:21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”

Colossians 3:8

3:8 But now, put off all such things ¹³  as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth.

Colossians 4:13

4:13 For I can testify that he has worked hard ¹⁴  for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Colossians 3:2

3:2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth,

Colossians 3:18

Exhortation to Households

3:18 Wives, submit to your ¹⁵  husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Colossians 4:5

4:5 Conduct yourselves ¹⁶  with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities.

Colossians 2:22

2:22 These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are ¹⁷  on human commands and teachings. ¹⁸ 

Colossians 3:14

3:14 And to all these ¹⁹  virtues ²⁰  add ²¹  love, which is the perfect bond. ²² 

Colossians 2:20

2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits ²³  of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?

Colossians 2:1-2

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ²⁴  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ²⁵  2:2 My goal is that ²⁶  their hearts, having been knit together ²⁷  in love, may be encouraged, and that ²⁸  they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ²⁹ 

Colossians 2:18

2:18 Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths ³⁰  about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind. ³¹ 

Colossians 4:16

4:16 And after ³²  you have read this letter, have it read ³³  to the church of Laodicea. In turn, read the letter from Laodicea ³⁴  as well.

[2:15]  ¹ tn See BDAG 100 s.v. ἀπεκδύομαι 2.

[2:15]  ² tn The antecedent of the Greek pronoun αὐτῷ (autw) could either be “Christ” or the “cross.” There are several reasons for choosing “the cross” as the antecedent for αὐτῷ in verse 15: (1) The nearest antecedent is τῷ σταυρῷ (tw staurw) in v. 14; (2) the idea of ἐδειγμάτισεν ἐν παρρησία (edeigmatisen en parrhsia, “made a public disgrace”) seems to be more in keeping with the idea of the cross; (3) a reference to Christ seems to miss the irony involved in the idea of triumph – the whole point is that where one would expect defeat, there came the victory; (4) if Christ is the subject of the participles in v. 15 then almost certainly the cross is the referent for αὐτῷ. Thus the best solution is to see αὐτῷ as a reference to the cross and the preposition ἐν (en) indicating “means” (i.e., by means of the cross) or possibly (though less likely) location (on the cross).

[3:7]  ³ tn Grk “you also walked.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is commonly used in the NT to refer to behavior or conduct of one’s life (L&N 41.11).

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

[3:21]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps “Parents.” The plural οἱ πατέρες (Joi patere", “fathers”) can be used to refer to both the male and female parent (BDAG 786 s.v. πατήρ 1.a).

[3:21]  ⁸ tn Or “do not cause your children to become resentful” (L&N 88.168). BDAG 391 s.v. ἐρεθίζω states, “to cause someone to react in a way that suggests acceptance of a challenge, arouse, provoke mostly in bad sense irritate, embitter.”

[1:28]  ⁹ tn Or “admonishing,” or “warning.” BDAG 679 s.v. νουθετέω states, “to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct,, admonish, warn, instruct.” After the participle νουθετοῦντες (nouqetounte", “instructing”) the words πάντα ἄνθρωπον (panta anqrwpon, “all men”) occur in the Greek text, but since the same phrase appears again after διδάσκοντες (didaskontes) it was omitted in translation to avoid redundancy in English.

[1:28]  ¹⁰ tn The two participles “instructing” (νουθετοῦντες, nouqetounte") and “teaching” (διδάσκοντες, didaskonte") are translated as participles of means (“by”) related to the finite verb “we proclaim” (καταγγέλλομεν, katangellomen).

[1:28]  ¹¹ tn Here ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon) is twice translated as a generic (“people” and “person”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

[1:28]  ¹² tn Since Paul’s focus is on the present experience of the Colossians, “mature” is a better translation of τέλειον (teleion) than “perfect,” since the latter implies a future, eschatological focus.

[3:22]  ¹¹ tn On this word here and in 4:1, see the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[3:22]  ¹² tn The prepositional phrase κατὰ σάρκα (kata sarka) does not necessarily qualify the masters as earthly or human (as opposed to the Master in heaven, the Lord), but could also refer to the sphere in which “the service-relation holds true.” See BDAG 577 s.v. κύριος 1.b.

[3:8]  ¹³ tn The Greek article with τὰ πάντα (ta panta) is anaphoric, referring to the previous list of vices, and has been translated here as “all such things.”

[4:13]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “pain.” This word appears only three times in the NT outside of this verse (Rev 16:10, 11; 21:4) where the translation “pain” makes sense. For the present verse it has been translated “worked hard.” See BDAG 852 s.v. πόνος 1.

[3:18]  ¹⁷ tn The article τοῖς (tois) with ἀνδράσιν (andrasin, “husbands”) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (“your”); see ExSyn 215.

[4:5]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “walk.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is a common NT idiom for one’s lifestyle, behavior, or manner of conduct (L&N 41.11).

[2:22]  ²¹ tn The expression “founded as they are” brings out the force of the Greek preposition κατά (kata).

[2:22]  ²² tn Grk “The commands and teachings of men.”

[3:14]  ²³ tn BDAG 365 s.v. ἐπί 7 suggests “to all these” as a translation for ἐπὶ πᾶσιν δὲ τούτοις (epi pasin de toutoi").

[3:14]  ²⁴ tn The term “virtues” is not in the Greek text, but is included in the translation to specify the antecedent and to make clear the sense of the pronoun “these.”

[3:14]  ²⁵ tn The verb “add,” though not in the Greek text, is implied, picking up the initial imperative “clothe yourselves.”

[3:14]  ²⁶ tn The genitive τῆς τελειότητος (th" teleiothto") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “the perfect bond.”

[2:20]  ²⁵ tn See the note on the phrase “elemental spirits” in 2:8.

[2:1]  ²⁷ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”

[2:2]  ²⁹ tn Verse two begins a subordinate ἵνα (Jina) clause which was divided up into two sentences for the sake of clarity in English. Thus the phrase “My goal is that” is an attempt to reflect in the translation the purpose expressed through the ἵνα clauses.

[2:2]  ³⁰ tn BDAG 956 s.v. συμβιβάζω 1.b reads “unite, knit together.” Some commentators take the verb as a reference to instruction, “instructed in love.” See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 93.

[2:2]  ³¹ tn The phrase “and that” translates the first εἰς (eis) clause of v. 2 and reflects the second goal of Paul’s striving and struggle for the Colossians – the first is “encouragement” and the second is “full assurance.”

[2:2]  ³² tc There are at least a dozen variants here, almost surely generated by the unusual wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ (tou qeou, Cristou, “of God, Christ”; so Ì⁴⁶ B Hil). Scribes would be prone to conform this to more common Pauline expressions such as “of God, who is in Christ” (33), “of God, the Father of Christ” (א* A C 048^vid 1175 bo), and “of the God and Father of Christ” (א² Ψ 075 0278 365 1505 pc). Even though the external support for the wording τοῦ θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ is hardly overwhelming, it clearly best explains the rise of the other readings and should thus be regarded as authentic.

[2:18]  ³¹ tn For the various views on the translation of ἐμβατεύων (embateuwn), see BDAG 321 s.v. ἐμβατεύω 4. The idea in this context seems to be that the individual in question loves to talk on and on about his spiritual experiences, but in reality they are only coming out of his own sinful flesh.

[2:18]  ³² tn Grk “by the mind of his flesh.” In the translation above, σαρκός (sarkos) is taken as an attributive genitive. The phrase could also be translated “by his sinful thoughts,” since it appears that Paul is using σάρξ (sarx, “flesh”) here in a morally negative way.

[4:16]  ³³ tn Grk “when.”

[4:16]  ³⁴ tn The construction beginning with the imperative ποιήσατε ἵνα…ἀναγνωσθῇ (poihsate Jina…anagnwsqh) should be translated as “have it read” where the conjunction ἵνα functions to mark off its clause as the direct object of the imperative ποιήσατε. The content of the clause (“reading the letter”) is what Paul commands with the imperative ποιήσατε. Thus the translation “have it read” has been used here.

[4:16]  ³⁵ sn This letter is otherwise unknown, but some have suggested that it is the letter known today as Ephesians.