Colossians 2:2

2:2 My goal is that ¹  their hearts, having been knit together ²  in love, may be encouraged, and that ³  they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ⁴ 

Isaiah 40:1

The Lord Returns to Jerusalem

40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”

says your ⁵  God.

Isaiah 61:2-3

61:2 to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor,

the day when our God will seek vengeance, ⁶ 

to console all who mourn,

61:3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion,

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, ⁷  instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, ⁸  instead of discouragement. ⁹ 

They will be called oaks of righteousness, ¹⁰ 

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 61:2

61:2 to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor,

the day when our God will seek vengeance, ¹² 

to console all who mourn,

Colossians 1:4

1:4 since ¹³  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.

Colossians 2:7

2:7 rooted ¹⁴  and built up in him and firm ¹⁵  in your ¹⁶  faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ¹⁷  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ¹⁸ 

Colossians 2:11

2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ¹⁹  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ²⁰  of the fleshly body, ²¹  that is, ²²  through the circumcision done by Christ.

Colossians 3:2

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

Colossians 4:18

4:18 I, Paul, write this greeting by my own hand. ²³  Remember my chains. ²⁴  Grace be with you. ²⁵ 

Colossians 1:11

1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ²⁶  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

Colossians 1:14

1:14 in whom we have redemption, ²⁷  the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ²⁸  brothers and sisters ²⁹  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ³⁰  from God our Father! ³¹ 

Colossians 2:17

2:17 these are only ³²  the shadow of the things to come, but the reality ³³  is Christ! ³⁴ 

[2:2]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.

[40:1]  ⁵ tn The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural. The identity of the addressee is uncertain: (1) God’s people may be addressed, or (2) the unidentified heralds commanded to comfort Jerusalem.

[61:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “to announce the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance.

[61:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “oil of joy” (KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “the oil of gladness.”

[61:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “garment of praise.”

[61:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “a faint spirit” (so NRSV); KJV, ASV “the spirit of heaviness”; NASB “a spirit of fainting.”

[61:3]  ¹⁰ tn Rather than referring to the character of the people, צֶדֶק (tsedeq) may carry the nuance “vindication” here, suggesting that God’s restored people are a testimony to his justice. See v. 2, which alludes to the fact that God will take vengeance against the enemies of his people. Cf. NAB “oaks of justice.”

[61:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a planting of the Lord to reveal splendor.”

[61:2]  ¹² tn Heb “to announce the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance.

[1:4]  ¹³ tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).

[2:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “having been rooted.”

[2:7]  ¹⁵ sn The three participles rooted, built up, and firm belong together and reflect three different metaphors. The first participle “rooted” (perfect tense) indicates a settled condition on the part of the Colossian believers and refers to horticulture. The second participle “built up” (present passive) comes from the world of architecture. The third participle “firm [established]” (present passive) comes from the law courts. With these three metaphors (as well as the following comment on thankfulness) Paul explains what he means when he commands them to continue to live their lives in Christ. The use of the passive probably reflects God’s activity among them. It was he who had rooted them, had been building them up, and had established them in the faith (cf. 1 Cor 3:5-15 for the use of mixed metaphors).

[2:7]  ¹⁶ tn The Greek text has the article τῇ (th), not the possessive pronoun ὑμῶν (Jumwn), but the article often functions as a possessive pronoun and was translated as such here (ExSyn 215).

[2:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”

[2:11]  ¹⁹ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

[2:11]  ²⁰ tn The articular noun τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (th apekdusei) is a noun which ends in -σις (-sis) and therefore denotes action, i.e., “removal.” Since the head noun is a verbal noun, the following genitive τοῦ σώματος (tou swmatos) is understood as an objective genitive, receiving the action of the head noun.

[2:11]  ²¹ tn Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The genitive τῆς σαρκός (th" sarko") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “fleshly body.”

[2:11]  ²² tn The second prepositional phrase beginning with ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ (en th peritomh) is parallel to the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (en th apekdusei) and gives a further explanation of it. The words “that is” were supplied to bring out this force in the translation.

[4:18]  ²³ tn Grk “the greeting by my hand, of Paul.”

[4:18]  ²⁴ tn Or “my imprisonment.”

[4:18]  ²⁵ tc Most witnesses, including a few important ones (א² D Ψ 075 0278 Ï lat sy), conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, the external evidence for the omission is quite compelling (א* A B C F G 048 6 33 81 1739* 1881 sa). The strongly preferred reading is therefore the omission of ἀμήν.

[1:11]  ²⁶ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.

[1:14]  ²⁷ tc διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ (dia tou {aimato" autou, “through his blood”) is read at this juncture by several minuscule mss (614 630 1505 2464 al) as well as a few, mostly secondary, versional and patristic witnesses. But the reading was prompted by the parallel in Eph 1:7 where the wording is solid. If these words had been in the original of Colossians, why would scribes omit them here but not in Eph 1:7? Further, the testimony on behalf of the shorter reading is quite overwhelming: {א A B C D F G Ψ 075 0150 6 33 1739 1881 Ï latt co as well as several other versions and fathers}. The conviction that “through his blood” is not authentic in Col 1:14 is as strong as the conviction that these words are authentic in Eph 1:7.

[1:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ²⁹ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ³⁰ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ³¹ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[2:17]  ³² tn The word “only,” though not in the Greek text, is supplied in the English translation to bring out the force of the Greek phrase.

[2:17]  ³³ tn Grk “but the body of Christ.” The term body here, when used in contrast to shadow (σκιά, skia) indicates the opposite meaning, i.e., the reality or substance itself.

[2:17]  ³⁴ tn The genitive τοῦ Χριστοῦ (tou Cristou) is appositional and translated as such: “the reality is Christ.”