Colossians 3:21

3:21 Fathers, ¹  do not provoke ²  your children, so they will not become disheartened.

Colossians 2:21

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

Colossians 3:2

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

Colossians 3:9

3:9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices

Colossians 3:19

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

Colossians 2:16

2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days –

Colossians 3:22

3:22 Slaves, ³  obey your earthly ⁴  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 1:23

1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ⁵  without shifting ⁶  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.

Colossians 2:8

2:8 Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you ⁷  through an empty, deceitful philosophy ⁸  that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits ⁹  of the world, and not according to Christ.

[3:21]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.”

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

[3:22]  ⁴ 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.

[1:23]  ⁵ tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”

[1:23]  ⁶ tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.

[2:8]  ⁷ tn The Greek construction here is somewhat difficult and can be literally rendered “Be careful, lest someone shall be the one who takes you captive.”

[2:8]  ⁸ tn The Greek reads τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ κενῆς ἀπάτης (th" filosofia" kai kenh" apath"). The two nouns φιλοσοφίας and κενῆς are joined by one article and probably form a hendiadys. Thus the second noun was taken as modifying the first, as the translation shows.

[2:8]  ⁹ tn The phrase κατὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου (kata ta stoiceia tou kosmou) is difficult to translate because of problems surrounding the precise meaning of στοιχεῖα in this context. Originally it referred to the letters of the alphabet, with the idea at its root of “things in a row”; see C. Vaughn, “Colossians,” EBC 11:198. M. J. Harris (Colossians and Philemon [EGGNT], 93) outlines three probable options: (1) the material elements which comprise the physical world; (2) the elementary teachings of the world (so NEB, NASB, NIV); (3) the elemental spirits of the world (so NEB, RSV). The first option is highly unlikely because Paul is not concerned here with the physical elements, e.g., carbon or nitrogen. The last two options are both possible. Though the Gnostic-like heresy at Colossae would undoubtedly have been regarded by Paul as an “elementary teaching” at best, because the idea of “spirits” played such a role in Gnostic thought, he may very well have had in mind elemental spirits that operated in the world or controlled the world (i.e., under God’s authority and permission).