1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters [The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 4:15.] in Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.[Some manuscripts Father and the Lord Jesus Christ]
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,[Or slave] who is a faithful minister of Christ on our[Some manuscripts your] behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[Or all spiritual wisdom and understanding ] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[Some manuscripts us] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The supremacy of the Son of God
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him, all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of [Or minds, as shown by] your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Paul’s Labor for the Church
24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing, and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end, I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
NOTES:
1:1–2 For the epistolary form used by Paul at the beginning
of his letters, see note on Rom 1:1–7. On holy ones or “God’s people,” see note
on Rom 1:7. Awareness of their calling helps this group to be faithful brothers
and sisters in Christ, i.e., dedicated to the tasks implied in their calling.
1:3–8 On thanksgiving at the start of a letter, see note on
Rom 1:8. The apostle, recalling his own prayers for them and the good report
about them he has received (Col 1:3–4), congratulates the Colossians upon their
acceptance of Christ and their faithful efforts to live the gospel (Col 3:6–8).
To encourage them he mentions the success of the gospel elsewhere (Col 1:6) and
assures them that his knowledge of their community is accurate, since he has
been in personal contact with Epaphras (Col 1:7–8), who likely had evangelized
Colossae and other cities in the Lycus Valley of Asia Minor (cf. Col 4:12, 13;
Phlm 23). On faith, love, and hope (Col 1:4, 5, 8), see note on 1 Cor 13:13;
cf. 1 Thes 1:3; 5:8.
1:7 Epaphras: now with Paul but a Colossian, founder of the
church there.
1:9–14 Moved by Epaphras’ account, the apostle has prayed
and continues to pray fervently for the Colossians that, in their response to
the gospel, they may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will (Col 1:9; cf.
Col 3:10). Paul expects a mutual interaction between their life according to
the gospel and this knowledge (Col 1:10), yielding results (fruit, Col 1:10;
cf. Col 1:6) in every good work: growth, strength, endurance, patience, with
joy (Col 1:11), and the further giving of thanks (Col 1:12).
1:12–14 A summary about redemption by the Father precedes
the statement in Col 1:15–20 about the beloved Son who is God’s love in person
(Col 1:13). Christians share the inheritance…in light with the holy ones, here
probably the angels (Col 1:12). The imagery reflects the Exodus
(delivered…transferred) and Jesus’ theme of the kingdom. Redemption is
explained as forgiveness of sins (cf. Acts 2:38; Rom 3:24–25; Eph 1:7).
1:15–20 As the poetic arrangement indicates, these lines are
probably an early Christian hymn, known to the Colossians and taken up into the
letter from liturgical use (cf. Phil 2:6–11; 1 Tm 3:16). They present Christ as
the mediator of creation (Col 1:15–18a) and of redemption (Col 1:18b–20). There
is a parallelism between firstborn of all creation (Col 1:15) and firstborn
from the dead (Col 1:18). While many of the phrases were at home in Greek
philosophical use and even in gnosticism, the basic ideas also reflect Old Testament
themes about Wisdom found in Prv 8:22–31; Wis 7:22–8:1; and Sir 1:4. See also
notes on what is possibly a hymn in Jn 1:1–18.
1:15 Image: cf. Gn 1:27. Whereas the man and the woman were
originally created in the image and likeness of God (see also Gn 1:26), Christ
as image (2 Cor 4:4) of the invisible God (Jn 1:18) now shares this new nature
in baptism with those redeemed (cf. Col 3:10–11).
1:16–17 Christ (though not mentioned by name) is preeminent
and supreme as God’s agent in the creation of all things (cf. Jn 1:3), as prior
to all things (Col 1:17; cf. Hb 1:3).
1:18 Church: such a reference seemingly belongs under
“redemption” in the following lines, not under the “creation” section of the
hymn. Stoic thought sometimes referred to the world as “the body of Zeus.”
Pauline usage is to speak of the church as the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12–27;
Rom 12:4–5). Some think that the author of Colossians has inserted the
reference to the church here so as to define “head of the body” in Paul’s
customary way. See Col 1:24. Preeminent: when Christ was raised by God as
firstborn from the dead (cf. Acts 26:23; Rev 1:5), he was placed over the
community, the church, that he had brought into being, but he is also indicated
as the crown of the whole new creation, over all things. His further role is to
reconcile all things (Col 1:20) for God or possibly “to himself.”
1:19 Fullness: in gnostic usage, this term referred to a
spiritual world of beings above, between God and the world; many later
interpreters take it to refer to the fullness of the deity (Col 2:9); the
reference could also be to the fullness of grace (cf. Jn 1:16).
1:20 The blood of his cross: the most specific reference in
the hymn to redemption through Christ’s death, a central theme in Paul; cf. Col
2:14–15; 1 Cor 1:17, 18, 23. [Through him]: the phrase, lacking in some manuscripts,
seems superfluous but parallels the reference to reconciliation through Christ
earlier in the verse.
1:21–23 Paul, in applying this hymn to the Colossians,
reminds them that they have experienced the reconciling effect of Christ’s
death. He sees the effects of the cross in the redemption of human beings, not
of cosmic powers such as those referred to in Col 1:16, 20 (all things). Paul
also urges adherence to Christ in faith and begins to point to his own role as
minister (Col 1:23), sufferer (Col 1:24), and proclaimer (Col 1:27–28) of this
gospel.
1:24–2:3 As the community at Colossae was not personally
known to Paul (see Introduction), he here invests his teaching with greater
authority by presenting a brief sketch of his apostolic ministry and sufferings
as they reflect those of Christ on behalf of the church (24). The preaching of
God’s word (Col 1:25) carries out the divine plan (the mystery, Col 1:26) to
make Christ known to the Gentiles (Col 1:27). It teaches the God-given wisdom
about Christ (Col 1:28), whose power works mightily in the apostle (Col 1:29).
Even in those communities that do not know him personally (Col 2:1), he can
increase the perception of God in Christ, unite the faithful more firmly in
love, and so bring encouragement to them (Col 2:2). He hopes that his apostolic
authority will make the Colossians perceive more readily the defects in the
teaching of others who have sought to delude them, the next concern in the
letter.
1:24 What is lacking: although variously interpreted, this
phrase does not imply that Christ’s atoning death on the cross was defective.
It may refer to the apocalyptic concept of a quota of “messianic woes” to be
endured before the end comes; cf. Mk 13:8, 19–20, 24 and the note on Mt
23:29–32. Others suggest that Paul’s mystical unity with Christ allowed him to
call his own sufferings the afflictions of Christ.
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