Kolose 1:5

1:5 Your faith and love have arisen ¹  from the hope laid up ²  for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel ³ 

Kolose 2:1

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ⁴  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ⁵ 

Kolose 2:11

2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ⁶  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ⁷  of the fleshly body, ⁸  that is, ⁹  through the circumcision done by Christ.

Kolose 2:14-15

2:14 He has destroyed ¹⁰  what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness ¹¹  expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 2:15 Disarming ¹²  the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ¹³ 

Kolose 2:20

2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits ¹⁴  of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?

Kolose 3:1

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Kolose 3:15

3:15 Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body ¹⁵  to this peace), and be thankful.

[1:5]  ¹ tn Col 1:3-8 form one long sentence in the Greek text and have been divided at the end of v. 4 and v. 6 and within v. 6 for clarity, in keeping with the tendency in contemporary English toward shorter sentences. Thus the phrase “Your faith and love have arisen from the hope” is literally “because of the hope.” The perfect tense “have arisen” was chosen in the English to reflect the fact that the recipients of the letter had acquired this hope at conversion in the past, but that it still remains and motivates them to trust in Christ and to love one another.

[1:5]  ² tn BDAG 113 s.v. ἀπόκειμαι 2 renders ἀποκειμένην (apokeimenhn) with the expression “reserved” in this verse.

[1:5]  ³ tn The term “the gospel” (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, tou euangeliou) is in apposition to “the word of truth” (τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας, tw logw th" alhqeia") as indicated in the translation.

[2:1]  ⁴ tn Or “I want you to know how hard I am working for you…”

[2:1]  ⁵ tn Grk “as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.”

[2:11]  ⁶ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

[2:11]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.

[2:14]  ¹⁰ tn The participle ἐξαλείψας (exaleiyas) is a temporal adverbial participle of contemporaneous time related to the previous verb συνεζωοποίησεν (sunezwopoihsen), but has been translated as a finite verb because of the complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences. For the meaning “destroy” see BDAG 344-45 s.v. ἐξαλείφω 2.

[2:14]  ¹¹ tn On the translation of χειρόγραφον (ceirografon), see BDAG 1083 s.v. which refers to it as “a certificate of indebtedness.”

[2:15]  ¹² tn See BDAG 100 s.v. ἀπεκδύομαι 2.

[2:15]  ¹³ 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).

[2:20]  ¹⁴ tn See the note on the phrase “elemental spirits” in 2:8.

[3:15]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “in one body.” This phrase emphasizes the manner in which the believers were called, not the goal of their calling, and focuses upon their unity.