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Colossians Chapter 1

Colossians Chapter 1

(Underlining marks a quotation/allusion. [Brackets] mark a textual variant.fnWhen two (or more) different copies of an original manuscript disagree on any given word or phrase — addition, omission, word order, etc. — the disagreement is called a "textual variant". ~99% of existing textual variants are either minor (like spelling), obviously not original (often appearing only in a few late manuscripts), or don't affect meaning (like "Jesus Christ" vs. "Christ Jesus"). The ~1% that remain do not affect any central doctrine of Christianity. The BOS Bible only marks significant textual variants that affect the meaning; smaller variants that do not affect meaning won't be marked for readability.  "Love" with a caret ("^love") is agapé.fn"agapé" The Greek words ἀγάπη (agapé, noun), and ἀγαπάω (agapaó; verb) are typically translated "love".  However, unlike our English word "love" – which primarily speaks of affection and feelings — agapé centers on choice and behavior.  It’s the "love" based on will, choice, behavior, and action; not feelings.  (Feelings-based love is the Greek word φιλέω (phileó), which properly means "brotherly love/affection".)  Thus, you could hate someone passionately and still treat him with "agapé".  Agapé "love" is best understood as the pursuit of what is most beneficial to someone or something, regardless of the cost to yourself or the type of response received from the person or thing.  It can also indicate a preference for someone or something over other things. An asterisk (*) indicates a verb in the Greek perfect tense.fnThe Greek perfect tense signifies a completed action in the past with a result and/or an ongoing state that extends into the present. For example, Hebrews 12:2 says in part: "He *sat down at the right hand of the throne of God"; the verb for "sat" is in the perfect tense, indicating that He sat down once (completed action in the past), and also that He remains seated until the present moment (ongoing state).)

Glossary

Note: this glossary is currently a work in progress; entries that do not expand will be added as time permits

Ages/of ages
“ages” and “of ages” are the Greek words “αἰών” (aión, noun form) and “αἰώνιος” (aiónios, adjective form) respectively.  The adjective form is typically translated “eternal”, as in “eternal life”. The noun form refers to a whole time period, (Keizer, “Life Time Entirety”) such as a person’s lifetime (an older Greek sense), an age/epoch (e.g., 2 Cor 4:4), or even time in its entirety, making its meaning similar to “forever” (e.g., John 14:16). The adjective form is similarly context-dependent, and the New Testament context often dictates a meaning similar to “forever” (but not always: e.g. 2 Tim 1:9).  Alternately or additionally, it can indicate the quality of a time period — indicating greatness/severity — like the English idiom “of ages” (e.g. “battle of the ages”). Thus, “of ages” was chosen for the adjective form so that both the time and quality senses remain visible.

Clean/unclean

Covenant

Faith

Flesh

Forgive/forgiveness

Grace
The Greek word is “χάρις” (charis), most often translated “grace”, “gift”, or “thanks”. It was a technical term in the 1st century, referring to the Patronage system in place. The Patron (from “pater” = “father”) would give gifts or do favors (both called a charis). A charis was always given/done freely to anyone who would be grateful for it, and this person then became a “client” of the patron. The clients were expected to reciprocate by telling everyone what the patron had done, and offering their services to the patron whenever the patron needed them. This reciprocal act was also called “charis”, and the ones who reciprocated were “being faithful” by giving thanks in this way. Both were done out of gratitude, not legal obligation. A client who wasn’t faithful and grateful probably wouldn’t receive any more charis from his patron, or any other patrons. The patron was responsible for taking care of all his clients, and making sure their needs were met. New Testament usage typically casts God the Father as a Heavenly Patron, to whom Christians should be grateful and faithful because of the gifts He has given us. (e.g. salvation, provision, protection, etc.)

Holy

Justification

Law (Torah)

Make purification

Pure/Impure

Purification offering
In the Old Testament, this is typically the Hebrew “חַטָּ֖את” (khat-tat); in the New Testament, it’s typically “περὶ ἁμαρτίας” (peri hamartias), which is what the Septuagint (an ancient translation of the Old Testament into Greek) used to translate the Hebrew. It’s traditionally translated “sin offering”, but that translation has less support in high-level scholarship. The Hebrew word can mean “sin”, but it can also mean “purification” (e.g. Numbers 8:7). This offering was used to purify uncleanness, whether or not a sin was committed. Thus, it was required even when no sin was committed, such as after childbirth (Leviticus 12:1-8), for certain diseases (Leviticus 14), etc. High-level, peer-reviewed scholarship dedicated to the field (e.g. Milgrom, Levine, Gane, Sklar, Wright, Gorman, etc.) is largely united on the “purification offering” understanding. The BOS Bible has aligned itself with that high-level, peer-reviewed scholarship in its translation.

Ransom

Redemption

Repent/repentance

Righteous/righteousness

Salvation/save

Soul
“soul” is the Greek word “ψυχή/psuché” and Hebrew word “נֶפֶשׁ/nephesh”. The BOS Bible translates these words as “soul” for consistency, and so the full meaning of “soul” isn’t obscured by different translations in different places. They closely overlap in meaning and are typically translated “soul” or “life”. They refer to the animating force of a living thing, and thus can also refer to its life, or to the whole of any person or creature, including animals (e.g. fish in Revelation 8:9 and Genesis 1). They are frequently used as an emphatic reference to a person’s whole self, including longings, deep emotions, and inner life. (e.g. Ps 42:11) Note: while “soul” has significant overlap in meaning with “spirit”, the words have distinct meanings and usages throughout scripture. For example, lions tear apart a soul in Psalm 7:2, and a “dead soul” is mentioned in Leviticus 21:11; “spirit” has no analogous usages, and it returns to God at death (Ecc 12:7; Acts 7:59). The adjective forms of soul and spirit are contrasted in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15; see also: Hebrews 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Sin

Click to Collapse the Glossary
Greeting from Paul and Timothy
  1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus the Anointed through the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
  2. to the holy ones and faithful brothers in the Anointed at Colossae; grace to you and peace from God our Father.
  3. We always give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed while praying about you,
  4. having heard of your faith in Jesus the Anointed and the ^love that you have for all the holy ones
  5. because of the hope being stored for you in the heavens, which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel
  6. present in you, just as it’s also bearing fruit and growing in all the world,fn“bearing fruit and growing in all the world” is a possible allusion to Genesis 1:28, potentially applying the creation mandate to Christian evangelism. as it also was among you from the day you heard and recognized the grace of God in truth.
  7. Just as you learned from Epaphras – our beloved fellow servant – who is a faithful servant of the Anointed on our behalf,
  8. and the man who revealed your ^love to us in the Spirit.
  9. And because of this, we don’t stop praying and asking for you from the day we heard, so you might be filled with accurate knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,fnquotation/allusion to Exodus 31:3 and Exodus 35:31
  10. for you to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing in everything and in every good work, bearing fruit and growing in the accurate knowledge of God,
  11. being empowered with all strength according to His glorious might, into all endurance and patience with joy,
  12. giving thanks to the Father, the One who made you fit for a portion of the inheritance of the holy ones in the light.
  13. He who rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His ^beloved Son,fnquotation/allusion to Isaiah 42:7, Isaiah 42:16, and possibly Exodus 6:6-8
  14. in whom we have the redemption,fn“redemption” This Greek word refers to the act of freeing a slave or prisoner of war by the payment of a ransom.  Acts 20:28 and 1 Peter 1:18-19 make it clear that the “ransom” was Jesus’s blood, and verses like Romans 6:17 and 2 Timothy 2:26 indicate that we were slaves of sin and held captive by the devil respectively.  There have been four major views on this ransom and what it means throughout church history: (1) The ransom was paid to God.  (2) The ransom was paid to Satan to free us from his captivity. (3) The ransom was paid to death itself.  (4) The ransom is metaphorical, similar to the idiom “He paid the ultimate price”.  This view says that no one was “paid” anything, but rather that it cost Jesus something valuable (His life) to free us.  This has precedent in the Old Testament, since 2 Samuel 7:23 says that God “redeemed” Israel from Egypt, and yet God didn’t “pay” anyone.  Isaiah 52:3 promises that God will “redeem without money” as part of the intro to Isaiah 53, which is arguably the most famous prophecy about Jesus in the Old Testament. the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus’ Authority
  1. He who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn overfn“firstborn over” In Jewish culture, “firstborn” was as much a title as an indication of birth order.  This can be seen in 1 Chronicles 26:10, 1 Chronicles 5:1, Genesis 48:17-20, and God Himself declares someone who was not born first to be His firstborn (of Israel) in Jeremiah 31:9.  Thus, “firstborn” can – and did – sometimes indicate rank among brothers instead of the birth order.  While Jesus wasn’t “born first” because He is uncreated, (John 1:1), Christians are called His “brothers” and this Jesus could rightly be called “firstborn” in the sense or preeminence and authority. This is consistent with its 1st century usage and immediate context of the passage. all creation,
  2. because all things in the heavens and on the earth were created in Him, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him.
  3. And He is before all things and in Him all things *hold together.
  4. And He is the head of the body (the church assembly) who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so He might become the One having preeminence in all things,
  5. because it pleased God for all fullness to dwell in Him,
  6. and through Him to fully reconcile all things to Himself – whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens – having made peace through Him, through the blood of His cross.
  7. And you were formerly *alienated yourselves and enemies in your mind and wicked works,
  8. but now He fully reconciled you by His fleshly body through death, to present you holy and unblemished and blameless in His sight,
  9. if indeed you remain in the faith, firmly *established and steadfast, and not removing yourselves from the hope of the gospel that you heard, the gospel which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I Paul became a minister.
The Mystery of the Gospel
  1. Now, I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and I fill up in my flesh what lacks in the afflictions of the Anointed for the sake of His body, which is the church assembly.
  2. Of which I became a servant according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
  3. the mystery which has been concealed from the ages and from the generations, but now was revealed to His holy ones,
  4. to whom God willed to make known what is the glorious richness of this mystery among the gentiles, which is the Anointed in you, the hope of glory.
  5. He whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom so we might present every man perfect in the Anointed.
  6. And for this I exhaust myself working, striving according to His power working powerfully in me.

 

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