29 for which also I labour, striving according to his working that is working in me in power.
For I wish you to know how great a conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,
and what the exceeding greatness of His power to us who are believing, according to the working of the power of His might,
Salute you doth Epaphras, who `is' of you, a servant of Christ, always striving for you in the prayers, that ye may stand perfect and made full in all the will of God,
of which I became a ministrant, according to the gift of the grace of God that was given to me, according to the working of His power;
and every one who is striving, is in all things temperate; these, indeed, then, that a corruptible crown they may receive, but we an incorruptible; I, therefore, thus run, not as uncertainly, thus I fight, as not beating air; but I chastise my body, and bring `it' into servitude, lest by any means, having preached to others -- I myself may become disapproved.
for God it is who is working in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
and thou didst bear, and hast endurance, and because of my name hast toiled, and hast not been weary.
Not yet unto blood did ye resist -- with the sin striving;
because of this all things do I endure, because of the choice ones, that they also salvation may obtain that `is' in Christ Jesus, with glory age-during.
for ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail, for, night and day working not to be a burden upon any of you, we did preach to you the good news of God;
the word of life holding forth, for rejoicing to me in regard to a day of Christ, that not in vain did I run, nor in vain did I labour;
the same conflict having, such as ye saw in me, and now hear of in me.
Only worthily of the good news of the Christ conduct ye yourselves, that, whether having come and seen you, whether being absent I may hear of the things concerning you, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one soul, striving together for the faith of the good news,
since a proof ye seek of the Christ speaking in me, who to you is not infirm, but is powerful in you,
and He said to me, `Sufficient for thee is My grace, for My power in infirmity is perfected;' most gladly, therefore, will I rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of the Christ may rest on me: wherefore I am well pleased in infirmities, in damages, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses -- for Christ; for whenever I am infirm, then I am powerful;
in stripes, in imprisonments, in insurrections, in labours, in watchings, in fastings,
Wherefore also we are ambitious, whether at home or away from home, to be well pleasing to him,
and there are diversities of workings, and it is the same God -- who is working the all in all.
And I call upon you, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in the prayers for me unto God,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Colossians 1
Commentary on Colossians 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 1
We have here,
Col 1:1-2
Col 1:3-8
Here he proceeds to the body of the epistle, and begins with thanksgiving to God for what he had heard concerning them, though he had no personal acquaintance with them, and knew their state and character only by the reports of others.
Col 1:9-11
The apostle proceeds in these verses to pray for them. He heard that they were good, and he prayed that they might be better. He was constant in this prayer: We do not cease to pray for you. It may be he could hear of them but seldom, but he constantly prayed for them.-And desire that you may be filled with the knowledge, etc. Observe what it is that he begs of God for them,
Col 1:12-29
Here is a summary of the doctrine of the gospel concerning the great work of our redemption by Christ. It comes in here not as the matter of a sermon, but as the matter of a thanksgiving; for our salvation by Christ furnishes us with abundant matter of thanksgiving in every view of it: Giving thanks unto the Father, v. 12. He does not discourse of the work of redemption in the natural order of it; for then he would speak of the purchase of it first, and afterwards of the application of it. But here he inverts the order, because, in our sense and feeling of it, the application goes before the purchase. We first find the benefits of redemption in our hearts, and then are led by those streams to the original and fountain-head. The order and connection of the apostle's discourse may be considered in the following manner:-