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OET (OET-LV) And you_all once being having_been_estranged and enemies the in_mind, in your the evil works,
OET (OET-RV) Once all of you were alienated from God—your thinking was that of an enemy and your actions were evil,
In this section, Paul stated these things: Jesus is equal to God in every way. He has always been with God and he (with God) created the world. God has freed Christians from the power of Satan and has placed them under the rule of his Son, Christ Jesus. God has accepted those who believe in Jesus as his own people. This was possible because Jesus died on the cross instead of them.
Theme: Although the Colossians had previously been God’s enemies, he had now made them his own people.
1:21–23 is one sentence in Greek. You will probably need to divide it into several sentences in your translation. The main verb of this sentence is “he has reconciled you” (1:22). In the previous paragraph Paul said that God’s plan was to reconcile all things to himself (1:20). In this paragraph Paul applied this directly to the Colossians.
Once you were alienated from God
¶ As for you believers in Colossae, in the past before you trusted in Christ you were separated from God,
Once: The Greek word that the BSB translates Once means “formerly, in the past.” Paul was writing about what the Colossian Christians were like before they believed in Christ.
you: The word you is emphasized in the Greek text. In English this can be expressed, “But as for you…,” or, “And you yourselves…” Paul used this emphasis to change the focus of the letter at this point. In 1:15–20 he had written about the greatness of Christ, here he began to write about the Colossian Christians’ relationship to God.
alienated from God: The Greek text does not contain the words from God (see RSV and NET). However, almost all commentators agree that the text here implies the words from God. Therefore the BSB and many other English versions include these words. Paul was saying that the Colossians were separated from God. Here is another way to translate this phrase:
far away from God (GNT)
Paul did not mean that the Colossians were physically far away from God. He meant that they did not have a relationship with him because their sinful deeds separated them from him. Other ways to translate this might be:
you were like strangers to God
you had turned your backs on God
and were hostile in your minds,
and you were hostile to God in all your thoughts,
and the way you thought was against God,
hostile in your minds: This phrase continues to describe what the Colossians were like before they became Christians: they were hostile toward God. Possible ways to say this are:
you were hostile toward God
you were against God
in your minds: This explains the specific way the Colossians had been God’s enemies—they were hostile to God in the way they thought and felt. Here is another way to translate this:
Your thoughts made you his enemies (CEV)
engaging in evil deeds.
because you acted in an evil manner.
because you continually did evil things.
engaging in evil deeds: It wasn’t just the way they thought that caused the Colossians to be God’s enemies—it was also the evil way they acted.
Some English versions combine 1:21b–c and these two ideas. For example:
and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought (GNT)
Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-time-sequential
ποτε
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὑμᾶς ποτέ ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καί ἐχθρούς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς)
The phrase At one time does not refer to one specific instance in time when the Colossians were alienated from God. Instead, it refers to all the time before they believed in Jesus. If it would be helpful in your language, you could clarify what time Paul is referring to. Alternate translation: [During the time before you believed]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους
being ˓having_been˒_estranged
If your language does not use this passive form, you could describe the Colossians’ state with an active form. Alternate translation: [did not want a relationship with God] or [were people who did not want to be near God]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἀπηλλοτριωμένους, καὶ ἐχθροὺς
˓having_been˒_estranged (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὑμᾶς ποτέ ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καί ἐχθρούς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς)
Paul assumes that the Colossians will know from whom they were alienated and with whom they were enemies: God. If your language would include this implied information, you could include a reference to “God” in this sentence. Alternate translation: [alienated from God and were his enemies]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς,
¬the ˱in˲_mind in your works ¬the evil
If your language does not use abstract nouns to express the ideas behind thought and deeds, you could express the ideas with relative clauses. Alternate translation: [in what you thought, in what you did that was evil]
1:21 The phrase once far away from God probably refers to their condition as Gentiles (see Eph 2:12).
OET (OET-LV) And you_all once being having_been_estranged and enemies the in_mind, in your the evil works,
OET (OET-RV) Once all of you were alienated from God—your thinking was that of an enemy and your actions were evil,
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.