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In this section, Paul told the Colossian Christians that he often thanked God for them. He was grateful to God that they had trusted in Christ Jesus, and that they loved all God’s people. He told them about his prayers for them—that God would cause them to be wise and help them to know what he wanted them to do.
Epaphras had come from Colossae to visit Paul in prison. He brought news to Paul about the Christian congregations in Colossae and the towns nearby. Paul was happy to hear that the Christians in Colossae were trusting firmly in Jesus. However, he was concerned to hear that there were some people among them who wanted to continue to practice their old religious beliefs, and others who said that Christians must obey the Jewish laws. In this section of his letter, Paul concentrated on the good news he had heard from Epaphras.
The theme in this section is that Paul continually thanked God for the Colossian Christians, because they had trusted in Christ Jesus and because they loved their fellow Christians.
and who also informed us of your love in the Spirit.
And it was he who told us(excl) how much the Holy Spirit has enabled you to love God’s people.
He came here and told us(excl) how God’s Spirit is working in you to cause you to love all God’s people.
your love: In many languages it will be necessary to state whom the Colossian Christians loved. There are three possibilities:
They loved other believers (as in 1:4).
More specifically, they loved one another.
They loved Paul and Timothy.
If you need to include the object of their love in your language, it is recommended that you follow the first option (1). This verse probably refers back to 1:4 where Paul wrote that the Colossians loved all God’s people. The first option includes the second option, because if they loved all believers they also loved one another.
in the Spirit: This refers to the Holy Spirit. If the word Spirit by itself might have an unclear or negative meaning in your language, you could say “God’s Spirit” or use your term for “Holy Spirit.” Paul was saying that the Colossians loved others “by means of” the Holy Spirit, that is, it was the Holy Spirit who enabled/caused them to love others. Here is another way to express this:
the love that the Holy Spirit has given you (GNT)
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / exclusive
ἡμῖν
˱to˲_us
The word us here does not include the Colossians.
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
τὴν ὑμῶν ἀγάπην
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ καί δηλώσας ἡμῖν τήν ὑμῶν ἀγάπην ἐν Πνεύματι)
Paul is primarily talking about the love that the Colossians are showing to other believers. Of course they also love God. If you must specify the object of their love, and people might think that the Colossians do not love God if he is not mentioned, then you could include both. Alternate translation: [that you love God and all his people]
ἐν Πνεύματι
in ˓the˒_Spirit
Alternate translation: [which is by the power of the Holy Spirit] or [which you do through the power of the Holy Spirit]
1:3-14 This opening section begins with a thanksgiving, typical of New Testament letters. Paul thanks God for the Colossians’ progress in the faith and prays that they might understand it even better. With this prayer, Paul hints at his concern about the influence of false teachers.
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.