^1:24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body—for the sake of his body, the church—what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. ^1:25I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship⁴⁵ from God—given to me for you—in order to complete⁴⁶ the word of God, ^1:26that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. ^1:27God wanted to make known to them the glorious⁴⁷ riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ^1:28We proclaim him by instructing⁴⁸ and teaching⁴⁹ all people⁵⁰ with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature⁵¹ in Christ. ^1:29Toward this goal⁵² I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully⁵³ works in me.

Read in Logos

Colossians 1:27: To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Footnotes

45 οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”
46 See πληρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (), .
47 The genitive noun τῆς δόξης (tēs doxēs) is an attributive genitive and has therefore been translated as “glorious riches.”
48 Or “admonishing,” or “warning.” νουθετέω states, “to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct, admonish, warn, instruct.” After the participle νουθετοῦντες (nouthetountes, “instructing”) the words πάντα ἄνθρωπον (panta anthrōpon, “all men”) occur in the Greek text, but since the same phrase appears again after διδάσκοντες (didaskontes) it was omitted in translation to avoid redundancy in English.
49 The two participles “instructing” (νουθετοῦντες, nouthetountes) and “teaching” (διδάσκοντες, didaskontes) are translated as participles of means (“by”) related to the finite verb “we proclaim” (καταγγέλλομεν, katangellomen).
50 Here ἄνθρωπον (anthrōpon) is twice translated as a generic (“people” and “person”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.
51 Since Paul’s focus is on the present experience of the Colossians, “mature” is a better translation of τέλειον (teleion) than “perfect,” since the latter implies a future, eschatological focus.
52 The Greek phrase εἴς ὅ (eis ho, “toward which”) implies “movement toward a goal” and has been rendered by the English phrase “Toward this goal.”
53 The prepositional phrase ἐν δυνάμει (en dunamei) seems to be functioning adverbially, related to the participle, and has therefore been translated “powerfully.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church. I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.

NLTNew Living Translation

I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

Now I rejoice in my sufferings on behalf of you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ, on behalf of his body which is the church, of which I became a minister, according to God’s stewardship which was given to me for you, to complete the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations, but has now been revealed to his saints, to whom God wanted to make known what is the glorious wealth of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we proclaim, by admonishing every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, in order that we may present every person mature in Christ, for which purpose also I labor, striving according to his working which is at work powerfully in me.

KJV 1900King James Version

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

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