Thus far Paul had dictated the letter, but he himself writes the final greeting (see also 1 Cor 16.21, Gal 6.11, 2 Thes 3.17). He calls upon them to remember that he is in prison (see 4.3). The closing salutation, as in all Pauline letters, prays that God’s grace (or, in most of them, the grace of Jesus Christ) be with them. For grace see 1.2.

The statement with my own hand I write this may be confusing since the pronoun this so frequently refers back to something which as been previously said. The relationship to what follows may be made quite clear by saying “I’m writing the following words with my own hand.” It may even be appropriate to introduce greetings from Paul as a type of indirect discourse, for example, “with my own hand I am writing these greetings to you.”

Do not forget my chains may be effectively expressed as “do not forget that I am in jail.”

May God’s grace be with you may be expressed as “may God be kind to you” or “may God show his goodness to you.” Such a request must, however, be expressed in a number of languages in the form of a prayer, for example, “I pray that God will be gracious to you.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .