Told represents a verb used infrequently in the NT (7 times), and has the sense of “make plain, clear.”

The love that the Spirit has given you represents the literal “your love in (the) spirit.” There is much uncertainty about the meaning of this phrase. Commentators point out that Paul does not refer to the Holy Spirit in Colossians, unless this phrase is such a reference (see also Good News Bible in 1.9; the other occurrence of pneuma is 2.5, where it refers to Paul’s own spirit). As Moule says, it may be simply “your more than merely human love.” New English Bible has “your God-given love,” Phillips “Christian love,” Translator’s New Testament “the love which the Spirit has inspired in you” (similarly Barclay), Goodspeed “love which the Spirit has awakened in you” (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible similarly); Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is more explicit, “… God’s Spirit…”; Dutch common language translation (Bijbel in Gewone Taal) has “your love whose source is the Spirit.”

Love here may be the love for all fellow Christians (as in verse 4), or it could be the Colossians’ love for Paul and his companions.

It is rare that one can speak of “love” without designating the object of love. The relationship of the Spirit to this love is probably best understood as causative, and therefore, if love must be expressed as a verb, perhaps one can render verse 8 as “he has told us how the Spirit has caused you to love fellow Christians” or “… love us.”

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 .