The phrase for this reason should not refer specifically to the love which the believers in Colossae had manifested, but to all of their experience in Christian faith. It may, therefore, be necessary in some cases to use a transitional expression which will be more inclusive, for example, “because of all this,” or “because of all you have experienced,” or “because of all that has happened to you.”
We have always prayed represents the Greek “we never stop praying,” which is not to be taken literally, of course. In the place of we have always prayed, one may more appropriately translate this in some instances as “we continued to pray.”
Ever since we heard about you may be rendered as “beginning the first day we heard about you and even until now” or “we began praying for you when we first heard about you and we still do.”
We ask God to fill you represents the passive “asking that you be filled”; the active is used in order to make God explicit, as the one who does the filling. Other ways may be sought to express the idea of “fill”: compare Translator’s New Testament “you may be completely certain”; Barclay “have complete insight”; New English Bible “you may receive from him … for full insight.”
To fill you with the knowledge is essentially a causative expression and, therefore, may be best rendered in some languages as “to cause you to have knowledge” or “to cause you to experience.” In those instances, in which languages require direct discourse, one may say, “We ask God, Cause the believers in Colossae to know….”
Knowledge is here the compound noun, related to the verb “to know” in verse 7. As commentators point out, this is not merely intellectual perception, but living relationship.
His will is, in this context, God’s design, purpose, plan, intention for his people. The knowledge of his will is really “to experience what God wants for you.” This may be expressed as “to experience what God wants you to do,” but more likely as “to experience what God wants you to experience.”
Wisdom and understanding: the word “wisdom” (sophia) is used often in NT, and in Colossians it appears further in 1.28; 2.3, 23; 3.16; 4.5; “understanding” (sunesis) appears once more in (Colossians 2.2), and in 5 other places in the NT: Mark 12.33, Luke 2.47, 1 Cor 1.19 (from Isa 29.14), Eph 3.4, 2 Tim 2.7. No sharp difference in meaning is to be sought between the two words: they are joined together for emphasis to denote complete apprehension, knowledge, of God’s will.
The relation of “all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Revised Standard Version) to the preceding the knowledge of his will, as expressed by the preposition “in” (Revised Standard Version), is perhaps one of means; it is by means of all spiritual wisdom and understanding that the Colossians will have the knowledge of God’s will. Since wisdom and understanding are essentially the means by which the believers in Colossae would experience God’s will, this relationship may be expressed as a causative, “being wise and having understanding will cause you to know God’s will.”
That his Spirit gives translates the Greek adjective “spiritual.” Many translate “all spiritual wisdom and understanding,” which may better represent the intention of the text. Only Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Bible en français courant do as Good News Translation has done, making it an explicit reference to God’s Spirit as the source of wisdom and understanding (so Abbott, Peake). Or it can also be taken to mean “wisdom and understanding about spiritual matters.” But it may be said that with Paul such “spiritual” knowledge is ultimately from (the Spirit of) God. Since the relationship of the Spirit of God to wisdom and understanding is perhaps best interpreted as causative, one may say “which God’s Spirit causes you to have.” This causative relationship may, therefore, be combined with the previous as “God’s Spirit causes you to be wise and have understanding and this causes you to know God’s will.”
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 .