Perhaps the best way to display the various ways in which this verse has been interpreted is to set them forth in a schematic arrangement, before considering the specific words. The subject of the verbs may be (A) God or (B) Christ. The participle apekdusamenos may be taken as (1) active or (2) middle. Its object (a) may be “rulers and authorities” or (b) it may have no object.

A.1.a: “God disarmed the powers”: Peake, Abbott, Lohse, Beare; Revised Standard Version Goodspeed Phillips New American Bible New International Version Jerusalem Bible Bible en français courant Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch Traduction œcuménique de la Bible.
A.2.a: “God divested himself of the powers”: Twentieth Century New Testament New English Bible. (Moffatt has a variant on this: “God cut away the angelic Rulers and Powers from us.”)
B.1.a: “Christ disarmed the powers”: TEV mg Biblia Dios Habla Hoy Barclay.
B.2.a: “Christ freed himself from the powers”: Lightfoot, Moule; Good News Translation Translator’s New Testament.
B.2.b: in this interpretation, the participle apekdusamenos is understood absolutely, and the accusative phrase “the rulers and authorities” is taken as the object of the following finite verb “he made an example of them.” In this case the implied object of “Christ stripped away (from himself)” is “his body,” an interpretation favored by the Latin Fathers (apud Lightfoot).

And at the end of the verse the prepositional phrase en autō may be taken as meaning “in Christ” or “in the cross.” Most take it to mean “in the cross,” either with God as the subject of the preceding verbs (Abbott, Peake; RSV mg Twentieth Century New Testament Translator’s New Testament Jerusalem Bible New English Bible New International Version Moffatt Barclay Traduction œcuménique de la Bible Bible en français courant; and, by implication, Phillips Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), or with Christ as the subject (Lightfoot, Moule; Weymouth Good News Translation Translator’s New Testament Biblia Dios Habla Hoy Barclay). Some who take God as the subject take en autō to be “in Christ”: Lohse, Beare; Revised Standard Version Goodspeed New American Bible. Vulgate takes en autō to be reflexive (en hautō), “in himself.”

Faced with such a bewildering variety of possibilities, the translator must decide which seems most probable, assary to introduce all of the alternative possibilities.

Freed himself (Good News Translation) or “disarmed” (Revised Standard Version): the verb apekduomai (only here and in 3.9; the cognate noun apekdusis only in 2.11) means “to strip off, divest, take off (like clothing).” If taken as a middle it means “he stripped himself”; if as an active, “he stripped the rulers and authorities.” The form is middle, but many understand it to have an active force (see Bl-D, #316; A&G; Lohse, Beare).

If one follows the Good News Translation interpretation freed himself, it is possible to say “caused himself to no longer be under the power of.” If, however, one interprets the verb in an active sense, then one may say “he took away the power of the rulers and authorities” or “he caused the rulers and authorities to no longer have power.”

Commentators are agreed that “the rulers and authorities” are spiritual, supernatural, powers—so Good News Translation the spiritual rulers and authorities. As in other contexts, it may be useful to translate spiritual by “spirits” and then to reproduce rulers and authorities by verbs indicating activities, for example, “spirits that rule and govern.”

Made a … spectacle of them translates the verb which appears only here and in Matt 1.19 (compare the noun deigma in Jude 7). Public (Revised Standard Version Good News Translation and others) can be understood as “boldly” (so Lightfoot, Abbott, Moule); the noun parrēsia usually means “confidence, boldness.”

He made a public spectacle of them may be translated as “he caused everyone to see,” or “he showed them off to everyone,” or “what happened to them he made very conspicuous,” or “he caused them to walk along behind him, so that everyone would see.”

Leading them as captives in his victory procession translates the Greek verb thriambeuō, found only here and in 2 Cor 2.14. It refers to the well-known triumphal procession of a victorious general, leading captive rulers in chains at his chariot wheels. Compare Jerusalem Bible “paraded them in public, behind him in his triumphal procession,” New English Bible “led then as captives in his triumphal procession.”

By leading them as captives may be expressed as “by having them tied up and walking along behind him” or “by making them march behind him with hands tied.”

In his victory procession may be expressed as “as he rides along showing that he has been victorious” or “showing that he has conquered these powers” or “… these spirits.” But in view of the figurative usage involved in this passage, again it may be necessary to mark the expression as a simile, for example, “as though marching in triumph.”

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 .