I do this should refer to the hard work which Paul has engaged in so as to help the believers in Colossae and Laodicea as well as others. It should not be merely a reference to his desire to communicate to them how hard he has worked. In other words, one may begin verse 2 by saying “I worked this way in order that they may be filled with courage.”

In some languages, there is a problem involved in the shift from second person to third person. In verse 1, for example, the reference is to you as well as the people in Laodicea and all others, but in verse 2 the reference is merely to they. In reality, of course, the Colossians are not eliminated by this use of the third person plural pronoun, but the abrupt shift might suggest this in some languages. Therefore, it may be appropriate to say “I do this in order that all may be filled with courage…” or possibly “… you and they may be filled with courage….” Similarly, one may translate the second sentence of verse 2 “in this way you and they will know.”

Filled with courage translates the Greek verb traditionally represented by “to comfort” (see King James Version). It means “to encourage,” “cheer up,” “strengthen.” In most languages, it is impossible to speak of “being filled with courage.” One may “become very courageous” or as in some languages “have a hard heart,” as a figurative way of talking about courage. In other languages, courage may be expressed as “willingness to face danger” or “facing danger without moving.”

Drawn together translates sumbibazō “to unite,” “to knit together,” used in 2.19 and Eph 4.16 of a body being held together by its joints and ligaments. The verb may also mean “to instruct,” “to prove” (compare Acts 9.22, 1 Cor 2.16), and so Vulgate “instruct” here; but no modern translation takes it in this sense. The figurative expression be drawn together in love is difficult to render more or less literally. One can, however, almost always speak of “coming to love one another more and more” or “become better friends by loving one another.”

And so have represents the Greek kai eis, indicating the purpose or result of the preceding clauses. And so, as an expression of result, may require some such translation as “all this results in” or “because of all this you have.”

In the phrase the full wealth of assurance, or “complete certainty,” the Greek for wealth is being used again metaphorically to denote the precious value of the noun it modifies; assurance translates a Greek noun used only in 3 other place (1 Thes 1.5, Heb 6.11, 10.22); the cognate verb is used in 4.12, and appears in 5 other places in the NT.

The full wealth of assurance may frequently be translated as “you may be completely sure,” or perhaps better “you may have the great advantage of being completely sure,” or “you may be completely sure and this is very valuable for you.”

True understanding represents sunesis (see 1.9); they will know translates the noun epignōsis (see 1.9, 10). Which true understanding brings indicates the means by which one can arrive at assurance. This may be expressed in some languages as “true understanding causes this assurance.” In a number of instances, however, one cannot speak of “understanding” without indicating something of the content of such “understanding,” and therefore, one may wish to translate “if you understand the truth, this causes assurance” or “by understanding the truth one is certain.”

God’s secret, which is Christ himself stands for the Greek “the mystery (or secret) of God, Christ,” This text suffered many alterations and expansions, ending finally in the text translated by King James Version as “the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.” Moffatt translates another reading, “of God the Father of Christ,” Jerusalem Bible “the secret of God.” The Greek text may be understood in four different ways: (1) “the mystery of God, that is, of Christ,” in which “Christ” is in apposition to “God,” (2) “the mystery of the God of Christ,” but the absence of the definite article before “Christ” makes this quite improbable, (3) “the mystery of God Christ” (or, “the divine Christ”), for which there is no parallel in the NT, and (4) “the mystery of God, which is Christ,” in which “Christ” is in apposition to the whole phrase “God’s mystery.” This last one is the meaning accepted by the vast majority of modern commentators and translators. What is meant by “Christ is the secret of God” is that Christ reveals God’s truth, which before has been hidden from mankind (as the next verse makes clear); see also 1.27.

If one accepts the interpretation most generally followed by biblical scholars in which Christ himself is God’s secret, then one may translate the last sentence of verse 2 as “in this way they will learn about what God has not made known previously, and this is Christ himself.” The relationship between the secret and Christ may, however, be inverted in some languages, so that the translation reads “in this way they will know about Christ himself and he is the one that God has kept from being known previously.”

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 .