Section 91
1Lit., “who have not seen my face in (the) flesh” (ὃσοι οὐϰ ἑόϱαϰαν τό πϱόσωπóν μου ἐν σαϱϰί).
2Gk. συμβιβασθέντες, a “sense construction,” the masculine form agreeing with the understood “they” (which is actually expressed by the periphrasis αἱ ϰαϱδὐαι αὑτῶν “their hearts”). ℵ2 D2 Ψ and the majority of cursives read the grammatically correct συμβιβασθ?ντων (in concord with αυτῶν).
3Gk. εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ μυστηϱίου τοṽ θεοṽ, Xϱɩστοṽ. This (the most satisfactory) reading appears in P46 B, and is attested by Hilary, Pelagius, and Pseudo-Jerome. D* and a few other Western authorities give the same sense with the expanded reading ὃ ἐστιν Xϱιστός instead of Xϱɩστοṽ. Other authorities omit Xϱιστοṽ or θεοṽ, or insert ϰαί so as to yield the sense “the mystery of God and Christ,” variously amplified to “the mystery of God the Father and of Christ” (441 1908) or even to “the mystery of God and the Father and of Christ” (D2 K and the majority of cursives), or change Xϱιστοṽ to [τοṽ] ἐν Xϱιστῷ,“the mystery of God [which is] in Christ” (33). The reading of P46 B is the point of departure for all the variants. We should take Xϱιστοṽ in apposition with μυστηϱίου—Christ himself is the mystery of God. There is a helpful discusion of this passage, with clear and detailed presentation of the evidence, in B. M. Metzger, The Text of the New Testament (Oxford, 1964), pp. 236-38. J. N. Darby, The New Testament: A New Translation (London, 21871), ad loc.; W. Kelly, Lectures on Colossians (London, 1869), p. 40; and E. Lohmeyer, ad loc, take Xϱιστοṽ as an early gloss and follow those texts which read simply “the mystery of God” (D1 H P 31 424**); the following ἐν ᾧ (v. 3) then means “in which.”