Section 92
4Gk. ήλίϰον ἀγῶνα ἔχω. The noun ἀγών (cf. Phil. 1:30; 1 Thess. 2:2; 1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7) and the derivative verb ἀγωνίςομαι (cf. 1 Cor. 9:25; Col. 1:29; 4:12; 1 Tim. 4:10; 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7) are taken from the field of athletic contest and applied to missionary and pastoral activity. Cf. V. C. Pfitzner, Paul and the Agon Motif (Leiden, 1967), pp. 109-29. F. Field, Notes on the Translation of the New Testament (Cambridge, 1899), p. 195, suggests (unconvincingly) that the phrase here may be based on a reminiscence of Isa. 7:13 LXX: “Is it a small thing for you to cause conflict (ἀγῶνα παϱέχειν) to human beings? How then do you cause conflict (ἀγῶνα παϱέχετε) to the Lord?”
5A few of them may have met Paul elsewhere (e.g., in Ephesus); thus it appears from the letter to Philemon that Philemon and some members of his household (see further on Archippus, Col. 4:17) were personally known to Paul; but the majority of the Colossian Christians remained personally unknown to him.
6On Laodicea (cf. Col. 4:16; Rev. 1:11; 3:14-22) see Introduction, p. 6.
7Including, no doubt, Hierapolis (cf. Col. 4:14); indeed, ϰαί τῶν ἐν Ἰεϱαπόλει is inserted here by 104 424 and a few other cursives.
8Gk. παϱαϰαλέω, “encourage,” “strengthen.” For its use with ϰαϱδία as the object of the encouragement cf. Col. 4:8; Eph. 6:22; 2 Thess. 2:17.
9Gk. συμβζβὰςω. M. Dibelius’s view (ad loc.) that the passive participle συμβιβ-ασθέντες means “instructed” here (“durch Belehrung in Liebe”) finds some support from usage elsewhere, especially in the LXX (cf. the quotation from Isa. 40:13 in 1 Cor. 2:16); but the analogy of Col. 2:19 (with Eph. 4:16) is decisive for the present meaning “bound together” or “knit together.”