Colossians 2:1-3

PAUL'S DEEP CONCERN FOR THE COLOSSIANS AND OTHER CHRISTIANS UNKNOWN TO HIM, THAT THEY MAY BE UNITED IN LOVE, AND ATTAIN FULL KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST, IN WHOM RESIDE ALL THE TREASURES OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE. θέλω γὰρ ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι : for the formula cf. 1 Corinthians 11:3, and for a similar formula Philippians 1:12. More frequently the negative is used, οὐ θέλω ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν. γὰρ introduces the proof of what he has just said, by the illustration from the case of his readers, and thus prepares the way for the warning that follows in Colossians 2:4. ἀγῶνα : the inward struggle of Paul will embrace his prayers, his anxiety and his earnest meditation on the implications of the false teaching and the best manner of refuting it. Added to this are the difficulties caused by his imprisonment and the fact that the Colossians were personally unknown to him. Λαοδικίᾳ. The members of this Church were probably exposed to the same dangers as their neighbours. καὶ ὅσοι κ. τ. λ. So far as the words themselves go, they may mean that the Colossians and Laodiceans did belong to the number of those who had not seen him or that they did not. But the latter alternative is very improbable, for Paul would not have joined a general reference to Churches unknown to him to a special mention of two Churches that were known to him. Further, Paul continues with αὐτῶν, which refers to καὶ ὅσοι, but must include the Colossians, since in Colossians 2:4 he says, “This I say that no one may delude you ”. This also corresponds to the use of καὶ ὅσοι after an enumeration. The narrative in Acts favours this view, as does the absence of any hint in the Epistle that Paul had visited Colossæ. We may therefore safely assume with almost all commentators that the Apostle was personally unknown to both of these Churches. ἐν σαρκί : to be taken with τὸ πρ · μου, not with ἑόρ.