Colossians 4:3

θύραν τοῦ λόγου. A interprets by adding ἐν παρρησίᾳ.

τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ χριστοῦ. B*L read τοῦ θεοῦ with a few cursives, aeth. and this is possibly right, though a commoner expression (vide Lightfoot, p. 315 n.).

3. προσευχόμενοι ἅμα καὶ, i.e. at the same time as you are praying for yourselves. Other examples of ἅμα καί in the N.T. are Acts 24:26; 1 Timothy 5:13; Philemon 1:22†.

περὶ ἡμῶν. Not only St Paul (contrast δέδεμαι, infra) but also Timothy (Colossians 1:1), and perhaps others working with St Paul, e.g. Epaphras (Colossians 4:12-13) and the συνεργοί in Colossians 4:10-11.

For other examples of St Paul begging the prayers of those to whom he is writing see, besides Ephesians 6:19-20; 1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 3:1; Romans 15:30.

ἵνα. Not fully final, but weakened after προσεύχομαι; cf. Colossians 1:9.

ὁ θεὸς� (τὴν) θύραν τοῦ λόγου. In view of the || Ephesians 6:19, it is very tempting to explain the phrase here “that God may open for us the power of speech,” i.e. give us liberty of utterance. But θύρα in the N.T. is rather the opportunity; cf. 1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 2:12; Revelation 3:8 (on which see Ramsay, Epp. to the Seven Churches, p. 404). ὁ λόγος (cf. Galatians 6:6, al.) will then be the Gospel message, the meaning of the phrase being that God will open for us a way for the Gospel to pass on. The immediate reference is probably to his being now a prisoner and therefore unable to carry out, as he would like, his work of preaching the Gospel.

λαλῆσαι. Stating the aim of this “opening.”

τὸ μυστήριον (Colossians 1:26-27; Colossians 2:2, notes) τοῦ χριστοῦ, Ephesians 3:4†. See notes on Textual Criticism. Almost certainly not objective, “the secret about Christ,” but subjective, “brought by Christ.” Compare ὁ λόγος τοῦ χριστοῦ, Colossians 3:16. It nearly = the revelation brought by Christ, but while that term would have regarded the fact from the side of God, this is rather from that of the limitation of human knowledge according to its mere natural powers.

That St Paul uses the term with special reference to the reception of the Gospel by the Gentiles see Colossians 1:27.

διʼ δ. His faithfulness in insisting on this μυστήριον, releasing as it did men from the obligation of the Law and thus including the free admission of Gentiles to full religious privileges, was the ultimate cause of that opposition by the Jews which ended in his being a prisoner.

καὶ. Hardly “even,” laying stress on the magnitude of the privation, but “also,” marking the correspondence either between the message and the personal effect of preaching it, or, more probably, between his wish for liberty (ἵνα … ἀνοίξῃ κ.τ.λ.) and the state in which he now is.

δέδεμαι. || Ephesians 6:20.