Colossians 4:3

praying also for us Cp. Romans 15:30; Eph 6:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 3:1; Hebrews 13:18. He wisely covets for his apostolic work, and the work of his friends, the prayers of the obscurest watchful believer.

open … a door of utterance Lit., a door of the word of the Gospel, i.e., an opportunity for the missionary. For the phrase cp. 1 Corinthians 16:9; 2 Corinthians 2:12; where, as here, the "open door" is not the emboldened mouth (which is chiefly in his thought Ephesians 6:19-20) but the favourable circumstances. Cp. for a partial parallel Acts 14:27, and perhaps Revelation 3:8.

to speak Such was the use to which the "open door" of occasion would be put.

the mystery of Christ Cp. Ephesians 3:4 for the same phrase. The word mystery is frequent with St Paul; he uses it in some 21 places, of which 11 lie in this Epistle and Ephesians. On the word, see above on Colossians 1:26. "Of Christ:" with whose Person, Work, and Life, the great Secret was vitally bound up. See on Colossians 1:27.

for which On account of which. "St Paul might have been still at large if he had been content to preach a Judaic Gospel" (Lightfoot). Cp. Acts 21:13; Acts 28:20.

I am … in bonds Lit., I have been bound. Cp. Ephesians 6:19 and our notes. And see Ephesians 3:1; Ephesians 4:1; Philippians 1:7; Philippians 1:13-14; Philippians 1:16; Philemon 1:10; Philemon 1:13. It is easy to read, and to forget, this passing allusion. But what must have been the hourly trial to a sensitive spirit, of this attachment day and night to a (probably) pagan sentinel, perhaps wholly devoid of generous instincts!