Footnotes

1. Colossians 1:2 Saints: Christians are called saints because through Baptism they have been consecrated to God and are called to live accordingly.
2. Colossians 1:3 The power of the Gospel to live and spread is extraordinary; it is God’s grace and action among human beings. In the vitality of a young Church, Paul recognizes this work of the Lord, and he prays that it will develop in all its richness. Thanksgiving and prayer succeed each other in this introduction and indicate the principal features of an authentic Christian life: to accept the truth of the Gospel; to grow in faith, love, and hope; and to know God more in order to be more faithful in the concrete.
   Nonetheless, the initiative comes from the Lord. It is he who changes our life; it is he who frees us from the bondage of sin and leads us into a new world, the kingdom of Christ. Now he is extending to all the Gentiles the salvation formerly reserved for Israel—“the inheritance of the saints.” Such a text gives us the echo of what might have been the mystique of Baptism and the joy of the Christian in the early Church.
3. Colossians 1:5 This verse refers to the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, which also appear in Rom 5:2-5; 1 Cor 13:13; Gal 5:5f; 1 Thes 1:3; 5:8; Heb 10:22-24. For the special nuance mentioned here, that hope gives rise to faith and love, see Tit 1:2.
4. Colossians 1:7 Epaphras: a Colossian and founder of the Church of Colossae, who is now with Paul.
5. Colossians 1:12 Light: this term is used to symbolize glory (Isa 60:1-3; 1 Tim 6:16), life (Jn 1:4), holiness (Mt 5:14; 6:23; Acts 26:18; 1 Jn 1:5), love (Jas 1:17; 1 Jn 2:9f), and truth (Pss 36:9; 119:105, 130; 2 Cor 4:6). Thus, the character of light is found in God (1 Jn 1:5), Christ (Jn 8:12), and Christians (Eph 5:8).
6. Colossians 1:15 This great hymn to Christ and his universal primacy was probably a baptismal hymn. It draws upon the most beautiful motifs of the Old Testament on Divine wisdom (see Prov 8:1-9, 12; Wis 7:21—8:12; Sir 24). In the perspective Paul adopts here, he contemplates Christ as the image of the invisible God and clearly asserts his Divine preexistence (see 2 Cor 4:4; Phil 2:6; Heb 1:3).
   Christ is before all and above all; whether we consider the universe or the History of Salvation, he is both the reason for being and the explanation of everything in them. If we seek the origin of, the rationale for, or the end of creation, he is the one we must name. All the heavenly forces and hierarchies so prized in certain Jewish or Christian circles in Colossae—in a word, everything that claims to rule the universe—are subject to him as the Creator.
   He alone is Lord of the world. He alone is the power giving life to the Church, that is, his Body. He alone is the Mediator who reconciles all beings with one another and with God. We experience a universe disordered by sin; it is re-created and transformed in him. Hence, for the Christian, history has a movement and a meaning: it is oriented toward Christ, directed by him, and consummated in him.
   Paul wants to enunciate a hope that is infinitely more than merely human, a hope founded in faith (see Rom 8:19-22; 1 Cor 15:22-28; Phil 3:21): the risen Christ is the center in whom two worlds are united, the Divine and the created.
7. Colossians 1:19 All fullness (plêrôma): the fullness of deity (see Col 2:9) or, better, the universe full of the creative and redemptive presence of God. According to Paul, the risen Christ rules the whole of creation, what has been raised from sinfulness to salvation.
8. Colossians 1:21 By dying on the cross, Christ has accomplished the reconciliation of all human beings. The Gospel changes their condition before God, provided that they accept it with faith. Paul rejoices in suffering to announce such a message, for he knows that the ordeal of a missionary is united with the Passion of Christ and contributes to the life and growth of the Church. He is captivated by the “mystery” of God. This term frequently means, depending on the context, Christ as prophesied, Christ who has come into this world, Christ continuing his work in the Church, Christ in his triumphal return.
   Here, in this grand perspective of unity, Paul focuses his attention on the present aspect of the mystery. Today, Jews and Gentiles are admitted into the same inheritance, they are members of the same body, and they benefit from the same promise; today, even the multitudes of the Gentiles whom Israel regarded as excluded from the Covenant are called to the embrace of the Church. This is the wonderful mystery that the Apostle is charged to reveal.
9. Colossians 1:24 For the sake of his body, the Church: nothing is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, but believers who form a single reality with him (his body) prolong and complete his Paschal Mystery of Death and Resurrection by their trials and sufferings.
10. Colossians 1:27 Christ dwells in us when we are regenerated (see Eph 3:17). We partake of the divine nature by feeding on him (Jn 6:56) and by having his word abide in us, and we grow in grace and bear fruit as we abide in him (Jn 15:5f).