In some languages it may be quite impossible to begin a document with the phrase “from Paul,” especially when Paul is himself the writer of the letter, that it to say, it may not be possible for an author to speak of himself in the third person. The identification of the writer may require a first person singular pronoun followed by a verb indicating “writing,” for example, “I Paul write to….”

Paul’s status as an apostle of Christ Jesus is the result of God’s doing; it was God who made Paul an apostle (2 Cor 1.1, Eph 1.1, and 2 Tim 1.1 have the identical phrase; Rom 1.1 has “a called apostle,” and 1 Cor 1.1 “a called apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God”). Apostle is literally “messenger” and has the meaning of a representative, with the commission and authority to act in the name and on behalf of the one who has sent him; he is not simply one who delivers a message and nothing else.

The phrase by God’s will may be rendered in some languages as “this is what God wanted” or “this is what God planned.” In other instances, it may be better to restructure God’s will as a causative, for example, “God caused me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.”

The relationship between apostle and Christ Jesus must be expressed in some languages as “an apostle sent by Christ Jesus” or “an apostle especially commissioned by Christ Jesus.” Though the term apostle may be rendered by a word meaning simply “messenger,” it is important to avoid the connotation of “errand boy.” The importance of the message communicated by the apostle, as well as the special relationship between the apostle and the one who sent him, must be appropriately reflected. Sometimes this can be done by a phrase, “one who is sent with a special message.”

Since the role of our brother Timothy is secondary in the writing of this letter, it may be useful to indicate this fact by some such phrase as “our brother Timothy joins me in greeting you” or “… in sending this letter to you.”

It may be essential to avoid a word such as brother, since this might refer only to individuals of the same family. An appropriate equivalent is sometimes “our fellow Christian Timothy” or “Timothy who is also a Christian together with us.” The rendering of our would of course be an inclusive first person plural if a distinction is made between so-called inclusive and exclusive first person plurals.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .