4:12a
Epaphras: This is the same Epaphras that Paul mentioned in chapter 1. See the note on Epaphras in 1:7a.
who is one of you: This is the same thing that Paul said about Onesimus in 4:9b. See the note there.
a servant of Christ Jesus: See the note on 1:7b.
4:12b
He is always wrestling in prayer for you: To be wrestling in prayer is a figure of speech. It means, “He prays earnestly/fervently.” Epaphras prayed so fervently because he cared deeply about his friends in Colossae.
4:12c
so that you may stand mature and fully assured in the full will of God: Scholars do not agree about how to connect the phrase in the full will of God to the rest of the verse. There are two main views:
(1) It should be connected to fully assured, as in the Berean Standard Bible. See SSA.
(Berean Standard Bible, God’s Word, NET Bible, New Living Translation (2004), Revised English Bible).
(2) It should be connected to the verb stand mature. This is what the New International Version and Good News Translation have done.
(New International Version, Good News Translation)
It is recommended that you follow the first option (1) since it is the easiest way to understand the Greek text.
stand: This figure of speech means “to do something without changing or stopping.”
mature: The Greek word means, “to be full-grown, mature, complete, perfect.” Paul used the same word in 1:28c when he said, “so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” See the note on that verse. Here it means, “to be mature spiritually.” That is, Epaphras had been praying that the Colossians would become mature Christians, strong in their faith. If they were spiritually mature, the false teachers would not easily persuade them to believe the false teaching.
fully assured in the full will of God: Most scholars interpret this to mean, “very sure, completely confident, fully convinced.” In 2:2 Paul used the noun form of this same word. See the note about “full riches” in 2:2c. As stated above, these words are connected to the phrase in the full will of God. Epaphras had prayed that the Colossians would be “completely sure” about what God wanted them to do and believe.
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