Verse 3 is a continuation of the sentence that begins with verse 2 and ends with verse 4.

At the same time must not be rendered in such a way as to suggest that everyone is to pray “at the same time.” A more satisfactory rendering in some languages is “whenever you pray, pray also for us.” Us here probably means Paul and his colleagues; some however (compare Lohse, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), take it to refer only to Paul. God will give us a good opportunity to preach his message translates “God may open for us a door for the word.” For the figure of “opening a door” see also 1 Cor 16.9, 2 Cor 2.12. The apostle wants God to give him another opportunity to proclaim the Christian message.

The purpose expressed in the clause so that God will give us a good opportunity to preach his message may undergo certain restructuring, for example, “so that God will allow us to preach his message freely” or “… openly.” In this way one may reproduce the meaning of good opportunity.

His message refers of course to the message which comes from God. This is the message which the apostles were commissioned to proclaim.

This “word” is defined as the secret (or “mystery”) of Christ (for which see 1.26, 27; 2.2), which is here almost a technical term for the Christian message. The order of constituents in the phrase about the secret of Christ may be appropriately altered in some instances, for in a sense it is God’s message about Christ, and it is the content of this message which was kept secret. Therefore, one may render his message about the secret of Christ as “God’s message about Christ, a message which has not been previously known.”

It was because Paul had insisted on preaching the gospel that he was in prison. The Greek verb “I am bound” does not necessarily mean that Paul was in chains, but simply that he was not free (see, however, 4.18, where “chains” are mentioned). Nowhere in this letter does Paul say where he is in prison.

In the clause for that is why I am now in prison, the pronoun that may have a rather vague reference or may be too far removed from the reference of preaching. Furthermore, in the first part of verse 3, the preaching is something in the future for which Paul is asking prayers. It would not be a specific reason for Paul’s being in prison. Accordingly, it may be necessary to say “because I preached God’s message, I am now in prison.”

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 .