“The peace of Christ” (Revised Standard Version) is quite evidently the peace that has its origin in Christ, the peace that Christ gives (compare John 14.27, Eph 2.14, 2 Thes 3.16), not the peace that Christ himself possesses. It is the spirit of fellowship and harmony that must prevail in the Christian community. Some later manuscripts, whose copyists were perhaps influenced by the language of Phil 4.7, have “the peace of God” (compare King James Version). The peace that Christ gives is better expressed in a number of languages as causative, for example, “the peace that Christ causes” or “Christ is the one who causes you to be at peace with one another, and this is to guide you….”
Is to guide you in the decision you make translates the Greek “is to judge in your hearts.” The verb brabeuō occurs only here in the NT (compare katabrabeuō in 2.18) and means “to serve as umpire; to determine, decide” a matter. After examining the way in which the word is used elsewhere, Lightfoot says, “It appears that the idea of a decision and an award is prominent in the word, and that it must not be taken to denote simply rule or power.”f 11 fr 3.15 ft Lightfoot, op. cit., p. 221.
To guide you in the decisions you make may be expressed as “to cause you to make decisions as to what you should do” or as expressed in direct discourse, “this will cause you to decide, ‘We must do this.’ ”
The Greek “in your hearts” (Revised Standard Version) is by some taken to mean the locale, the place where the peace from Christ is to rule: it is an interior reality, inside the person (compare ver WEYver* Twentieth Century New Testament). Others, however, take “heart” in the biblical sense of “mind, thinking,” and so understand and translate the passage as Good News Translation has done, in the decisions you make (compare Phillips Barclay). Thus understood, the following injunction is more fitting for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body: harmony and cooperation within the fellowship, the Church, was the intention of God when he called the Colossians to be his people.
In the one body is a reference to the Church (see 1.18). Some, however, believe that the absence of the definite article in Greek makes the phrase mean “in one body,” a reference to the local community. In either case, the metaphor “body” is a significant one for Paul as the best picture of the unity of Christians in union with Christ.
The clause for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body must be rather radically restructured in some languages, for example, “for God has called you together to be one body in order that you should experience this kind of peace.”
The phrase in the one body must be identified in some languages as a figurative expression, “in order to form one body, as it were.”
In translating the verb called, especially in this type of context, it is important to avoid certain connotations or aspects of meaning. For example, one would not wish to introduce the idea of “shouting at” or the implications of “commanding.” In this type of context, called is much closer to the meaning of “to urge” or, as in some languages, “to urgently invite.”
And be thankful, that is, to God: this command is added almost as an afterthought (only here does the adjective eucharistos occur in the NT); not only gratitude, but its expression in the giving of thanks to God is commanded (also verses 16b, 17b). The imperative expression be thankful can best be expressed in some languages as a type of obligation, for example, “you must be thankful to God” or “you should be thankful to God.”
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 .