This verse brings this section (3.5-17) to a close with a general command that everything the Colossians do and say must be in the name of the Lord Jesus, that is, as his committed and obedient followers and representatives. In the name of the Lord Jesus may be expressed most satisfactorily in a number of languages as “as believers in the Lord Jesus” or “as followers of the Lord Jesus.” The passive construction should be done may cause certain difficulties, especially in languages where an active expression must be employed. In such cases one may be able to translate “whatever you do and whatever you say, you should do and say in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Sometimes the meaning of “whatever you say and whatever you do” must be rendered as a condition, for example, “if you do anything and if you say anything, then you should do and say all that in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Through him, that is, through Christ, means that their thanksgiving to God must recognize that Christ is the medium through which all their blessings have come from God. A literal rendering of the phrase through him might suggest that the believers were to give thanks to God only through Christ as a kind of intermediary, that is to say, that the believers should pray to Christ in order that he would then communicate the thanks to God. In reality, of course, the believer is to give thanks to God the Father because of what has happened through Christ, and it may be necessary to make this explicit, for example, “as you thank God the Father for what has happened to you through Christ” or “… for what Christ has done for you.”

As you give thanks translates a participle, which some take, as elsewhere, to function as an imperative. Instead of to God the Father, some later manuscripts, influenced by the parallel in Eph 5.20, have “to the God and Father” (see King James Version). As in other contexts, it may be necessary to translate to God the Father as “to God who is our Father.”

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 .