ἀγῶνα] The arena of the contest to which ἀγωνιζόμενος in the preceding verse refers may be either outward or inward. It will include the ‘fightings without,’ as well as the ‘fears within.’ Here however the inward struggle, the wrestling in prayer, is the predominant idea, as in iv. 12 πάντοτε ἀγωνιζόμενος ὑπὲρ ὑμων ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς ἵνα σταθῆτε κ.τ.λ.
τῶν ἐν Λαοδικίᾳ] The Laodiceans were exposed to the same doctrinal perils as the Colossians: see above pp. 2, 41 sq. The Hierapolitans are doubtless included in καὶ ὅσοι κ.τ.λ. (comp. iv. 13), but are not mentioned here by name, probably because they were less closely connected with Colossæ (see iv. 15 sq.), and perhaps also because the danger was less threatening there.
καὶ ὅσοι κ.τ.λ.] ‘and all who, like yourselves, have not seen, etc.’; where the καὶ ὅσοι introduces the whole class to which the persons previously enumerated belong; so Acts iv. 6 Ἄννας ὁ ἀρχιερὲυς καὶ Καΐαφας καὶ Ἴωαννης καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος καὶ ὅσοι ἦσαν ἐκ γένους ἀρχιερατικοῦ, Rev. xviii. 17 καὶ πᾶς κυβερνήτης καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἐπὶ τόπον πλέων καὶ ναῦται καὶ ὅσοι τὴν θάλασσαν ἐργάζονται. Even a simple καὶ will sometimes introduce the general after the particular, e.g. Acts v. 29 ὁ Πέτρος καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι, Ar. Nub. 413 ἐν Ἀθηναίοις καὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησι, etc.; see Kühner Gramm. § 521, II. p. 791. On the other hand καὶ ὅσοι, occurring in an enumeration, sometimes introduces a different class from those previously mentioned, as e.g. in Herod, vii. 185. As a pure grammatical question therefore it is uncertain whether St Paul’s language here implies his personal acquaintance with his correspondents or the contrary. But in all such cases the sense of the context must be our guide. In the present instance καὶ ὅσοι is quite out of place, unless the Colossians and Laodiceans also were personally unknown to the Apostle. There would be no meaning in singling out individuals who were known to him, and then mentioning comprehensively all who were unknown to him: see above p. 28, note [84]. Hence we may infer from the expression here, that St Paul had never visited Colossæ–an inference which has been already shown (p. [23] sq.) to accord both with the incidental language of this epistle elsewhere and with the direct historical narrative of the Acts.
ἑώρακαν] For this ending of the 3rd pers. plur. perfect in -αν see Winer § xiii. p. 90. The received text reads ἑωράκασι. In this passage the ω form has the higher support; but below in ver. 18 the preponderance of authority favours ἑόρακεν rather than ἑώρακεν. On the use of the form in ο see Buttmann Ausf. Griech. Sprachl. § 84, I. p. 325.
2. παρακληθῶσιν] ‘encouraged, confirmed,’ i.e. ‘comforted’ in the older and wider meaning of the word, (‘confortati’), but not with its modern and restricted sense: see παράκλησις Phil. ii. 1. For παρακαλεῖν τὰς καρδίας comp. iv. 8, Ephes. vi. 22, 2 Thess. ii. 17.
II. 3]
[← ] αὐτῶν, συμβιβασθέντες ἐν ἀγάπῃ καὶ εἰς πᾶν πλοῦτος τῆς πληροφορίας τῆς συνέσεως, εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ μυστηρίον τοῦ Θεοῦ, Χριστοῦ 3ἐν ᾧ εἰσὶν πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ [ →]
αἱ καρδίαι] They met the Apostle heart to heart, though not face to face. We have here the same opposition of καρδία and πρόσωπον as in 1 Thess. ii. 17, though less directly expressed; see ver. 5.
αὐτῶν] where we should expect ὑμῶν, but the substitution of the third person for the second is suggested by the immediately preceding καὶ ὅσοι. This substitution confirms the interpretation of καὶ ὅσοι already given. Unless the Colossians are included in ὅσοι, they must be excluded by αὐτῶν. Yet this exclusion is hardly conceivable in such a context.