Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Colossians 2:1

"For I would have you know how greatly I strive for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;" — Colossians 2:1 (ASV)

The metaphor of the arena is implicit in this verse as Paul again uses the word “struggling” (a Greek word built on the same root as “struggling” in 1:29; GK 74). He indicates how strenuously he was exerting himself with deep and earnest solicitude. The powers that wrestled with Paul for the ruin of his work were real and resolute; he therefore had to meet them full force in Christ. The particular struggle Paul had in mind appears to have been that of prayer. At the time he wrote these words he could not move beyond the walls of his “rented house” (Acts 28:30), being continuously held by the chain linking him to a Roman soldier. But even under these circumstances he could engage in the combat of prayer and so exert himself strenuously in behalf of his readers.

This brings before us an aspect of Paul’s prayers that we often overlook— namely, that they sometimes involved him in a truly awesome conflict, an intense struggle of the soul. This agony in prayer was “for” (i.e., in behalf of) the Colossians. But it was also in behalf of “those at Laodicea and for all who have not met me personally.” Laodicea was an important banking center in ancient times and is mentioned elsewhere in the NT only in 4:13, 15–16; Revelation 3:14. The wording of v.1 seems to suggest that the Colossians and the Laodiceans were among those who had not met Paul personally.