Colossians Chapter 1 verse 29 Holy Bible
whereunto I labor also, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
read chapter 1 in ASV
And for this purpose I am working, using all my strength by the help of his power which is working in me strongly.
read chapter 1 in BBE
Whereunto also I toil, combating according to his working, which works in me in power.
read chapter 1 in DARBY
Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
read chapter 1 in KJV
read chapter 1 in WBT
for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
read chapter 1 in WEB
for which also I labour, striving according to his working that is working in me in power.
read chapter 1 in YLT
Colossians 1 : 29 Bible Verse Songs
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 29. - To which end also I toil hard, striving according to his working (Colossians 2:1; Colossians 4:12, 13; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Galatians 4:11; Philippians 2:16; 1 Timothy 4:10; Acts 20:35). Κοπιῶ, to labour to weariness, often used of manual labour, is a favourite word of St. Paul's (1 Corinthians 4:12; 2 Corinthians 11:27; 1 Thessalonians 2:9: comp. Ephesians 4:28; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; John 4:38). The figurative use of "striving" ("agonizing," i.e. "contending in the arena") is only Pauline in the New Testament: comp. Colossians 2:1; Colossians 4:12; Philippians 1:30; 1 Corinthians 9:25; 1 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7; also Luke 22:44; in 1 Timothy 4:10 (R.V.) it is again connected with "toil" (κοπιάω). We need not, with Meyer and Ellicott, distinguish inward from outward striving in this word. The apostle's bodily sufferings (ver. 21) and his mental anxiety (Colossians 2:1) alike enter into the mighty struggle which he is maintaining on the Church's behalf, and which strains every fibre of his nature to the utmost (comp. 2 Corinthians 11:28). "Striving" implies opponents against whom he contends (Ephesians 6:12; 2 Thessalonians 3:2; 2 Corinthians 11:26); "toiling hard," the painful efforts he has to make. In this toll he is divinely sustained, for he "strives according to his [Christ's: comp. Philippians 4:13] working." Ανεργεία ("energy," "operative force," "power in action") - another word of St. Paul's vocabulary (frequent also in Aristotle) - is used by him only of supernatural power, "a working of God," "of Satan" (2 Thessalonians 2:9, 11). Which worketh in me with power (ver. 11; Ephesians 3:16; Philippians 2:13; Philippians 4:13; 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10). The "energy of Christ" is such that it "effectually works" in the apostle; the same idea is repeated in noun and verb (ver. 11, note). The verb is middle in voice, as this "working" is that in which the Divine "energy of Christ" puts itself forth and shows what it can do (comp. 2 Corinthians 13:3-6); see note on "bearing fruit," ver. 6, and Winer's 'N. T. Grammar,' p. 318 (dynamic middle). So it works unmistakably "in [or, 'with'] power." Never do we find this consciousness of the Divine power dwelling in himself expressed by St. Paul with such joyous confidence as at this period (see Philippians 1:20, 21; Philippians 4:13; Ephesians 3:9, 20; and comp. note on ver. 23 b).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(29) Whereunto I also labour.--In this verse St. Paul passes from the plural to the singular, evidently in preparation for the strong personal remonstrance of Colossians 2:1-7.His working . . .--See Ephesians 1:12, and Note there. Perhaps, as in Galatians 2:8 ("He that wrought effectually in Peter to the Apostleship of the Circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles"), there is special allusion to the grace given to him for his Apostleship of the Gentiles.
