Colossians 4:8

Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:7-9 Ministers are servants to Christ, and fellow-servants to one another. They have one Lord, though they have different stations and powers for service. It is a great comfort under the troubles and difficulties of life, to have fellow Christians caring for us. Circumstances of life make no difference in the spiritual relation among sincere Christians; they partake of the same privileges, and are entitled to the same regards. What amazing changes Divine grace makes! Faithless servants become faithful and beloved brethren, and some who had done wrong, become fellow-workers of good.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you - See these verses explained in the notes at Ephesians 6:21-22.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. for the same purpose—Greek, "for this very purpose."

that he might know your estate—Translate, "that he may know your state": answering to Col 4:7. So one very old manuscript and Vulgate read. But the oldest manuscripts and the old Latin versions, "that YE may know OUR state." However, the latter reading seems likely to have crept in from Eph 6:22. Paul was the more anxious to know the state of the Colossians, on account of the seductions to which they were exposed from false teachers; owing to which he had "great conflict for" them (Col 2:1).

comfort your hearts—distressed as ye are by my imprisonment, as well as by your own trials.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose; who was Paul’s messenger to them, as to let them know how it was with Paul, so to this end:

1. That he might know your estate; that he might clearly understand, how their matters stood, {as Ephesians 6:22} especially with respect to spirituals, Colossians 2:1,5.

2. And comfort your hearts; and cheer up their spirits, {as Ephesians 6:22} that under the temptations of Satan, and tyranny of persecutors abroad or at home, they might not be discouraged, 2 Corinthians 4:17.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose,.... That is, to relate to them his affairs both temporal and spiritual; and also,

that he might know your estate. The Arabic version renders it, "that I may know your estate" by him when he returned again; as whether they continued steadfast in the Gospel, and observed the order, ordinances, and discipline of it; how it prospered, and was succeeded among them, to their comfort and edification, and to the conversion of others; and what reception the false teachers had among them; and what love, concord, and harmony were among themselves; or what were their afflictions and distresses from their enemies. The Ethiopic version renders it, "that ye may know the history of me"; which agrees with a manuscript mentioned by Grotius, which reads, "that ye may know the things concerning us", as does the Alexandrian copy; and with Ephesians 6:22 where it is added, as here, and "comfort your hearts"; who might be greatly cast down upon hearing of the sufferings of the apostle, and also with those they themselves endured both from within and from without, from sin, Satan, and the world;

see on Gill Ephesians 6:22.

Geneva Study Bible

Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Colossians 4:8. ἔπεμψα: “I am sending” (epistolary aorist).—γνῶτε τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν. This is not only the better attested reading but yields the better sense, because both before (Colossians 4:7) and after (Colossians 4:9) Paul says that Tychicus will acquaint them with matters at Rome. He wishes to relieve the anxiety of the Colossians as to his welfare.—παρακαλέσῃ: see on Colossians 2:2. This function is not ascribed to Onesimus, who was not a σύνδουλος.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. I have sent] Greek, “I sent.” But the English is true to our idiom. He means that the letter and Tychicus are sent together; the aorist, the “epistolary past” of Greek, must be rendered as a perfect in English to convey this thought. So Ephesians 6:22, where see our note.

for the same purpose] For this very purpose, R.V. Word for word as in Ephesians 6:22. The “purpose” is that just stated (Colossians 4:8), and now more fully explained.

that he might know] That ye might know, R.V. This is the more probable reading, though the text has considerable support, particularly in early Versions. Lightfoot urges for the change (besides manuscripts) that it is unlikely that St Paul should so emphasize (“for this very purpose”) Tychicus’ mission of information, and then suddenly give as its first object a work of enquiry. Further, that transcribers were more likely to assimilate the person and number of the verb to the “he might comfort” just below, than elaborately to assimilate a “he might know” here to the “ye might know” in Ephesians.

comfort] See on Colossians 2:2.

Bengel's Gnomen

Colossians 4:8. Γνῷ τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν) γνῶτε τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν is found in Al. Colb. 7, etc. It has been transferred to this place from Ephesians 6:22. See App. Crit. Ed. 2.[30] on this passage. The two epistles [Ephesians and Colossians] truly have many points of resemblance to one another, but yet so as that the things that need to be changed are changed in each respectively (mutatis mutandis). And generally in parallelisms of this sort, which the officiousness of transcribers has mixed together [blending the parallel readings of two epistles into one], one reading in the one place, and another in the other, is the genuine reading. Tychicus, and through Tychicus (as it appears) Paul, was to learn the state of the Colossians (whence, instead of γνῷ [third person, viz. Tychicus], γνῶ [first person, viz. Paul] may be also read), just as he learned the state of the Thessalonians through Timothy; that of the Corinthians through Titus; that of the Philippians through Epaphroditus; and more especially did Paul wish to learn that of the Colossians, because he had a great ‘conflict’ on their account [ch. Colossians 2:1]. Moreover the knowledge of the Colossians concerning Paul is sufficiently indicated (marked), not only by the preceding words, as in the Epistle to the Ephesians, but also by those following, which are peculiar to this Epistle to the Colossians: πάντα ὑμῖν γνωριοῦσι τὰ ὧδε.[31]

[30] Γνῶτε τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν is the reading of ABD corrected, (Δ), Gfg, and so Lachm. But γνῶ—ὑμῶν in C Vulg. and Rec. Text, and so Tisch.—ED.

[31] Therefore Beng. rejects the reading γυῶτε τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν.—ED.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - Whom I have sent unto you for this very purpose, that ye may know how it is with us (literally, the things about us), and that he may comfort your hearts (Ephesians 6:22). The Received Text reads, by a slight confusion of similar Greek letters, that he may know the things about you (see Lightfoot's 'Notes on some Various Readings'). This is the only clause exactly identical in Colossians and Ephesians. There would be great anxiety on St. Paul's account amongst the Gentile Christians everywhere, and especially in the Asiatic Churches, after the ominous words of his address to the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:22-25: comp. vers. 37, 38). The Colossians had sent through Epaphras messages of love to him (Colossians 1:8). To know that he was of good courage, and even in hope of a speedy release (Philemon 1:22), would "comfort their hearts." Colossians 4:8

Vincent's Word Studies

I have sent

Epistolary aorist. Tychicus carried the letter.

He might know your estate (γνῷ τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν)

The correct reading is γνῶτε τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν ye might know the things about us, or our estate. Compare Ephesians 6:21.