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Col_1:11 is co-ordinate with the foregoing ἐν παντὶ ἔργῳ … Θεοῦ .
ἐν πάσῃ δυν . δυναμ .] ἐν is instrumental, as in Col_1:9 (Eph_6:10; 2Ti_2:1); hence not designating that, in the acquiring of which the invigoration is supposed to consist (Hofmann), but: by means of every (moral) power (by its bestowal on God’s part) becoming empowered. δυναμόω (Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 605) does not occur in Greek authors, and is only found here and at Heb_11:34, Lachm. in the N. T.; in the LXX. at Ecc_10:10; Dan_9:27; Ps. 67:31; in Aquila; Job_36:9; Psa_64:4. Paul elsewhere uses ἐνδυναμοῦν .
κατὰ τὸ κράτος τῆς δόξ . αὐτ .] according to the might of His majesty; with this divine might (see as to κράτος on Eph_1:19), through the powerful influence of which that strengthening is to be imparted to them, it is also to be correspondent—and thereby its eminent strength and efficacy are characterized ( κατά in Eph_1:19 has another sense). Comp. 2Th_2:9; Php_3:21. And τὸ κράτος τ . δόξ . αὐτ . is not His glorious power (Luther, Castalio, Beza, and others; also Flatt and Bähr), against which αὐτοῦ should have been a sufficient warning; but τὸ κράτος is the appropriate attribute of the divine majesty (of the glorious nature of God). Comp. Eph_3:16; Sir_18:5. The κράτος therefore is not the glory of God (Böhmer), but the latter has the former,—and the δόξα is not to be referred to a single aspect of the divine greatness (Grotius: power; Huther: love), but to its glorious whole. Comp. on Rom_6:4.
εἰς πᾶσαν ὑπομ . κ . μακροθ .] in respect to every endurance (in affliction, persecution, temptation, and the like, comp. Rom_5:3; 2Co_1:6; 2Co_6:4; Jam_1:3 f.; Luk_8:15; Rom_2:7, et al.) and long-suffering (towards the offenders and persecutors), that is, so as to be able to exercise these virtues in every way by means of that divine strengthening. The distinction of Chrysostom: μακροθυμεῖ τις πρὸς ἐκείνους οὓς δυνατὸν καὶ ἀμύνασθαι · ὑπομένει δὲ , οὓς οὐ δύναται ἀμύνασθαι , is arbitrary. See, on the contrary, for instance, Heb_12:2-3. Others understand it variously; but it is to be observed, that ὑπομονή expresses the more general idea of endurance, and that μακροθυμία , the opposite of which is ὀξυθυμία (Eur. Andr. 729; Jam_1:19) and ὀξυθύμησις (Artem. iv. 69), always refers in the N. T. to the relation of patient tolerance towards offenders. Comp. Col_3:12; Gal_5:22; Rom_2:4; Eph_4:2; also Heb_6:12; Jam_5:10.
μετὰ χαρᾶς ] is joined with πᾶσαν ὑπομ . κ . μακροθ . by Theodoret, Luther, Beza, Castalio, Calvin, Grotius, Calovius, Bengel, Heinrichs, and many others, including Olshausen, Bähr, Steiger, de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius, Dalmer, so that the true, joyful patience (comp. Col_1:24) is denoted. But the symmetry of the passage (see on Col_1:10), in which the two previous participles are also preceded by a prepositional definition, points so naturally to the connection with what follows (Syr., Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Erasmus, Estius, and others, including Lachmann, Tischendorf, Böhmer, Huther, Ewald, Ellicott, Bleek, Hofmann), that it cannot be abandoned without arbitrariness. Even in that case, indeed, the thought of joyful patience, which is certainly apostolic (Rom_5:3; 1Pe_1:6; Rom_12:12; comp. Mat_5:12), is not lost, when the intercession rises from patience to joyful thanksgiving. Observe also the deliberate juxtaposition of μετὰ χαρᾶς εὐχαριστ .