Colossians 4:4 — As I Must Speak It

4 that I should be making it manifest, as I must speak.

Paul asks the Colossians to pray for him. Not only that God may open a door for the Word, but also that he may make the secret of the Christ manifest as he must speak. The opportunity to speak is one thing; faithfully putting the message into words is another. It is precisely the latter that weighs heavily on Paul’s heart.

The Greek text reveals a striking connection here. The word translated as “must” (dei) is closely related to the verb “bind” (deō), which Paul uses in the preceding verse when he writes that he is “bound.” Thus, Paul is not only literally bound because of the secret of the Christ; he is also bound to the manner in which he makes it known. For Paul was not the owner of the message, but its administrator (Col. 1:25; Eph. 3:9).

Earlier in this letter, Paul wrote that the administration of God had been granted to him “to complete the word of God,” namely, by making manifest the secret that had been “concealed from the eons and from the generations” (Col. 1:25–26). As administrator of this secret, he spoke it as he had been instructed. Therefore, we can trust that we have received Paul’s secret just as God had entrusted it to him.

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