Grēgoreō, “To Be Watchful.” The verb grēgoreō means “to be watchful” or “to stay awake.” According to Dunn (1996, 261–62), the imagery of the verb is drawn from the idea of guard duty. The word occurs 22 times in the NT, including four references in Paul’s letters. In the Gospels, Jesus uses the term several times to urge His disciples “to stay awake” with Him in prayer (e.g., Matt 26:38, 40; Mark 13:37). In Paul’s farewell speech to the Ephesians in Acts, the apostle urges his fellow believers “to be alert” as they remember his admonitions from his years of ministry among them (Acts 20:31; compare 1 Cor 16:13). Other NT passages employ the verb as a call to vigilance against evil (1 Pet 5:8) or as a response to living in a period near the end of the ages (e.g., Matt 24:42–43; 1 Thess 5:6; Rev 3:2–3).
Hendriksen (1964, 179) interprets grēgoreō in Col 4:2 in a metaphoric manner. He suggests that what Paul intends is for the worshiper “to be alive to” important matters during prayer (e.g., family, church, etc.). O’Brien (1998, 237) disagrees with this view. He argues that the verb calls believers “to be alert” in their anticipation of the Lord’s return, even though the passage lacks an eschatological reference (compare the view of Lohse 1971, 164–65). Dunn (1996, 261–62) also considers grēgoreō to refer to the early Christian expectation of Christ’s return. He even proposes that the use of such language to anticipate Christ’s coming again can be traced back to the scene of the garden of Gethsemane in the gospels.
Derek R. Brown, Colossians, ed. Douglas Mangum, Lexham Research Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013), Col 3:18–4:18.
