1:1 From Paul, 2 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful 3 brothers and sisters 4 in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you 5 from God our Father! 6
1:3 We always 7 give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 1:4 since 8 we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. 1:5 Your faith and love have arisen 9 from the hope laid up 10 for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel 11 1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel 12 is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing 13 among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. 1:7 You learned the gospel 14 from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave 15 – a 16 faithful minister of Christ on our 17 behalf – 1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, 18 have not ceased praying for you and asking God 19 to fill 20 you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live 21 worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects 22 – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of 23 all patience and steadfastness, joyfully 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share 24 in the saints’ 25 inheritance in the light. 1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, 26 1:14 in whom we have redemption, 27 the forgiveness of sins.
1:15 28 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn 29 over all creation, 30
1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, 31 whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.
1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together 32 in him.
1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn 33 from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. 34
1:19 For God 35 was pleased to have all his 36 fullness dwell 37 in the Son 38
1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, 39 whether things on earth or things in heaven.
1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your 40 minds 41 as expressed through 42 your evil deeds, 1:22 but now he has reconciled you 43 by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him – 1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, 44 without shifting 45 from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.
1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. 1:25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship 46 from God – given to me for you – in order to complete 47 the word of God, 1:26 that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. 1:27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious 48 riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 1:28 We proclaim him by instructing 49 and teaching 50 all people 51 with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature 52 in Christ. 1:29 Toward this goal 53 I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully 54 works in me.