Colossians 1
1
1From Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from Timothy, who is also a follower.
2To God's people who live in Colossae and are faithful followers of Christ.
I pray that God our Father will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!
A Prayer of Thanks
3Each time we pray for you, we thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4We have heard of your faith in Christ and of your love for all God's people, 5because what you hope for is kept safe for you in heaven. You first heard about this hope when you believed the true message, which is the good news.
6The good news is spreading all over the world with great success. It has spread in this same way among you, ever since the first day you learned the truth about God's wonderful kindness 7#Col 4.12; Phm 23. from our good friend Epaphras. He works together with us for Christ and is a faithful worker for you.#1.7 you: Some manuscripts have “us.” 8He is also the one who told us about the love that God's Spirit has given you.
The Person and Work of Christ
9We have not stopped praying for you since the first day we heard about you. In fact, we always pray that God will show you everything he wants you to do and that you may have all the wisdom and understanding his Spirit gives. 10Then you will live a life that honors the Lord, and you will always please him by doing good deeds. You will come to know God even better. 11His glorious power will make you patient and strong enough to endure anything, and you will be truly happy.
12I pray that you will be grateful to God for letting you#1.12 you: Some manuscripts have “us.” have part in what he has promised his people in the kingdom of light. 13God rescued us from the dark power of Satan and brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son, 14#Eph 1.7,8. who forgives our sins and sets us free.
15 #
Ws 7.26. Christ is exactly like God,
who cannot be seen.
He is the first-born Son,
superior to all creation.
16Everything was created by him,
everything in heaven
and on earth,
everything seen and unseen,
including all forces
and powers,
and all rulers
and authorities.
All things were created
by God's Son,
and everything was made
for him.
17God's Son was before all else,
and by him everything
is held together.
18 #
Eph 1.22,23. He is the head of his body,
which is the church.
He is the very beginning,
the first to be raised
from death,
so that he would be
above all others.
19God himself was pleased
to live fully in his Son.
20 #
Eph 2.16. And God was pleased
for him to make peace
by sacrificing his blood
on the cross,
so that all beings in heaven
and on earth
would be brought back to God.
21You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things. 22But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. 23But you must stay deeply rooted and firm in your faith. You must not give up the hope you received when you heard the good news. It was preached to everyone on earth, and I myself have become a servant of this message.
Paul's Service to the Church
24I am glad I can suffer for you. I am pleased also that in my own body I can continue#1.24 continue: Or “complete.” the suffering of Christ for his body, the church. 25God's plan was to make me a servant of his church and to send me to preach his complete message to you. 26For ages and ages this message was kept secret from everyone, but now it has been explained to God's people. 27God did this because he wanted you Gentiles to understand his wonderful and glorious mystery. And the mystery is that Christ lives in you, and he is your hope of sharing in God's glory.
28We announce the message about Christ, and we use all our wisdom to warn and teach everyone, so all of Christ's followers will grow and become mature. 29This is why I work so hard and use the mighty power he gives me.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Colossians 1
1
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ that are at Colossæ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
3We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have toward all the saints, 5because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6which is come unto you; even as it is also in all the world bearing fruit and increasing, as it doth in you also, since the day ye heard and knew the grace of God in truth; 7even as ye learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
9For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; 13who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; 14in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins: 15who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; 17and he is before all things, and in him all things consist. 18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell; 20and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens. 21And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, 22yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him: 23if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister.
24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church; 25whereof I was made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which was given me to you-ward, to fulfil the word of God, 26even the mystery which hath been hid for ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to his saints, 27to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ; 29whereunto I labor also, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
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