Colossians 1
1
Greeting
1From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother.
2To the holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
Thanksgiving and prayer for the Colossians
3We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. 4We’ve done this since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all God’s people. 5You have this faith and love because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You previously heard about this hope through the true message, the good news, 6which has come to you. This message has been bearing fruit and growing among you since the day you heard and truly understood God’s grace, in the same way that it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world. 7You learned it from Epaphras, who is the fellow slave we love and Christ’s faithful minister for your sake. 8He informed us of your love in the Spirit.
9Because of this, since the day we heard about you, we haven’t stopped praying for you and asking for you to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, with all wisdom and spiritual understanding. 10We’re praying this so that you can live lives that are worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way: by producing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God; 11by being strengthened through his glorious might so that you endure everything and have patience; 12and by giving thanks with joy to the Father. He made it so you could take part in the inheritance, in light granted to God’s holy people. 13He rescued us from the control of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14He set us free through the Son and forgave our sins.
Hymn about Christ’s work
15The Son is the image of the invisible God,
the one who is first over all creation,#1.15 Or firstborn of all creation
16Because all things were created by him:
both in the heavens and on the earth,
the things that are visible and the things that are invisible.
Whether they are thrones or powers,
or rulers or authorities,
all things were created through him and for him.
17He existed before all things,
and all things are held together in him.
18He is the head of the body, the church,
who is the beginning,
the one who is firstborn from among the dead#1.18 Or first over the dead
so that he might occupy the first place in everything.
19Because all the fullness of God was pleased to live in him,
20and he reconciled all things to himself through him—
whether things on earth or in the heavens.
He brought peace through the blood of his cross.
21Once you were alienated from God and you were enemies with him in your minds, which was shown by your evil actions. 22But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death, to present you before God as a people who are holy, faultless, and without blame. 23But you need to remain well established and rooted in faith and not shift away from the hope given in the good news that you heard. This message has been preached throughout all creation under heaven. And I, Paul, became a servant of this good news.
Paul’s service for the church
24Now I’m happy to be suffering for you. I’m completing what is missing from Christ’s sufferings with my own body. I’m doing this for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25I became a servant of the church by God’s commission, which was given to me for you, in order to complete God’s word. 26I’m completing it with a secret plan#1.26 Or mystery that has been hidden for ages and generations but which has now been revealed to his holy people. 27God wanted to make the glorious riches of this secret plan#1.27 Or mystery known among the Gentiles, which is Christ living in you, the hope of glory. 28This is what we preach as we warn and teach every person with all wisdom so that we might present each one mature in Christ. 29I work hard and struggle for this goal with his energy, which works in me powerfully.
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Colossians 1
1
Salutation
1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colos´sae:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom
3We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, 5for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; 6which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: 7#Col 4.12; Phlm 23. as ye also learned of#1.7 of or from. Ep´aphras our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; 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 for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing,#1.10 unto all pleasing or unto all that is pleasing. being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; 12giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.
Reconciliation through Christ's Death
14 #
Eph 1.7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17and he is before all things, and by him all things consist: 18#Eph 1.22,23. and 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 pre-eminence. 19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20#Eph 2.16. and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Paul's Ministry to the Church
21And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight: 23if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; 24who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: 25whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; 26even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27to whom God would 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 preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.