Colossians 1
1
Greeting
1From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and from our brother Timothy.
2To God’s holy and faithful people, our brothers and sisters who are united with Christ in the city of Colossae.
Good will #1:2 Or “Grace.” and peace from God our Father are yours!
Paul’s Prayer for the Colossians
3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in our prayers for you. 4We thank God because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people. 5You have these because of the hope which is kept safe for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope in the Good News which is the message of truth. 6This Good News is present with you now. It is producing results and spreading all over the world as it did among you from the first day you heard it. At that time you came to know what God’s kindness #1:6 Or “grace.” truly means. 7You learned about this Good News from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant. He is taking your place here as a trustworthy deacon for Christ 8and has told us about the love that the Spirit has given you.
9For this reason we have not stopped praying for you since the day we heard about you. We ask ⌞God⌟ to fill you with the knowledge of his will through every kind of spiritual wisdom and insight. 10We ask this so that you will live the kind of lives that prove you belong to the Lord. Then you will want to please him in every way as you grow in producing every kind of good work by this knowledge about God. 11We ask him to strengthen you by his glorious might with all the power you need to patiently endure everything with joy. 12You will also thank the Father, who has made you able to share the light, which is what God’s people inherit.
What God Has Done Through Christ
13God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of his Son, whom he loves. 14His Son paid the price to free us, which means that our sins are forgiven.
15He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
16He created all things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible.
Whether they are kings or lords,
rulers or powers—
everything has been created through him and for him.
17He existed before everything
and holds everything together.
18He is also the head of the church, which is his body.
He is the beginning,
the first to come back to life
so that he would have first place in everything.
19God was pleased to have all of himself live in Christ. 20God was also pleased to bring everything on earth and in heaven back to himself through Christ. He did this by making peace through Christ’s blood sacrificed on the cross.
21Once you were separated from God. The evil things you did showed your hostile attitude. 22But now Christ has brought you back to God by dying in his physical body. He did this so that you could come into God’s presence without sin, fault, or blame. 23This is on the condition that you continue in faith without being moved from the solid foundation of the hope that the Good News contains. You’ve heard this Good News of which I, Paul, became a servant. It has been spread throughout all creation under heaven.
Paul Describes His Work
24I am happy to suffer for you now. In my body I am completing whatever remains of Christ’s sufferings. I am doing this on behalf of his body, the church. 25I became a servant of the church when God gave me the work of telling you his entire message. 26In the past God hid this mystery, but now he has revealed it to his people. 27God wanted his people throughout the world to know the glorious riches of this mystery—which is Christ living in you, giving you the hope of glory.
28We spread the message about Christ as we instruct and teach everyone with all the wisdom there is. We want to present everyone as mature Christian people. 29I work hard and struggle to do this while his mighty power works in me.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. 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.