Colossians 1–2

GREETING

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will,^a and Timothy^b our brother:

²To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.^A

THANKSGIVING

³We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints ⁵because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the word of truth,^c the gospel ⁶that has come to you. It is bearing fruit^d and growing all over the world,^e just as it has among you since the day you heard it and came to truly appreciate^f God’s grace.^{Bg 7}You learned this from Epaphras,^h our dearly loved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christⁱ on your^C behalf, ⁸and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.^j

PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH

⁹For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking^k that you may be filled with the knowledge^l of his will^m in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,^{D 10}so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good workⁿ and growing in the knowledge of God,^{o 11}being strengthened^p with all power,^q according to his glorious^r might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you^E to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.^{s 13}He has rescued^t us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom^u of the Son^v he loves.^{w 14}In him we have redemption,^F the forgiveness of sins.

THE CENTRALITY OF CHRIST

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God,^x

the firstborn over all creation.^y

¹⁶For everything was created by him,^z

in heaven and on earth,

the visible and the invisible,

whether thrones or dominions

or rulers or authorities—

all things have been created through him and for him.^aa

¹⁷He is before all things,^ab

and by him all things^ac hold together.

¹⁸He is also the head of the body, the church;

he is the beginning,^ad

the firstborn from the dead,^ae

so that he might come to have

first place in everything.

¹⁹For God was pleased to have

all his fullness^af dwell in him,^ag

²⁰and through him to reconcile

everything to himself,

whether things on earth or things in heaven,

by making peace^ah

through his blood,^ai shed on the cross.^Aaj

²¹Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. ²²But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death,^ak to present you holy, faultless,^al and blameless before him^am—²³if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith^an and are not shifted away from the hope^ao of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation^ap under heaven,^aq and I, Paul,^ar have become a servant of it.

PAUL’S MINISTRY

²⁴Now I rejoice in my sufferings^as for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body,^at that is, the church. ²⁵I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, ²⁶the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. ²⁷God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ^a in you, the hope^b of glory. ²⁸We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. ²⁹I labor for this, striving^c with his strength that works powerfully in me.^d

2For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling^e for you, for those in Laodicea,^f and for all who have not seen me in person. ²I want their hearts to be encouraged^g and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery^h—Christ.^{Bi 3}In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom^j and knowledge.^k

CHRIST VERSUS THE COLOSSIAN HERESY

⁴I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable. ⁵For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit,^l rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

⁶So then, just as you have received^m Christ Jesus as Lord,ⁿ continue to walk in him, ⁷being rooted and built up in him^o and established in the faith, just as you were taught,^p and overflowing with gratitude.

⁸Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition,^q based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ.^{r 9}For the entire fullness^s of God’s nature dwells bodily^C in Christ, ¹⁰and you have been filled by him, who is the head^t over every ruler and authority. ¹¹You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh,^u in the circumcision of Christ,^{v 12}when you were buried with him^w in baptism, in which you were also raised with him^x through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.^{y 13}And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. ¹⁴He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.^{z 15}He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.^Aaa

¹⁶Therefore, don’t let anyone judge^ab you in regard to food and drink^ac or in the matter of a festival or a new moon^ad or a Sabbath day.^{B 17}These are a shadow^ae of what was to come;^af the substance is^C Christ.^{ag 18}Let no one condemn^D you^ah by delighting in ascetic practices^ai and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated^aj by empty notions of their unspiritual^E mind. ¹⁹They don’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body,^ak nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God.

²⁰If you died with Christ^al to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: ²¹“Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? ²²All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. ²³Although these have a reputation for wisdom^am by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.^Fan