Colossians 1

Greeting

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, ^aand Timothy ^bour ^cbrother:

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

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

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 message of truth, ^ethe gospel ⁶that has come to you. It is bearing fruit ^fand growing all over the world, ^gjust as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace ^hin the truth. ^ij7You learned this from Epaphras, ^kour dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah ^lon your ^mbehalf, ⁸and he has told us about your love in the Spirit. ⁿ

Prayer for Spiritual Growth

⁹For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking ^othat you may be filled with the knowledge ^pof His will ^qin all wisdom and spiritual understanding, ^r10so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work ^sand growing in the knowledge of God. ^t11May you be strengthened ^uwith all power, ^vaccording to His glorious ^wmight, for all endurance and patience, with joy ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you ^xto share in the saints’ ^yinheritance in the light. ^z13He has rescued ^aus from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom ^bof the Son ^cHe loves. ^d14We have redemption, ^ethe forgiveness of sins, in Him.

The Centrality of Christ

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

the firstborn over all creation. ^gh

¹⁶For everything was created by Him, ⁱ

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. ^j

¹⁷He is before all things, ^k

and by Him all things ^lhold together.

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

He is the beginning, ^m

the firstborn from the dead, ⁿ

so that He might come to have

first place in everything.

¹⁹For God was pleased to have

all His fullness ^odwell in Him, ^p

²⁰and through Him to reconcile

everything to Himself

by making peace ^q

through the blood ^rof His cross ^st—

whether things on earth or things in heaven.

²¹Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. ²²But now He has reconciled you by His physical body ^uthrough His death, ^vto present you holy, faultless, ^wand blameless before Him ^x— ²³if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith ^yand are not shifted away from the hope ^zof the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation ^aunder heaven, ^band I, Paul, ^chave become a servant of it.

Paul’s Ministry

²⁴Now I rejoice in my sufferings ^dfor you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body, ^ethat is, the church. ²⁵I have become its servant, according to God’s administration that was given to me for you, to make God’s message 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 ^fin you, the hope ^gof 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 ^hwith His strength that works powerfully in me. ⁱ