Colossians 1–2

Salutation

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

²To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae:

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

Paul Thanks God for the Colossians

³In our prayers for you we always thank God, the^b Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,^{* 4}for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,^{* 5}because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel^{* 6}that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God.^{* 7}This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on our^c behalf,^{* 8}and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s^d will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,^{* 10}so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.^{* 11}May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully^{* 12}giving thanks to the Father,^e who has enabled^f you^g to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,^{* 14}in whom we have redemption,^h the forgiveness of sins.

The Supremacy of Christ

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,^{* 16}for inⁱ him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷He himself is before all things, and in^j him all things hold together. ¹⁸He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.^{* 19}For in him all the fullness of God^k was pleased to dwell, ²⁰and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.^*

²¹And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²²he has now reconciled^l in his fleshly body^m through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him,^{* 23}provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creatureⁿ under heaven. I, Paul, became a minister of this gospel.^*

Paul’s Interest in the Colossians

²⁴I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. ²⁵I became its minister according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,^{* 26}the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints.^{* 27}To them God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.^{* 28}It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.^{o* 29}For this I toil and strive with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.^*

²For I want you to know how greatly I strive for you and for those in Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face. ²I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ,^{p* 3}in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.^{* 4}I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. ⁵For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your orderly conduct and the firmness of your faith in Christ.^*

Fullness of Life in Christ

⁶As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.^*

⁸Watch out that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles^q of the world, and not according to Christ.^{* 9}For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.^{* 11}In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision,^r by the removal of the body^s of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ;^{* 12}when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.^{* 13}And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God^t made you^u alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,^{* 14}erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵He disarmed^v the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.^*

¹⁶Therefore, do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food or^w drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths.^{* 17}These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the body belongs to Christ. ¹⁸Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, initiatory visions,^x puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,^{y 19}and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with a growth that is from God.^*

Warnings against False Teachers

²⁰If with Christ you died to the elemental principles^z of the world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations,^{* 21}“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? ²²All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings.^{* 23}These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence.^a