1 This letter is from me, Paul. God chose me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. Our friend Timothy is here with me while I write.
2 We are writing to you, God's own people who live in Colossae. You are like brothers and sisters to us because you continue to believe in Christ.
I pray that God, our Father, will continue to help you. I pray that he will give you peace in your minds.
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. 4 We thank God because people have told us good things about you. You continue to trust Christ Jesus. You also love all God's people. 5 You live like that because you hope to receive good things from God. [ a ] You know that God has prepared those good things for you. He is keeping them safe in heaven. You learned that when people first told you God's true message, his good news.
6 You have heard this good news, like people all over the world have heard it. It has caused good results among you since the time when you heard it first. At that time, you understood the true message about how kind God really is. As a result, God is blessing you more and more, like he blesses his people everywhere. 7 It was our good friend Epaphras who first told you this good news. Like us, he is Christ's servant. He serves Christ on our behalf. 8 He has told us about the love that God's Spirit has given to you.
9 Because of all that, we have not stopped praying for you, ever since the day that we heard about you. We ask God that his Spirit will make you truly wise. He will help you to know clearly what he wants you to do. You will understand his true message. 10 Then you will be able to live in a way that the Lord wants you to live. Everything that you do will please him. We pray that all these good things will have good results. We pray that you will know God better and better. 11 God rules from heaven with great power. We pray that he will make you strong with every kind of strength. Then, when troubles come, you can still be patient and strong. 12 You will be able to thank God, our Father, and be happy. God has prepared good things for his people to receive in heaven. Because God has included you among his people, you will also share those good things in the kingdom of light. 13 God has saved us from the dark kingdom where Satan rules. [ b ] He has brought us into the kingdom of his Son, whom he loves. 14 God's Son, Jesus, paid the price for our sins and made us free. Yes, God has forgiven us. [ c ]
15 We cannot see God. But Jesus Christ shows us completely who God is. Even before God made anything, Jesus was already there as God's Son who rules everything. 16 When God created everything, it was his Son who did it. His Son made everything that is on earth and in heaven. He created everything that we can see, as well as the things that we cannot see. He made rulers and leaders. He made everything that has power and authority. God gave his Son the authority to create everything, so that his Son would receive praise. 17 God's Son was there before anything else was there. And now he causes everything to continue in its proper place. 18 The church is like Christ's body and he is its head. [ d ] He is where it all begins. As God's special Son, he was the first person who became alive again after death. [ e ] As a result, Christ is first and most important in all things.
19 God chose to put his nature in Christ completely. 20 He decided that Christ would die on the cross as a sacrifice. In that way, God would bring all things back to himself. Then everything could live in peace with God. That includes everything on the earth and everything in heaven.
21 As for you, you were far away from God at one time. You thought bad things and you did bad things. As a result, you were God's enemies. 22 But now you have become God's friends. This happened because Christ's human body died on the cross. As a result, God has brought you to himself. As you stand in front of him, you are completely good and clean inside. He sees nothing in you that is bad.
23 But you must continue to believe God's true message. Do not turn away from it. Continue to trust God, as you did when you first heard the good news. People have told this good news to everyone all over the world. And God has chosen me, Paul, as his servant to tell this good news.
24 At this time, I am suffering on your behalf, but I am still happy. Christ himself suffered on behalf of his people, the church. Now, while I live in my human body, I also suffer. I continue to receive the pain that Christ received, so that it may be complete. [ f ] In that way, I help the church, which is like Christ's own body.
25 I have become God's servant, so that I can help the church. God chose me to do that. He chose me to explain his message to you completely. 26 That message is a secret that God hid from everyone before now. He hid it from all the people who lived in past times. But now he has shown this secret to his people. 27 God wanted them to understand how great this secret is. It shows that God will bless people who live in all countries of the world. This secret message is that Christ lives in you. And because of that, you know that you will live with God in heaven one day.
28 That is why we tell everyone the message about Christ. God helps us to be very wise as we warn people and we teach them. We want every person who belongs to Christ to become complete, as God sees them. 29 That is why I work very hard. Christ works powerfully in me to make me strong for this difficult work.
1 Greetings from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am an apostle because that is what God wanted. Greetings also from Timothy, our brother in Christ.
2 To the holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who live in Colossae.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
3 In our prayers we always thank God for you. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 We thank him because we have heard about the faith you have in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all of God’s people. 5 Your faith and love continue because you know what is waiting for you in heaven—the hope you have had since you first heard the true message, the Good News 6 that was told to you. Throughout the world, this Good News is bringing blessings and is spreading. And that’s what has been happening among you since the first time you heard it and understood the truth about God’s grace. 7 You heard it from Epaphras, our dear friend and co-worker. He is a faithful servant of Christ for us. [ a ] 8 He also told us about the love you have from the Spirit.
9 Since the day we heard these things about you, we have continued praying for you. This is what we pray:
that God will make you completely sure of what he wants by giving you all the wisdom and spiritual understanding you need; 10 that this will help you live in a way that brings honor to the Lord and pleases him in every way; that your life will produce good works of every kind and that you will grow in your knowledge of God [ b ] ; 11 that God will strengthen you with his own great power, so that you will be patient and not give up when troubles come.
Then you will be happy 12 and give thanks to the Father. He has made you able to have what he has promised to give all his holy people, who live in the light. 13 God made us free from the power of darkness. And he brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son. 14 The Son paid the price to make us free. In him we have forgiveness of our sins.
15 No one can see God,
but the Son is exactly like God.
He rules over everything that has been made. [ c ]
16 Through his power all things were made:
things in heaven and on earth, seen and not seen—
all spiritual rulers, lords, powers, and authorities.
Everything was made through him and for him.
17 The Son was there before anything was made.
And all things continue because of him.
18 He is the head of the body, which is the church.
He is the beginning of everything else.
And he is the first among all who will be raised from death. [ d ]
So in everything he is most important.
19 God was pleased for all of himself to live in the Son.
20 And through him, God was happy to bring all things back to himself again—
things on earth and things in heaven.
God made peace by using the blood sacrifice of his Son on the cross.
21 At one time you were separated from God. You were his enemies in your minds, because the evil you did was against him. 22 But now he has made you his friends again. He did this by the death Christ suffered while he was in his body. He did it so that he could present you to himself as people who are holy, blameless, and without anything that would make you guilty before him. 23 And that is what will happen if you continue to believe in the Good News you heard. You must remain strong and sure in your faith. You must not let anything cause you to give up the hope that became yours when you heard the Good News. That same Good News has been told to everyone on earth, and that’s the work that I, Paul, was given to do.
24 I am happy in my sufferings for you. There is much that Christ must still suffer. And I gladly accept my part of those sufferings in my body for the good of his body, the church. 25 I became a servant of the church because God gave me a special work to do. This work helps you. My work is to tell the complete message of God. 26 This message is the secret truth that was hidden since the beginning of time. It was hidden from everyone for ages, but now it has been made known to God’s holy people. 27 God decided to let his people know just how rich and glorious that truth is. That secret truth, which is for all people, is that Christ lives in you, his people. He is our hope for glory. 28 So we continue to tell people about Christ. We use all wisdom to counsel every person and teach every person. We are trying to bring everyone before God as people who have grown to be spiritually mature in Christ. 29 To do this, I work and struggle using the great strength that Christ gives me. That strength is working in my life.
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,
5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
6 Which 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 As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;
8 Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
9 For 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;
10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
16 For 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:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
18 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 preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
20 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.
21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
23 If 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;
24 Who 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:
25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
27 To 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:
28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
1 ( A ) Paul, ( B ) an apostle of Christ Jesus [ a ] ( C ) by the will of God, and ( D ) Timothy [ b ] our brother,
2 To the [ c ] ( E ) saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who are at Colossae: ( F ) Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
3 ( G ) We [ d ] give thanks to God, ( H ) the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 ( I ) since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the ( J ) love which you have [ e ] for ( K ) all the [ f ] saints; 5 because of the ( L ) hope ( M ) reserved for you in [ g ] heaven, of which you previously ( N ) heard in the word of truth, [ h ] the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as [ i ] ( O ) in all the world also it is bearing ( P ) fruit and [ j ] increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you ( Q ) heard it and [ k ] understood the grace of God in truth; 7 just as you learned it from ( R ) Epaphras, our ( S ) beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he also informed us of your ( T ) love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason we also, ( U ) since the day we heard about it , ( V ) have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the [ l ] ( W ) knowledge of His will in all spiritual ( X ) wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will ( Y ) walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, [ m ] ( Z ) to please Him in all respects, ( AA ) bearing fruit in every good work and [ n ] increasing in the [ o ] knowledge of God; 11 ( AB ) strengthened with all power, according to [ p ] His glorious might, [ q ] for the attaining of all perseverance and [ r ] patience; ( AC ) joyously 12 giving thanks to ( AD ) the Father, who has qualified us [ s ] to share in ( AE ) the inheritance of the [ t ] saints in ( AF ) light.
13 [ u ] For He rescued us from the [ v ] ( AG ) domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of [ w ] ( AH ) His beloved Son, 14 ( AI ) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 [ x ] He is the ( AJ ) image of the ( AK ) invisible God, the ( AL ) firstborn of all creation: 16 for [ y ] ( AM ) by Him all things were created, ( AN ) both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ( AO ) thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities— ( AP ) all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He [ z ] ( AQ ) is before all things, and in Him all things [ aa ] hold together. 18 He is also the ( AR ) head of ( AS ) the body, the church; and He is ( AT ) the beginning, ( AU ) the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For [ ab ] it was ( AV ) the Father’s good pleasure for all ( AW ) the [ ac ] fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to ( AX ) reconcile all things to Himself, ( AY ) whether things on earth or things in [ ad ] heaven, having made ( AZ ) peace through ( BA ) the blood of His cross.
21 And although you were ( BB ) previously alienated and hostile in attitude, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now ( BC ) reconciled you in His ( BD ) body of flesh through death, in order to ( BE ) present you before Him ( BF ) holy and blameless and beyond reproach— 23 if indeed you continue in [ ae ] the faith firmly ( BG ) established and steadfast, and not shifting from the ( BH ) hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed ( BI ) in all creation under heaven, ( BJ ) and of which I, Paul, [ af ] was made a [ ag ] ( BK ) minister.
24 ( BL ) Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh ( BM ) I am supplementing what is lacking [ ah ] in Christ’s afflictions in behalf of ( BN ) His body, which is the church. 25 ( BO ) I [ ai ] was made a minister of this church according to the ( BP ) commission from God granted to me for your benefit, so that I might [ aj ] fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, 26 that is , ( BQ ) the mystery which had been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His [ ak ] saints, 27 to whom ( BR ) God willed to make known what ( BS ) the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles is, the mystery that is ( BT ) Christ in you, the ( BU ) hope of glory. 28 We proclaim Him, ( BV ) admonishing every person and teaching every person [ al ] with all ( BW ) wisdom, so that we may ( BX ) present every person [ am ] ( BY ) complete in Christ. 29 For this purpose I also ( BZ ) labor, ( CA ) striving ( CB ) according to His [ an ] power which [ ao ] works mightily within me.
1 Paul, an apostle ( A ) of Christ Jesus by the will of God, ( B ) and Timothy ( C ) our brother,
2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters [ a ] in Christ:
Grace ( D ) and peace to you from God our Father. [ b ] ( E )
3 We always thank God, ( F ) the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love ( G ) you have for all God’s people ( H ) — 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope ( I ) stored up for you in heaven ( J ) and about which you have already heard in the true message ( K ) of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit ( L ) and growing throughout the whole world ( M ) —just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, ( N ) our dear fellow servant, [ c ] who is a faithful minister ( O ) of Christ on our [ d ] behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. ( P )
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, ( Q ) we have not stopped praying for you. ( R ) We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will ( S ) through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, [ e ] ( T ) 10 so that you may live a life worthy ( U ) of the Lord and please him ( V ) in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ( W ) 11 being strengthened with all power ( X ) according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ( Y ) 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, ( Z ) who has qualified you [ f ] to share in the inheritance ( AA ) of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ( AB ) 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness ( AC ) and brought us into the kingdom ( AD ) of the Son he loves, ( AE ) 14 in whom we have redemption, ( AF ) the forgiveness of sins. ( AG )
15 The Son is the image ( AH ) of the invisible God, ( AI ) the firstborn ( AJ ) over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: ( AK ) things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; ( AL ) all things have been created through him and for him. ( AM ) 17 He is before all things, ( AN ) and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head ( AO ) of the body, the church; ( AP ) he is the beginning and the firstborn ( AQ ) from among the dead, ( AR ) so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased ( AS ) to have all his fullness ( AT ) dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile ( AU ) to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, ( AV ) by making peace ( AW ) through his blood, ( AX ) shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies ( AY ) in your minds ( AZ ) because of [ g ] your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled ( BA ) you by Christ’s physical body ( BB ) through death to present you ( BC ) holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation ( BD ) — 23 if you continue ( BE ) in your faith, established ( BF ) and firm, and do not move from the hope ( BG ) held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, ( BH ) and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. ( BI )
24 Now I rejoice ( BJ ) in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, ( BK ) for the sake of his body, which is the church. ( BL ) 25 I have become its servant ( BM ) by the commission God gave me ( BN ) to present to you the word of God ( BO ) in its fullness— 26 the mystery ( BP ) that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known ( BQ ) among the Gentiles the glorious riches ( BR ) of this mystery, which is Christ in you, ( BS ) the hope of glory.
28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing ( BT ) and teaching everyone with all wisdom, ( BU ) so that we may present everyone fully mature ( BV ) in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously ( BW ) contend ( BX ) with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. ( BY )
