Greeting

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will,a and Timothyb ourc brother:

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,e the gospel 6that has come to you. It is bearing fruitf and growing all over the world,g just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s graceh in the truth.i, j 7You learned this from Epaphras,k our dearly loved fellow •slave. He is a faithful servant of the •Messiahl on yourm behalf, 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 askingo that you may be filled with the knowledgep of His willq in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,r 10so that you may •walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good works and growing in the knowledge of God.t 11May you be strengthenedu with all power,v according to His gloriousw might, for all endurance and patience, with joy 12giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled youx to share in the saints’y inheritance in the light.z 13He has rescuedaa us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdomab of the Sonac He loves.ad 14We have •redemption,ae the forgiveness of sins, in Him.

The Centrality of Christ

15He is the image of the invisible God,af

the firstborn over all creation.ag, ah

16For everything was created by Him,ai

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.aj

17He is before all things,ak

and by Him all thingsal hold together.

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

He is the beginning,am

the firstborn from the dead,an

so that He might come to have

first place in everything.

19For God was pleased to have

all His fullnessao dwell in Him,ap

20and through Him to reconcile

everything to Himself

by making peaceaq

through the bloodar of His crossas, at —

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 bodyau through His death,av to present you holy, faultless,aw and blameless before Himax — 23if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faithay and are not shifted away from the hopeaz of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creationba under heaven,bb and I, Paul,bc have become a servant of it.

Paul’s Ministry

24Now I rejoice in my sufferingsbd for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body,be that 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 Christbf in you, the hopebg 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, strivingbh with His strength that works powerfully in me.bi