Colossians 1

The Image of the Invisible God, Firstborn of All Creation

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Greeting

1:1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy the brother,

1:2to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ who are in Colossae: grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving for the Colossians

1:3We thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you,

1:4having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have toward all the saints,

1:5because of the hope laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard beforehand in the word of truth, the gospel

1:6that has come to you, just as also in all the world it is bearing fruit and growing, as it does also among you from the day you heard and came to know the grace of God in truth,

1:7just as you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow slave, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf,

1:8who also made known to us your love in the Spirit.

Prayer for Knowledge of His Will

1:9For this reason we too, from the day we heard, do not cease praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

1:10to walk worthily of the Lord, pleasing Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God,

1:11being empowered with every power according to the might of His glory for all endurance and patience with joy,

1:12giving thanks to the Father who made you fit for a share of the inheritance of the saints in the light,

1:13who rescued us from the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

1:14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Image of the Invisible God

1:15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,

1:16because in Him all things were created, in the heavens and upon the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through Him and for Him.

1:17And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

1:18And He is the head of the body, the Church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself might have first place in all things,

1:19because God was pleased that all the fullness should dwell in Him,

1:20and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross, [through Him], whether the things upon the earth or the things in the heavens.

Reconciled Through His Death

1:21And you, once being alienated and enemies in mind in your evil works—

1:22but now you have been reconciled in the body of His flesh through death—to present you holy and without blemish and beyond accusation before Him,

1:23if indeed you continue in the faith, founded and steadfast and not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a servant.

Paul’s Ministry to the Church

1:24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for His body, which is the Church,

1:25of which I became a servant according to the stewardship from God given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,

1:26the mystery hidden from the ages and from the generations, but now made manifest to His saints,

1:27to whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

1:28Him we announce, admonishing every human being and teaching every human being in all wisdom, so that we may present every human being mature in Christ.

1:29For this I also labor, struggling according to His working, which works in me with power.

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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.