Greetings

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

²to the saints and faithful siblings in Christ at Colossae: Grace and peace to y’all from God our Father.

Thanksgiving Prayer

³We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for y’all,

⁴having heard of y’all’s faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which y’all have for all the saints,

⁵because of the hope which is laid up for y’all in the heavens which y’all heard previously in the word of the truth, the gospel

⁶which has come to y’all. It is also bearing fruit and growing in all the world, as it does in y’all, since the day y’all heard and knew the grace of God in truth.

⁷Y’all learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow slave, who is a faithful deacon of Christ on our behalf,

⁸who also told us about y’all’s love in the Spirit.

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard it, we haven’t stopped praying for y’all and asking that y’all would be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

¹⁰so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in everything, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God,

¹¹being strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance, joyfully

¹²giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,

¹³who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and brought us into the empire of ʜɪꜱ beloved Son,

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

The Son, the Image of God

¹⁵The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

¹⁶For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers–all things have been created through him and for him.

¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.

¹⁸He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in all things he might have preeminence.

¹⁹For the fullness of everything was pleased to dwell in him,

²⁰and through him to reconcile all things to himself by himself, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.

²¹Although y’all were formerly alienated and enemies in y’all’s minds through evil deeds,

²²yet now he has reconciled y’all in the body of his flesh through death to present y’all holy and without defect and blameless before him,

²³if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which is being proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a deacon.

Paul’s Proclamation for the Church

²⁴Now I rejoice in my sufferings for y’all’s sake, and fill up on my part what is lacking of Christ’s oppressions in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church.

²⁵I was made its deacon according to the economy of God which was given to me for y’all, to make the word of God fully known,

²⁶the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now has been revealed to his saints,

²⁷to whom God was pleased to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the ethnic groups, which is Christ in y’all, the hope of glory.

²⁸We proclaim him, admonishing every human and teaching every human in all wisdom, that we may present every human perfect in Christ Jesus.

²⁹For this I work strenuously, striving according to his power which empowers me mightily.