Colossians 1

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

²To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae : Grace to you and peace from God our Father .

³We always thank God , the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ , when we pray for you ,

⁴since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints ,

⁵because of the hope laid up for you in heaven . Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth , the gospel ,

⁶which has come to you , as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing — as it also does among you , since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth ,

⁷just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant . He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf

⁸and has made known to us your love in the Spirit .

⁹And so , from the day we heard , we have not ceased to pray for you , asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding ,

¹⁰so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord , fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God .

¹¹May you be strengthened with all power , according to his glorious might , for all endurance and patience with joy ,

¹²giving thanks to the Father , who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light .

¹³He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son ,

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

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

¹⁶For by him all things were created , in heaven and on earth , visible and invisible , whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities —all things were created through him and for him .

¹⁷And he is before all things , and in him all things hold together .

¹⁸And he is the head of the body , the church . He is the beginning , the firstborn from the dead , that in everything he might be preeminent .

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

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

²¹And you , who once were alienated and hostile in mind , doing evil deeds ,

²²he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death , in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him ,

²³if indeed you continue in the faith , stable and steadfast , not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard , which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven , and of which I , Paul , became a minister .

²⁴Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake , and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body , that is , the church ,

²⁵of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you , to make the word of God fully known ,

²⁶the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints .

²⁷To 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 .

²⁸Him we proclaim , warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom , that we may present everyone mature in Christ .

²⁹For this I toil , struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me .