< Colossians 1 >
1 I Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, I and Timothy my brother,
2 to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ that are in Colosse: grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
4 since we heard of your faithfulness in Christ Jesus, and your love for all the saints,
5 in consequence of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,
6 which is present among you, as it is also in all the world, and is producing fruit, even as it has been doing also among you, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth,
7 as you learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ for you,
8 and who also made known to us your love in spirit.
9 For this reason, we also, from the day in which we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to request that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, in order to please him in all things, by means of every good work bringing forth fruit, and increasing in the knowledge, of God,
11 strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, in order to all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness,
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit for a portion of the inheritance of the saints in light:
13 who has delivered us from the authority of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins;
15 who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature;
16 for by him were all things created, things in heaven and things in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or authorities; 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: and he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in all things he might be preeminent;
19 for it pleased the Father that all his fullness should dwell in him,
20 and by him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace by the blood of his cross; by him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
21 And you, who were formerly alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled
22 by means of death in his fleshly body, that he may present you holy, and without spot, and blameless in his sight;
23 if you continue in the faith, founded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, have been made a minister.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up what remains of my sufferings for Christ in my flesh for the sake of his body, which is the church,
25 of which I was made a minister according to the commission from God, which was given to me for you, that I might fully preach the word of God,
26 the mystery which was concealed from the ages and the generations, but is now made manifest to his saints, (aiōn )
27 to whom God would make known what is the glorious riches 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 to which end I also labor, striving according to his energy, which works in me mightily.
