Colossians 1

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

From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and from Timothy, also a follower of the Lord.

2 to the holy ones in Colossae, and to the faithful brothers in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

To Christ’s people at Colossae – the followers who are faithful to him: May God, our Father, bless you and give you peace.

3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you,

Whenever we pray we never fail to thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for you,

4 having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love that [is] to all the holy ones,

now that we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all his people,

5 because of the hope that is laid up for you in the heavens, which you heard of beforehand by the word of the truth of the good news,

because of the hope which is kept safe for you in heaven. Of this hope you heard long ago in the true message of the good news which reached you,

6 which has come to you, as also in all the world, and is bearing fruit, as also in you, from the day in which you heard, and knew the grace of God in truth,

bearing fruit and growing, as it does, through all the world, just as it did among you from the very day that you heard of God’s loving kindness, and understood what that loving kindness really is.

7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful servant of the Christ for you,

It is just what you learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who, as a minister of the Christ, faithfully represents us,

8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

and who told us of the love with which the Spirit has inspired you.

9 Because of this, we also, from the day in which we heard, do not cease praying for you, and asking that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

And therefore we, from the very day that we heard this, have never ceased praying for you, or asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of the will of God, which comes through all true spiritual wisdom and insight.

10 to walk worthily of the LORD, pleasing in all, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God,

Then you will live lives worthy of the Master, and so please God in every way. Your lives will be fruitful in every kind of good action, and grow into a fuller knowledge of God;

11 in all might being made mighty according to the power of His glory, to all endurance and long-suffering with joy.

you will be made strong at all points with a strength worthy of the power manifested in his glory – strong to endure with patience, and even with gladness, whatever may happen to you;

12 Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us for the participation of the inheritance of the holy ones in the light,

and you will give thanks to the Father who made you fit to share the lot which awaits Christ’s people in the realms of light.

13 who rescued us out of the authority of the darkness, and translated [us] into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

For God has rescued us from the tyranny of darkness, and has removed us into the kingdom of his Son, who is the embodiment of his love,

14 in whom we have the redemption [[through His blood]], the forgiveness of sins,

and through whom we have found deliverance in the forgiveness of our sins.

15 who is the image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation,

For Christ is the incarnation of the invisible God – firstborn and head of all creation;

16 because all things were created in Him, those in the heavens, and those on the earth, those visible, and those invisible, whether thrones, whether lordships, whether principalities, whether authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him,

for in him was created all that is in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible – angels and archangels and all the powers of heaven.

17 and He is before all, and all things have consisted in Him.

All has been created through him and for him. He was before all things, and all things unite in him;

18 And He is the head of the body—the Assembly—who is a beginning, a firstborn out of the dead, that He might become first in all [things] Himself,

and he is the head of the church, which is his body. The firstborn from the dead, he is to the church the source of its life, that he, in all things, may stand first.

19 because all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Him,

For it pleased the Father that in him the divine nature in all its fulness should live,

20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself—having made peace through the blood of His Cross—through Him, whether the things on the earth, whether the things in the heavens.

and through him to reconcile all things to himself (making peace by the shedding of Christ’s blood offered on the cross) – whether on earth or in heaven.

21 And you—once being alienated, and enemies in the mind, in the evil works, yet now He reconciled,

And it pleased God that you, once estranged from him and hostile towards him in your thoughts, intent only on wickedness –

22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and unblemished, and unblameable before Himself,

but now he has reconciled you to himself by the sacrifice of Christ’s earthly body in death – it has pleased God that you should stand in his presence holy, pure, and blameless,

23 if you also remain in the faith, being founded and settled, and not moved away from the hope of the good news, which you heard, which was preached in all the creation that [is] under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a servant.

if only you remain true to your faith, firm and immovable, never abandoning the hope held out in the good news to which you listened, which has been proclaimed among all created things under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made an assistant.

24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up the things lacking of the tribulations of the Christ in my flesh for His body, which is the Assembly,

Now at last I can rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and in my own person I supplement the afflictions endured by the Christ, for the sake of his body, the church;

25 of which I became a servant according to the dispensation of God, that was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,

of which I myself became a minister in virtue of the office with which God entrusted me for your benefit, to declare the message of God in all its fulness –

26 the secret that has been hid from the ages and from the generations, but now was revealed to His holy ones, (aiōn g165)

that truth which has been hidden from former ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to God’s people, (aiōn g165)

27 to whom God willed to make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this secret among the nations—which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory,

to whom it was his pleasure to make known the surpassing glory of that hidden truth when proclaimed among the Gentiles – ‘Christ among you! Your hope of glory!’

28 whom we proclaim, warning every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,

This is the Christ whom we proclaim, warning everyone, and instructing everyone, with all the wisdom that we possess, in the hope of bringing everyone into God’s presence perfected by union with Christ.

29 for which I also labor, striving according to His working that is working in me in power.

It is for that I toil, struggling with all the energy which he inspires and which works powerfully within me.