Colossians 1
1 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God--and Timothy our brother:
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy, a brother,
2 To the people of God and the believing brethren at Colossae who are in Christ. May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father.
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus, who are at Colossa.
3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, constantly praying for you as we do,
Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.
4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you cherish towards all God's people,
Hearing your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which you have towards all the saints.
5 on account of the hope treasured up for you in Heaven. Of this hope you have already heard in the Message of the truth of the Good News.
For the hope that is laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard in the word of the truth of the gospel,
6 For it has reached you, and remains with you, just as it has also spread through the whole world, yielding fruit there and increasing, as it has done among you from the day when first you heard it and came really to know the grace of God,
Which is come unto you, as also it is in the whole world, and bringeth forth fruit and groweth, even as it doth in you, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.
7 as you learned it from Epaphras our dearly-loved fellow servant. He is to you a faithful minister of Christ in our stead,
As you learned of Epaphras, our most beloved fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ Jesus;
8 and moreover he has informed us of your love, which is inspired by the Spirit.
Who also hath manifested to us your love in the spirit.
9 For this reason we also, from the day we first received these tidings, have never ceased to pray for you and to entreat that you may be filled with a clear knowledge of His will accompanied by thorough wisdom and discernment in spiritual things;
Therefore we also, from the day that we heard it, cease not to pray for you, and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom, and spiritual understanding:
10 so that your lives may be worthy of the Lord and perfectly pleasing to Him, while you exhibit the results of right action of every sort and grow into a fuller knowledge of God.
That you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God:
11 Since His power is so glorious, may you be strengthened with strength of every kind, and be prepared for cheerfully enduring all things with patience and long-suffering;
Strengthened with all might, according to the power of his glory, in all patience and longsuffering with joy,
12 and give thanks to the Father who has made us fit to receive our share of the inheritance of God's people in Light.
Giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light:
13 It is God who has delivered us out of the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us into the Kingdom of His dearly-loved Son,
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love,
14 in whom we have our redemption--the forgiveness of our sins.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins;
15 Christ is the visible representation of the invisible God, the Firstborn and Lord of all creation.
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
16 For in Him was created the universe of things in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, thrones, dominions, princedoms, powers--all were created, and exist through and for Him.
For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and in him.
17 And HE IS before all things and in and through Him the universe is a harmonious whole.
And he is before all, and by him all things consist.
18 Moreover He is the Head of His Body, the Church. He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, in order that He Himself may in all things occupy the foremost place.
And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he may hold the primacy:
19 For it was the Father's gracious will that the whole of the divine perfections should dwell in Him.
Because in him, it hath well pleased the Father, that all fullness should dwell;
20 And God purposed through Him to reconcile the universe to Himself, making peace through His blood, which was shed upon the Cross--to reconcile to Himself through Him, I say, things on earth and things in Heaven.
And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven.
21 And you, estranged as you once were and even hostile in your minds, amidst your evil deeds,
And you, whereas you were some time alienated and enemies in mind in evil works:
22 He has now, in His human body, reconciled to God by His death, to bring you, holy and faultless and irreproachable, into His presence;
Yet now he hath reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unspotted, and blameless before him:
23 if, indeed, you are still firmly holding to faith as your foundation, without ever shifting from your hope that rests on the Good News that you have heard, which has been proclaimed in the whole creation under Heaven, and in which I Paul have been appointed to serve.
If so ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and immoveable from the hope of the gospel which you have heard, which is preached in all the creation that is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister.
24 Now I can find joy amid my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my own person whatever is lacking in Christ's afflictions on behalf of His Body, the Church.
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church:
25 I have been appointed to serve the Church in the position of responsibility entrusted to me by God for your benefit, so that I may fully deliver God's Message--
Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given me towards you, that I may fulfill the word of God:
26 the truth which has been kept secret from all ages and generations, but has now been revealed to His people, (aiōn g165)
The mystery which hath been hidden from ages and generations, but now is manifested to his saints, (aiōn g165)
27 to whom it was His will to make known how vast a wealth of glory for the Gentile world is implied in this truth--the truth that 'Christ is in you, the hope of glory.'
To whom God would make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ, in you the hope of glory.
28 Him we preach, admonishing every one and instructing every one, with all possible wisdom, so that we may bring every one into God's presence, made perfect through Christ.
Whom we preach, admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
29 To this end, like an earnest wrestler, I exert all my strength in reliance upon the power of Him who is mightily at work within me.
Wherein also I labour, striving according to his working which he worketh in me in power.
