Colossians 1
1 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God--and Timothy our brother:
This letter comes from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the will of God, and from our brother Timothy.
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 believers and trusting Christians at Colossae: may you have grace and peace from God our Father.
3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, constantly praying for you as we do,
We are always thankful to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for you, and pray 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,
We've heard about your trust in Christ Jesus and your love for all the believers
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.
because of the hope prepared for you in heaven. You already heard about this in the good news, the message of truth
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,
that came to you just as it has gone throughout the whole world, spreading widely and bringing results. It's done the same for you too, ever since you heard it and realized the true nature of God's grace.
7 as you learned it from Epaphras our dearly-loved fellow servant. He is to you a faithful minister of Christ in our stead,
Our dear friend and fellow-worker Epaphras, who is a trustworthy minister of Christ on our behalf, taught you about this.
8 and moreover he has informed us of your love, which is inspired by the Spirit.
He's also made clear 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;
Because of this we continue to pray for you from the time we heard about you, asking God to give you understanding of what he wants you to do and to give you every kind of spiritual wisdom and 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 way you'll live lives that rightly represent the Lord and please him, producing all kinds of good results and gaining greater 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;
May you be made powerfully strong by his wonderful strength, having great patience and endurance.
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.
May you happily praise the Father, who has made it possible for us to share in the inheritance of God's people who live in the 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,
He rescued us from the tyranny of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
14 in whom we have our redemption--the forgiveness of our sins.
through whom we have been set free and our sins forgiven.
15 Christ is the visible representation of the invisible God, the Firstborn and Lord of all creation.
The Son is the visible picture of the invisible God. He was before all creation,
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 everything was created through him—in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, empires, rulers, leaders and authorities—everything was created through him and for him.
17 And HE IS before all things and in and through Him the universe is a harmonious whole.
He existed before everything, and he holds everything together.
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.
He is also the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the first and highest of those raised from the dead, so that he is supreme in everything.
19 For it was the Father's gracious will that the whole of the divine perfections should dwell in Him.
God was pleased to have his full nature live in him,
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 brought back everything in the universe to himself, since he made peace through the blood of his cross, through him reconciling all those on the earth and in heaven.
21 And you, estranged as you once were and even hostile in your minds, amidst your evil deeds,
You once were alienated from God, enemies in the way you thought and the way you acted,
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;
but now he has reconciled you through his dying human body, bringing you into his presence where you stand holy, pure, and faultless.
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.
But your trust in him must continue rock-solid and immovable. Don't be shaken from the hope of the good news that you heard, the good news that's been shared throughout the world—that's the work that I Paul have been doing.
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.
I'm happy to have trouble for your sake, for by means of what happens to me physically I'm part of Christ's sufferings that he continues to experience for the sake of his body, 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--
I serve the church following the direction God gave me about you, to present fully the word of God to you.
26 the truth which has been kept secret from all ages and generations, but has now been revealed to His people, (aiōn g165)
This is the mystery that was hidden down through the ages and for many generations, but it's now been revealed to God's people. (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.'
God wanted to make known to them the glorious wealth of this mystery to the nations: Christ living in you is the glorious hope!
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.
We're telling everyone about him, instructing and teaching them in the best way we know how so that we can bring everyone before God fully mature in Christ.
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.
That's what I'm working for too, making every effort as I rely on his strength which is powerfully at work in me.
