ColossiansChapter 1

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¹This letter is from Paul and from our brother Timothy. God chose me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. It was his will. ²We are writing to God's people in Colossae. You are our faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace. ³When we pray for you, we always thank God. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴We thank him because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus. We have heard about your love for all of God's people too. ⁵Your faith and love come from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven. You already heard about this hope in the true message. That message is the good news ⁶that has come to you. All over the world, this good news is bearing fruit and growing. It has done the same among you since the day you heard it. That is when you truly understood God's grace. ⁷You learned it from Epaphras. He is our dear friend who serves with us. He serves Christ faithfully for us, ⁸and he told us about the love the Spirit has given you. ⁹That is why we have not stopped praying for you since the day we heard about you. We keep asking God to fill you with the knowledge of what he wants. We ask him to give you all the wisdom and understanding the Spirit gives. ¹⁰Then you can live in a way that is worthy of the Lord. You can please him in every way. You will bear fruit in every good thing you do. And you will grow in knowing God. ¹¹We pray that he will make you strong with all his power. His might is glorious. Then you will be able to hold on and be patient through anything. And with joy ¹²you will thank the Father. He has made you able to share in what belongs to God's people in the light. ¹³He has rescued us from the power of darkness. He has brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son. ¹⁴In the Son we have redemption. That means our sins are forgiven. ¹⁵The Son is the image of the God we cannot see. He is the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For in him all things were made. He made things in heaven and on earth. He made things we can see and things we can't see. He made thrones and powers, rulers and authorities. All things were made through him and for him. ¹⁷He was there before all things. And in him all things hold together. ¹⁸He is the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning. He is the firstborn from among the dead. He is all this so that in all things he may be first. ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness live in the Son. ²⁰And through the Son, God was pleased to bring all things back to himself. That means things on earth and things in heaven. He made peace through the blood of the Son's cross. ²¹At one time you were far away from God. You were his enemies in your minds. You did evil things. ²²But now God has made peace with you. He did it through the death of Christ's body. Now he can bring you to himself holy, spotless, and free from blame. ²³This is true if you keep on in your faith, strong and firm. It is true if you do not move away from the hope of the good news you heard. That good news has been preached to every creature under heaven. And I, Paul, have become a servant of it. ²⁴Now I am glad that I suffer for you. In my own body I fill up what is still lacking in Christ's sufferings. I do it for the sake of his body, which is the church. ²⁵I became a servant of the church. God gave me this job. He told me to fully preach the word of God to you. ²⁶This word is the mystery that was hidden for ages and for many generations. But now it has been shown to God's people. ²⁷God chose to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles. This mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸We preach about Christ. We warn and teach everyone with all wisdom. We want to bring everyone to God fully grown in Christ. ²⁹That is why I work so hard. I struggle with all the energy Christ gives. His power is working strongly in me.