Colossians 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our 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 saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: 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 God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always 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 which you have towards all the saints,

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 which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in 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, even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day 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 even as you learnt from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on your behalf,

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 For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and 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 that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit 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 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance 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 made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in 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 delivered us out of the power of 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 our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.

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

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

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

16 For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. 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 He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.

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

18 He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

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 For 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 by him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.

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 You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds,

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

22 yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before him,

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 it is so that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Good News which you heard, which is being proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made 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 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, 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 was made a servant according to the stewardship of God which was given me towards you to fulfil 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 mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints, (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 was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery amongst the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of 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 We proclaim him, admonishing 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 labour, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.

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