< Colossians 1 >
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ who are in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We always give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you,
4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints,
5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is laid up for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of the truth of the gospel
6 that has come to you. This gospel has gone out into all the world, where it is bearing fruit and increasing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.
7 You learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf
8 and who also told us about your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason, from the day we heard this, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord with every desire to please him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience with joy;
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
13 He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,
14 in whom we have redemption, the remission of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in everything he may be preeminent.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through the blood of his cross.
21 At one time you were alienated from God and hostile in your minds because of your evil works. But now God has reconciled you to himself
22 through the death of Christ in his physical body, in order to bring you into his own presence as holy, unblemished, and above reproach,
23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, without shifting away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been preached in all creation under heaven, and of this gospel I, Paul, have become a servant.
24 I rejoice now in my sufferings for you, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.
25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,
26 the mystery that has been hidden for ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. (aiōn )
27 To them God resolved to make known how great among the Gentiles are the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 He is the one we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ Jesus.
29 To this end I labor, striving according to his energy that is powerfully at work within me.
