Colossians 1

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2to the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

3We thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, every time we pray for you,

4since word has reached us of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have toward all the saints,

5because of the hope set aside for you in heaven. You heard of this hope earlier in the message of the truth, the gospel,

6which has come to you. Just as in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been doing among you since the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth.

7You were taught it by Epaphras, our much-loved fellow servant, who faithfully serves Christ as a minister for your sake,

8and he has also made known to us your love in the Spirit.

9That is why we too, from the day we heard, have never stopped praying for you. We ask that you would be filled with the knowledge of his will, with every kind of spiritual wisdom and insight,

10so that you may live lives worthy of the Lord and please him in all things, as you bear fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God.

11May you be empowered with all power, in keeping with the might of his glory, for every kind of endurance and patience, with joy,

12giving thanks to the Father, who has made you fit for a share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

13He rescued us from the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his dearly loved Son,

14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

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

16For in him everything was created, in the heavens and on the earth, what is seen and what is unseen, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him.

17He is before everything, and everything holds together in him.

18He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in everything he might have first place.

19For all the fullness was pleased to make its home in him,

20and through him to reconcile all things to himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

21You were once strangers and enemies in your thinking, caught up in evil deeds, but now he has reconciled you

22in his physical body through his death, to present you holy, spotless, and blameless in his presence,

23provided that you remain in the faith, firmly founded and steady, and do not drift away from the hope of the gospel you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its minister.

24I now rejoice in what I suffer for you, and in my flesh I am making up what is still lacking in Christ’s afflictions, on behalf of his body, which is the church.

25I became its minister through the stewardship God entrusted to me for your benefit, to present the word of God in its fullness,

26the mystery concealed through the ages and across the generations but now brought to light for his saints.

27It was God’s will to show them how rich is the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: Christ in you, the hope of glory.

28We make him known, warning every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, so that we may present every person complete in Christ.

29To that end I work hard, contending by his strength, which is powerfully at work in me.