Col 1 | ABEn | STEP | Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy the brother,

Colossians 1

CHAPTER 1 Paul's Greetings

1 Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy the brother, 2 to the [²in ³Colosse ¹holy ones], and trustworthy brothers in Christ. Favor to you and peace from God our father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We give thanks to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, at all times [²for ³you ¹praying], 4 having heard the belief of yours in Christ Jesus, and the love, the one towards all the holy ones, 5 on account of the hope, the one being reserved for you in the heavens, which you heard before in the word of the truth of the good news, 6 the one being at hand in you, as also in all the world, and is bearing fruit, as also among you from which day you heard and realized the favor of God in truth; 7 as also you learned from Epaphras the beloved fellow-servant of ours, who is a trustworthy [²for ³you ¹servant] of the Christ, 8 the one also having manifested to us your love in spirit.

Walk Worthy of The Lord

9 On account of this also, we from which day heard, cease not [²for ³you ¹praying], and asking that you should be filled with the full knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and [²understanding ¹spiritual]; 10 for you to walk worthily of the Lord, [²to ³all ¹pleasing], in every [²work ¹good] bearing fruit, and growing in the full knowledge of God; 11 in all power, being strengthened according to the might of his glory in all patience and long-suffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the God and father, to the one making us fit in the portion of the lot of the holy ones in the light; 13 who rescued us from out of the authority of the darkness, and changed us over to the kingdom of the son of his love; 14 in whom we have the release by ransom through his blood -- the release of sins; 15 who is the image of the unseen God, first-born of all creation; 16 for in him were created the whole, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth -- the visible and the unseen; whether thrones, whether lordships, whether sovereignties, whether authorities; the whole through him and in him have been created.

The Preeminence of Christ

17 And he is before all, and the whole in him combine. 18 And he is the head of the body of the assembly, who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that [²should be ⁴in ⁵all things ¹he ³preeminent]. 19 For in him [⁴thought well ¹all ²the ³fullness] to dwell; 20 and through him to reconcile the whole to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him, whether the things upon the earth, whether the things in the heavens. 21 And you at some time or other being separated and enemies in thought by [²works ¹wicked], but now he reconciled 22 in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblemished and without reproach before him; 23 if indeed you remain in the belief being founded and settled, and not being moved about from the hope of the good news of which you heard, of the one being proclaimed in all the creation, in the one under the heaven, of which [³became ¹I ²Paul] servant. 24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and filling up again the deficiencies of the afflictions of the Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the assembly; 25 of which I became servant according to the management of God, the one given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; 26 the mystery, the one being concealed from the eons and from the generations, but now made manifest to his holy ones; 27 ones to whom God wanted to make known what the wealth of the glory of this mystery is among the nations; which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory; 28 whom we announce, admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we should present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 In which also I tire in labor, struggling according to his energy, the one operating in me in power.