1Chapter
Greeting
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy our brother:
2To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
2To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
Thanksgiving
3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints 5because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel 6that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and came to truly appreciate God’s grace. 7You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.
Prayer for Spiritual Growth
9For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Centrality of Christ
15He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation. 16For everything was created by him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through him and for him. 17He is before all things,
and by him all things hold together. 18He is also the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have
first place in everything. 19For God was pleased to have
all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile
everything to himself,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace
through his blood, shed on the cross.
21Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. 22But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him — 23if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
21Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. 22But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him — 23if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
Paul’s Ministry
24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church. 25I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.
2Chapter
1For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in person. 2I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery —Christ. 3In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Christ versus the Colossian Heresy
4I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable. 5For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.
6So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, 7being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.
8Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ. 9For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, 10and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 11You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, 12when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. 14He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.
16Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ. 18Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind. 19They don’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God.
20If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21“Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 22All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. 23Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.
6So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, 7being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.
8Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ. 9For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, 10and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 11You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, 12when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. 14He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.
16Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ. 18Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind. 19They don’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God.
20If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21“Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 22All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. 23Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.
3Chapter
The Life of the New Man
1So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient, 7and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. 8But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. 11In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.
5Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient, 7and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. 8But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. 11In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.
The Christian Life
12Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. 14Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Christ in Your Home
18Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19Husbands, love your wives and don’t be bitter toward them. 20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they won’t become discouraged. 22Slaves, obey your human masters in everything. Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. 23Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, 24knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ. 25For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong he has done, and there is no favoritism.
4Chapter
1Masters, deal with your slaves justly and fairly, since you know that you too have a Master in heaven.
Speaking to God and Others
2Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. 3At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains, 4so that I may make it known as I should. 5Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. 6Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.
Final Greetings
7Tychicus, our dearly loved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. 8I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know how we are and so that he may encourage your hearts. 9He is coming with Onesimus, a faithful and dearly loved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here.
10Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, as does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin (concerning whom you have received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him), 11and so does Jesus who is called Justus. These alone of the circumcised are my coworkers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 12Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling for you in his prayers, so that you can stand mature and fully assured in everything God wills. 13For I testify about him that he works hard for you, for those in Laodicea, and for those in Hierapolis. 14Luke, the dearly loved physician, and Demas send you greetings. 15Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters in Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her home. 16After this letter has been read at your gathering, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. 17And tell Archippus, “Pay attention to the ministry you have received in the Lord, so that you can accomplish it.”
18I, Paul, am writing this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
10Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, as does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin (concerning whom you have received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him), 11and so does Jesus who is called Justus. These alone of the circumcised are my coworkers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 12Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling for you in his prayers, so that you can stand mature and fully assured in everything God wills. 13For I testify about him that he works hard for you, for those in Laodicea, and for those in Hierapolis. 14Luke, the dearly loved physician, and Demas send you greetings. 15Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters in Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her home. 16After this letter has been read at your gathering, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. 17And tell Archippus, “Pay attention to the ministry you have received in the Lord, so that you can accomplish it.”
18I, Paul, am writing this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
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