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The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians

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- Chapter 1 -

(Philippians 1:1–2; Philemon 1:1–3)
1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2
to the believers and faithful brothers in Christ who are at Colossae. May grace be to you, and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

(1 Corinthians 1:4–9; Philippians 1:3–11)
3
We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we always pray for you.
4
We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all those set apart for God.
5
You have this love because of the confident expectation reserved for you in heaven. You heard about this confident expectation before in the word of truth, the gospel,
6
which has come to you. This gospel is bearing fruit and is growing in all the world. It has been doing this in you also from the day you heard it and learned about the grace of God in truth.
7
This is the gospel as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf.
8
Epaphras has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
9
Because of this love, from the day we heard this we have not stopped praying for you. We have been asking that you will be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
10
We have been praying that you will walk worthily of the Lord in pleasing ways. We have been praying that you will bear fruit in every good deed and that you will grow in the knowledge of God.
11
We pray you may be strengthened in every ability according to the power of his glory into all perseverance and patience.
12
We pray that you will joyfully give thanks to the Father, who has made you able to have a share in the inheritance of the believers in light.
13
He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.
14
In his Son we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Supremacy of the Son

(Hebrews 1:1–14)
15
The Son is the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn of all creation.
16
For by him all things were created, those in the heavens and those on the earth, the visible and the invisible things. Whether thrones or dominions or governments or authorities, all things were created by him and for him.
17
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18
And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so he has first place among all things.
19
For God was pleased that all his fullness should live in him,
20
and to reconcile through the Son all things to himself. God made peace through the blood of his cross. God reconciled all things to himself, whether the things on the earth or the things in heaven.
21
And you also, at one time, were strangers to God and were his enemies in mind and in evil deeds.
22
But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death. He did this in order to present you holy, blameless, and above reproach before him,
23
if you continue in the faith, established and firm, not moved away from the confident expectation of the gospel that you heard. This is the gospel that was proclaimed to every person created under heaven. This is the gospel of which I, Paul, became a servant.

Paul’s Suffering for the Church

(2 Corinthians 11:16–33)
24
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you. And I fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church.
25
It is of this church that I am a servant, according to the responsibility from God that was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God.
26
This is the secret truth that was hidden for ages and for generations. But now it has been revealed to those who believe in him.
27
It is to them that God wanted to make known the riches of the glory of this secret truth among the Gentiles. It is that Christ is in you, the confidence of future glory.
28
This is he whom we proclaim. We admonish every person, and we teach every person with all wisdom, so that we may present every person complete in Christ.
29
For this I labor and strive according to his energy that is at work in me in power.
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(Philippians 1:1–2; Philemon 1:1–3)
1
Paul, an apostle of Christ (a) Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2
to the saints and faithful brothers(b) in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

(1 Corinthians 1:4–9; Philippians 1:3–11)
3
We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
4
having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have toward all the saints,
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
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,
7
even as you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on your (c) behalf,
8
who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
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,
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,
11
strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy,
12
giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,
13
who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love,
14
in whom we have our redemption,(d) the forgiveness of our sins.

The Supremacy of the Son

(Hebrews 1:1–14)
15
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn 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.
17
He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.
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.
19
For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him,
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.
21
You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds,
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,
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.

Paul’s Suffering for the Church

(2 Corinthians 11:16–33)
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,
25
of which I was made a servant according to the stewardship of God which was given me toward you to fulfill the word of God,
26
the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints,
27
to whom God was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the 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;
29
for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.

Footnotes

(a)1:1 “Christ” means “Anointed One”.
(b)1:2 The word for “brothers” here and where context allows may also be correctly translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.”
(c)1:7 NU reads our
(d)1:14 TR adds “through his blood,”
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