1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1:2 to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ [who are] at Colossae: Grace to you+ and peace from God our Father.
1:3 We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you+,
1:4 having heard of your+ faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you+ have toward all the saints,
1:5 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,
1:6 which has come to you+; even as it is also in all the world bearing fruit and increasing, as [it does] in you+ also, since the day you+ heard and knew the grace of God in truth;
1:7 even as you+ learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow slave, who is a faithful servant of Christ on your+ behalf,
1:8 who also declared to us your+ love in the Spirit.
1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard [it], do not cease to pray and make request for you+, that you+ may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
1:10 to walk worthily of the Lord to all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
1:11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, to all patience and long-suffering with joy;
1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who made you+ meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;
1:13 who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love;
1:14 in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins:
1:15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;
1:16 for in him were all things created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and to him;
1:17 and he is before all things, and in him all things consist.
1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
1:19 For it was the good pleasure [of the Father] that in him should all the fullness dwell;
1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, whether things on the earth, or things in the heavens.
1:21 And you+, being in time past alienated and enemies in your+ mind in your+ evil works,
1:22 yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you+ holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him:
1:23 if indeed you+ continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the good news which you+ heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; of which I Paul was made a servant.
1:24 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 church;
1:25 of which I was made a servant, according to the dispensation of God which was given me toward you+, to fulfill the word of God,
1:26 [even] the mystery which has been hid since the ages and since the generations: but now it has been manifested to his saints,
1:27 to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you+, the hope of glory:
1:28 whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ;
1:29 to which I labor also, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.