Category: Colossians

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will,and Timothyourbrother:

2 To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving

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

4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints

5 because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth,the gospel

6 that has come to you. It is bearing fruitand growing all over the world,just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s gracein the truth.

7 You learned this from Epaphras,our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiahon yourbehalf,

8 and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.

Prayer for Spiritual Growth

9 For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are askingthat you may be filled with the knowledgeof His willin all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good workand growing in the knowledge of God.

11 May you be strengthenedwith all power,according to His gloriousmight, for all endurance and patience, with joy

12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled youto share in the saints’inheritance in the light.

13 He has rescuedus from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdomof the SonHe loves.

14 We have redemption,the forgiveness of sins, in Him.

The Centrality of Christ

15 He is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn over all creation.

16 For 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.

17 He is before all things,

and by Him all thingshold together.

18 He 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.

19 For God was pleased to have

all His fullnessdwell in Him,

20 and through Him to reconcile

everything to Himself

by making peace

through the bloodof His cross—

whether things on earth or things in heaven.

21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions.

22 But now He has reconciled you by His physical bodythrough His death,to present you holy, faultless,and blameless before Him—

23 if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faithand are not shifted away from the hopeof the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creationunder heaven,and I, Paul,have become a servant of it.

Paul’s Ministry

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferingsfor you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body,that is, the church.

25 I have become its servant, according to God’s administration that was given to me for you, to make God’s message fully known,

26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints.

27 God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christin you, the hopeof glory.

28 We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

29 I labor for this, strivingwith His strength that works powerfully in me.

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1 For I want you to know how great a struggleI have for you, for those in Laodicea,and for all who have not seen me in person.

2 I want their hearts to be encouragedand joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery— Christ.

3 All the treasures of wisdomand knowledgeare hidden in Him.

Christ versus the Colossian Heresy

4 I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments.

5 For 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.

6 Therefore, as you have receivedChrist Jesus the Lord,walk in Him,

7 rooted and built up in Himand established in the faith, just as you were taught,overflowing with gratitude.

8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition,based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.

9 For the entire fullnessof God’s naturedwells bodilyin Christ,

10 and you have been filled by Him, who is the headover every ruler and authority.

11 You were also circumcised in Him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh,in the circumcision of the Messiah.

12 Having been buried with Himin baptism, you were also raised with Himthrough faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

13 And 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.

14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; He triumphed over them by Him.

16 Therefore, don’t let anyone judgeyou in regard to food and drinkor in the matter of a festival or a new moonor a Sabbath day.

17 These are a shadowof what was to come;the substance isthe Messiah.

18 Let no one disqualify you,insisting on ascetic practicesand the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflatedwithout cause by his unspiritualmind.

19 He doesn’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body,nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God.

20 If you died with the Messiahto the elemental forces 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”?

22 All these regulations refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are commands and doctrines of men.

23 Although these have a reputation of wisdomby promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.

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The Life of the New Man

1 So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God.

2 Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth.

3 For you have died,and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God.

4 When the Messiah, who is yourlife, is revealed,then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your worldly nature:sexual immorality, impurity,lust,evil desire, and greed,which is idolatry.

6 Because of these, God’s wrathcomes on the disobedient,

7 and you once walked in these things when you were livingin them.

8 But now you must also put awayall the following: anger,wrath,malice,slander,and filthy language from your mouth.

9 Do not lieto one another, since you have put offthe old selfwith its practices

10 and have put onthe new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of yourCreator.

11 In Christthere is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.

The Christian Life

12 Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved,put on heartfelt compassion, kindness,humility,gentleness,and patience,

13 accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.

14 Above all, put on love — the perfect bond of unity.

15 And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also calledin one body, control your hearts. Be thankful.

16 Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God.

17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the nameof the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Christ in Your Home

18 Wives, be submissive to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

19 Husbands,love your wivesand don’t be bittertoward them.

20 Children,obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

21 Fathers,do not exasperateyour children, so they won’t become discouraged.

22 Slaves, obey your humanmasters in everything. Don’t work only while being watched, in order to please men, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord.

23 Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically,as something done for the Lord and not for men,

24 knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ.

25 For the wrongdoerwill be paid back for whatever wrong he has done, and there is no favoritism.

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1 Masters,supply your slaves with what is right and fair, since you know that you too have a Master in heaven.

Speaking to God and Others

2 Devote yourselvesto prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving.

3 At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a doorto us for the message, to speak the mystery of the Messiah,for which I am in prison,

4 so that I may reveal it as I am required to speak.

5 Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time.

6 Your speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt,so that you may know how you should answer each person.

Christian Greetings

7 Tychicus,our dearly loved brother, faithfulservant, and fellow slave in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me.

8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know how we areand so that he may encourageyour hearts.

9 He is with Onesimus,a faithful and dearly loved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here.

10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, as does Mark,Barnabas’scousin (concerning whom you have received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him),

11 and so does Jesus who is called Justus. These alone of the circumcision are my coworkers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

12 Epaphras,who is one of you, a slave of Christ Jesus, greets you. He is always contendingfor you in his prayers, so that you can stand mature and fully assuredin everything God wills.

13 For I testify about him that he works hardfor you, for those in Laodicea,and for those in Hierapolis.

14 Luke, the dearly loved physician, and Demasgreet you.

15 Give my greetings to the brothers in Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her home.

16 When this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.

17 And tell Archippus,“Pay attention to the ministry you have received in the Lord, so that you can accomplish it.”

18 This greeting is in my own hand — Paul. Remember my imprisonment.Grace be with you.

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