Colossians 1

1. Paul, an apostle by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2. To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying for you continually

4. Since hearing of your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love that you have toward all the saints;

5. Because of the hope that is laid up for you in heaven, which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

6. Which has come to you, even as it also has in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, just as it is among you, from the day that you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;

7. Even as you also learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ for you;

8. Who has also informed us of your love in the Spirit.

9. For this cause we also, from the day that we heard of it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

10. That you may walk worthily of the Lord, unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God;

11. Being strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, unto all endurance and long-suffering with joy;

12. Giving thanks to the Father, Who has made us qualified for the share of the inheritance of the saints in the light;

13. Who has personally rescued us from the power of darkness and has transferred us unto the kingdom of the Son of His love;

14. In Whom we have redemption through His own blood, even the remission of sins;

15. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

16. Because by Him were all things created, the things in heaven and the things on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether they be thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him.

17. And He is before all, and by Him all things subsist.

18. And He is the Head of the body, the church; Who is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He Himself might hold the preeminence.

19. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell;

20. And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him, whether the things on the earth, or the things in heaven.

21. For you were once alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works; but now He has reconciled you

22. In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unimpeachable before Him;

23. If indeed you continue in the faith grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was proclaimed in all the creation that is under heaven; of which I, Paul, became a servant.

24. Now, I am rejoicing in my sufferings for you, and I am filling up in my flesh that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church;

25. Of which I became a servant, according to the administration of God that was given to me for you in order to complete the Word of God;

26. Even the mystery that has been hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been revealed to His saints;

27. To whom God did will 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. Whom we preach, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

29. For this cause I also labor, striving according to His inner working, which works in me with power.