New Living Translation

New American Standard Bible 1995

1This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.

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

2We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace. Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer

2To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

3We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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

4For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people,

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

5which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel

6This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

6which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth;

7You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf.

7just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf,

8He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.

8and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.

9So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

9For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

10Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

10so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

11We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy,

11strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously

12always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.

12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

13For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,

13For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

14who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. Christ Is Supreme

14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

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

16for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.

16For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created through Him and for Him.

17He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

18Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.

18He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

19For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,

19For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,

20and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

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

21This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.

21And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,

22Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

22yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach--

23But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it. Paul’s Work for the Church

23if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

24I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.

24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

25God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you.

25Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,

26This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people.

26that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints,

27For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

27to whom God willed 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.

28So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ.

28We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.

29That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

29For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org