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 at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Lord.

1:3 We give thanks to God, the God of Jesus the Messiah, 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 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,

1:7 even as you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of God 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 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,

1:10 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,

1:11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy,

1:12 giving thanks to God, who made us fit 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 his love,

1:14 by whose mercy we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.

1:15 He is the invisible God, the Creator of all creation.

1:16 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 by him and for him.

1:17 He is before all things, and by him all things are held together.

1:18 He is the Lord of all, the First and the Last, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

1:19 For it pleased God that all the fullness of His guidance should dwell in him,

1:20 and through his message to reconcile all things to God, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens, making peace through his faithful service.

1:21 You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds,

1:22 yet now he has reconciled you through his mercy, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before him,

1:23 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 was proclaimed 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 bear in my flesh my share of the afflictions endured for the Messiah’s cause, for the sake of the assembly,

1:25 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,

1:26 the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints,

1:27 to whom God was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is the Messiah’s message among you, the hope of glory.

1:28 We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;

1:29 for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.