1 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of our Father, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from our Father.
Grateful for Your Faith
3 We always give thanks to our Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope stored up for you in heaven, which you first heard about in the word of truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world, so it has also been among you since the day you heard it and truly understood the grace of our Father. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and he has told us about your love in the Holy Spirit.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not stopped praying for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of our Father, 11 being strengthened with all power by his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to our Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Son Above All Things
15 He is the image of our invisible Father, the firstborn over all creation. a a v15 The Son is the visible likeness of the Father no one has ever seen — to look at Jesus is to see what our Father is like. 16 For in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he might have first place in everything. 19 For our Father was pleased to have all his fullness live in him, 20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, making peace through the blood of his cross.
21 Once you were alienated from our Father, hostile in your thinking, because of your evil deeds. 22 But now he has reconciled you through the death of his physical body, to present you holy and blameless and beyond reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, established and firm, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a servant.
Paul's Suffering for the Church
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I fill up what is still lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church, b b v24 Paul doesn't mean the cross was incomplete — he means his own suffering extends Christ's saving mission through the church, his body. 25 of which I became a servant by the commission our Father gave me for you, to make the word of our Father fully known 26 —the mystery that was hidden for ages and generations but is now revealed to his holy people. 27 To them our Father chose to make known the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 He is the one we proclaim, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I labor, striving with all his energy, which so powerfully works within me.