1:1 |
Paul,
an Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the purpose of God, and Timothy our
brother, |
1:2 |
To
the saints and True brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace
from God our Father. |
1:3 |
We
give praise to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, making prayer for you
at all times, |
1:4 |
After
hearing of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you have for all
the saints, |
1:5 |
Through
the hope which is in store for you in heaven; knowledge of which was given to
you before in the True word of the good news, |
1:6 |
Which
has come to you; and which in all the world is giving fruit and increase, as
it has done in you from the day when it came to your ears and you had True
knowledge of the grace of God; |
1:7 |
As
it was given to you by Epaphras, our well-loved helper, who is a True servant
of Christ for us, |
1:8 |
And who,
himself, made clear to us your love in the Spirit. |
1:9 |
For
this reason, we, from the day when we had word of it, keep on in prayer for
you, that you may be full of the knowledge of his purpose, with all wisdom
and experience of the Spirit, |
1:10 |
Living
uprightly in the approval of the Lord, giving fruit in every good work, and
increasing in the knowledge of God; |
1:11 |
Full
of strength in the measure of the great power of his glory, so that you may
undergo all troubles with joy; |
1:12 |
Giving
praise to the Father who has given us a part in the heritage of the saints in
light; |
1:13 |
Who
has made us free from the power of evil and given us a place in the kingdom
of the Son of his love; |
1:14 |
In whom we
have our salvation, the forgiveness of sins: |
1:15 |
Who
is the image of the unseen God coming into existence before all living
things; |
1:16 |
For
by him all things were made, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things
unseen, authorities, lords, rulers, and powers; all things were made by him
and for him; |
1:17 |
He is
before all things, and in him all things have being. |
1:18 |
And
he is the head of the body, the church: the starting point of all things, the
first to come again from the dead; so that in all things he might have the
chief place. |
1:19 |
For
God in full measure was pleased to be in him; |
1:20 |
Through
him uniting all things with himself, having made peace through the blood of
his cross; through him, I say, uniting all things which are on earth or in
heaven. |
1:21 |
And
you, who in the past were cut off and at war with God in your minds through
evil works, he has now made one |
1:22 |
In
the body of his flesh through death, so that you might be holy and without
sin and free from all evil before him: |
1:23 |
If
you keep yourselves safely based in the faith, not moved from the hope of the
good news which came to you, and which was given to every living being under
heaven; of which I, Paul, was made a servant. |
1:24 |
Now
I have joy in my pain because of you, and in my flesh I undergo whatever is
still needed to make the sorrows of Christ complete, for the salvation of his
body, the church; |
1:25 |
Of
which I became a servant by the purpose of God which was given to me for you,
to give effect to the word of God, |
1:26 |
The
secret which has been kept from all times and generations, but has now been
made clear to his saints, |
1:27 |
To
whom God was pleased to give knowledge of the wealth of the glory of this
secret among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: |
1:28 |
Whom
we are preaching; guiding and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that every
man may be complete in Christ; |
1:29 |
And
for this purpose I am working, using all my strength by the help of his power
which is working in me strongly. |
2:1 |
For
it is my desire to give you news of the great fight I am making for you and
for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face in the
flesh; |
2:2 |
So
that their hearts may be comforted, and that being joined together in love,
they may come to the full wealth of the certain knowledge of the secret of
God, even Christ, |
2:3 |
In whom
are all the secret stores of wisdom and knowledge. |
2:4 |
I
say this so that you may not be turned away by any deceit of words. |
2:5 |
For
though I am not present in the flesh, still I am with you in the spirit,
seeing with joy your order, and your unchanging faith in Christ. |
2:6 |
As, then,
you took Christ Jesus the Lord, so go on in him, |
2:7 |
Rooted
and based together in him, strong in the faith which the teaching gave you,
giving praise to God at all times. |
2:8 |
Take
care that no one takes you away by force, through man's wisdom and deceit,
going after the beliefs of men and the theories of the world, and not after
Christ: |
2:9 |
For in
him all the wealth of God's being has a living form, |
2:10 |
And
you are complete in him, who is the head of all rule and authority: |
2:11 |
In
whom you had a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the
body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; |
2:12 |
Having
been put to death with him in baptism, by which you came to life again with
him, through faith in the working of God, who made him come back from the
dead. |
2:13 |
And
you, being dead through your sins and the evil condition of your flesh, to
you, I say, he gave life together with him, and forgiveness of all our
sins; |
2:14 |
Having
put an end to the handwriting of the law which was against us, taking it out
of the way by nailing it to his cross; |
2:15 |
Having
made himself free from the rule of authorities and powers, he put them openly
to shame, glorying over them in it. |
2:16 |
For
this reason let no man be your judge in any question of food or drink or
feast days or new moons or Sabbaths: |
2:17 |
For
these are an image of the things which are to come; but the body is
Christ's. |
2:18 |
Let
no man take your reward from you by consciously making little of himself and
giving worship to angels; having his thoughts fixed on the things which he
has seen, being foolishly lifted up in his natural mind, |
2:19 |
And
not joined to the Head, from whom all the body, being given strength and kept
together through its joins and bands, has its growth with the increase of
God. |
2:20 |
If
you were made free, by your death with Christ, from the rules of the world,
why do you put yourselves under the authority of orders |
2:21 |
Which
say there may be no touching, tasting, or taking in your hands, |
2:22 |
(Rules
which are all to come to an end with their use) after the orders and teaching
of men? |
2:23 |
These
things seem to have a sort of wisdom in self-ordered worship and making
little of oneself, and being cruel to the body, not honouring it by giving it
its natural use. |
3:1 |
If
then you have a new life with Christ, give your attention to the things of
heaven, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. |
3:2 |
Keep
your mind on the higher things, not on the things of earth. |
3:3 |
For
your life on earth is done, and you have a secret life with Christ in
God. |
3:4 |
At
the coming of Christ who is our life, you will be seen with him in
glory. |
3:5 |
Then
put to death your bodies which are of the earth; wrong use of the flesh,
unclean things, passion, evil desires and envy, which is the worship of
strange gods; |
3:6 |
Because
of which the wrath of God comes on those who go against his orders; |
3:7 |
Among
whom you were living in the past, when you did such things. |
3:8 |
But
now it is right for you to put away all these things; wrath, passion, bad
feeling, curses, unclean talk; |
3:9 |
Do
not make False statements to one another; because you have put away the old
man with all his doings, |
3:10 |
And
have put on the new man, which has become new in knowledge after the image of
his maker; |
3:11 |
Where
there is no Greek or Jew, no one with circumcision or without circumcision,
no division between nations, no servant or free man: but Christ is all and in
all. |
3:12 |
As
saints of God, then, holy and dearly loved, let your behaviour be marked by
pity and mercy, kind feeling, a low opinion of yourselves, gentle ways, and a
power of undergoing all things; |
3:13 |
Being
gentle to one another and having forgiveness for one another, if anyone has
done wrong to his brother, even as the Lord had forgiveness for you: |
3:14 |
And
more than all, have love; the only way in which you may be completely joined
together. |
3:15 |
And
let the peace of Christ be ruling in your hearts, as it was the purpose of
God for you to be one body; and give praise to God at all times. |
3:16 |
Let
the word of Christ be in you in all wealth of wisdom; teaching and helping
one another with songs of praise and holy words, making melody to God with
grace in your hearts. |
3:17 |
And
whatever you do, in word or in act, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving praise to God the Father through him. |
3:18 |
Wives,
be under the authority of your husbands, as is right in the Lord. |
3:19 |
Husbands,
have love for your wives, and be not bitter against them. |
3:20 |
Children,
do the orders of your fathers and mothers in all things, for this is pleasing
to the Lord. |
3:21 |
Fathers,
do not be hard on your children, so that their spirit may not be broken. |
3:22 |
Servants,
in all things do the orders of your natural masters; not only when their eyes
are on you, as pleasers of men, but with all your heart, fearing the
Lord: |
3:23 |
Whatever
you do, do it readily, as to the Lord and not to men; |
3:24 |
Being
certain that the Lord will give you the reward of the heritage: for you are
the servants of the Lord Christ. |
3:25 |
For
the wrongdoer will have punishment for the wrong he has done, without respect
for any man's position. |
4:1 |
Masters,
give your servants what is right and equal, conscious that you have a Master
in heaven. |
4:2 |
Give
yourselves to prayer at all times, keeping watch with praise; |
4:3 |
And
making prayer for us, that God may give us an open door for the preaching of
the word, the secret of Christ, for which I am now in chains; |
4:4 |
So that I
may make it clear, as it is right for me to do. |
4:5 |
Be
wise in your behaviour to those who are outside, making good use of the
time. |
4:6 |
Let
your talk be with grace, mixed with salt, so that you may be able to give an
answer to everyone. |
4:7 |
Tychicus
will give you news of all my business: he is a dear brother and True servant
and helper in the word; |
4:8 |
And
I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may have news of
how we are, and so that he may give your hearts comfort; |
4:9 |
And
with him I have sent Onesimus, the True and well-loved brother, who is one of
you. They will give you word of everything which is taking place here. |
4:10 |
Aristarchus,
my brother-prisoner, sends his love to you, and Mark, a relation of Barnabas
(about whom you have been given orders: if he comes to you, be kind to
him), |
4:11 |
And
Jesus, whose other name is Justus; these are of the circumcision: they are my
only brother-workers for the kingdom of God, who have been a comfort to
me. |
4:12 |
Epaphras,
who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his love, ever taking
thought for you in his prayers, that you may be complete and fully certain of
all the purpose of God. |
4:13 |
For
I give witness of him that he has undergone much trouble for you and for
those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. |
4:14 |
Luke,
our well-loved medical friend, and Demas, send you their love. |
4:15 |
Give
my love to the brothers in Laodicea and to Nymphas and the church in their
house. |
4:16 |
And
when this letter has been made public among you, let the same be done in the
church of Laodicea; and see that you have the letter from Laodicea. |
4:17 |
Say
to Archippus, See that you do the work which the Lord has given you to
do. |
4:18 |
I,
Paul, give you this word of love in my handwriting. Keep in memory that I am
a prisoner. Grace be with you. |
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