Colossians 1-4

New International Reader's Version

1 I, Paul, am writing this letter. I am an apostle of Christ Jesus just as God planned. Our brother Timothy joins me in writing.

² We are sending this letter to you, our brothers and sisters in Colossae. You belong to Christ. You are holy and faithful.

May God our Father give you grace and peace.

Paul Prays and Gives Thanks

³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. ⁴ We thank him because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus. We have also heard that you love all God’s people. ⁵ Your faith and love are based on the hope you have. What you hope for is stored up for you in heaven. You have already heard about it. You were told about it when the true message was given to you. I’m talking about the good news ⁶ that has come to you. In the same way, the good news is bearing fruit. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world. It has been doing that among you since the day you heard it. That is when you really understood God’s grace. ⁷ You learned the good news from Epaphras. He is dear to us. He serves Christ together with us. He faithfully works for Christ and for us among you. ⁸ He also told us about your love that comes from the Holy Spirit.

⁹ That’s why we have not stopped praying for you. We have been praying for you since the day we heard about you. We keep asking God to fill you with the knowledge of what he wants. We pray he will give you the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. ¹⁰ Then you will be able to lead a life that is worthy of the Lord. We pray that you will please him in every way. So we want you to bear fruit in every good thing you do. We pray that you will grow to know God better. ¹¹ We want you to be very strong, in keeping with his glorious power. We want you to be patient. We pray that you will never give up. ¹² We want you to give thanks with joy to the Father. He has made you fit to have what he will give to all his holy people. You will all receive a share in the kingdom of light. ¹³ He has saved us from the kingdom of darkness. He has brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. ¹⁴ Because of what the Son has done, we have been set free. Because of him, all our sins have been forgiven.

The Son of God Is Better Than Everything Else

¹⁵ The Son is the exact likeness of God, who can’t be seen. The Son is first, and he is over all creation. ¹⁶ All things were created in him. He created everything in heaven and on earth. He created everything that can be seen and everything that can’t be seen. He created kings, powers, rulers and authorities. All things have been created by him and for him. ¹⁷ Before anything was created, he was already there. He holds everything together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning. He is the first to be raised from the dead. That happened so that he would be far above everything. ¹⁹ God was pleased to have his whole nature living in Christ. ²⁰ God was pleased to bring all things back to himself. That’s because of what Christ has done. These things include everything on earth and in heaven. God made peace through Christ’s blood, by his death on the cross.

²¹ At one time you were separated from God. You were enemies in your minds because of your evil ways. ²² But because Christ died, God has brought you back to himself. Christ’s death has made you holy in God’s sight. So now you don’t have any flaw. You are free from blame. ²³ But you must keep your faith steady and firm. You must not move away from the hope the good news holds out to you. This is the good news that you heard. It has been preached to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, now serve the good news.

Paul’s Work for the Church

²⁴ I am happy because of what I am suffering for you. My suffering joins with and continues the sufferings of Christ. I suffer for his body, which is the church. ²⁵ I serve the church. God appointed me to bring the complete word of God to you. ²⁶ That word contains the mystery that has been hidden for many ages. But now it has been made known to the Lord’s people. ²⁷ God has chosen to make known to them the glorious riches of that mystery. He has made it known among the Gentiles. And here is what it is. Christ is in you. He is your hope of glory.

²⁸ Christ is the one we preach about. With all the wisdom we have, we warn and teach everyone. When we bring them to God, we want them to be like Christ. We want them to be grown up as people who belong to Christ. ²⁹ That’s what I’m working for. I work hard with all the strength of Christ. His strength works powerfully in me.

2 I want you to know how hard I am working for you. I’m concerned for those who are in Laodicea. I’m also concerned for everyone who has not met me in person. ² My goal is that their hearts may be encouraged and strengthened. I want them to be joined together in love. Then their understanding will be rich and complete. They will know the mystery of God. That mystery is Christ. ³ All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him. ⁴ But I don’t want anyone to fool you with words that only sound good. ⁵ So even though I am away from you in body, I am with you in spirit. And I am glad to see that you are controlling yourselves. I am happy that your faith in Christ is so strong.

Having All Things in Christ

⁶ You received Christ Jesus as Lord. So keep on living your lives in him. ⁷ Have your roots in him. Build yourselves up in him. Grow strong in what you believe, just as you were taught. Be more thankful than ever before.

⁸ Make sure no one controls you. They will try to control you by using false reasoning that has no meaning. Their ideas depend on human teachings. They also depend on the basic spiritual powers of this world. They don’t depend on Christ.

⁹ God’s whole nature is living in Christ in human form. ¹⁰ Because you belong to Christ, you have been made complete. He is the ruler over every power and authority. ¹¹ When you received Christ, your circumcision was not done by human hands. Instead, your circumcision was done by Christ. He put away the person you used to be. At that time, sin’s power ruled over you. ¹² When you were baptized, you were buried together with Christ. And you were raised to life together with him when you were baptized. You were raised to life by believing in God’s work. God himself raised Jesus from the dead.

¹³ At one time you were dead in your sins. Your desires controlled by sin were not circumcised. But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave us all our sins. ¹⁴ He wiped out what the law said that we owed. The law stood against us. It judged us. But he has taken it away and nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ He took away the weapons of the powers and authorities. He made a public show of them. He won the battle over them by dying on the cross.

Freedom From Human Rules

¹⁶ So don’t let anyone judge you because of what you eat or drink. Don’t let anyone judge you about holy days. I’m talking about special feasts and New Moons and Sabbath days. ¹⁷ They are only a shadow of the things to come. But what is real is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Some people enjoy pretending they aren’t proud. They worship angels. But don’t let people like that judge you. These people tell you every little thing about what they have seen. They are proud of their useless ideas. That’s because their minds are not guided by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ They aren’t connected anymore to the head, who is Christ. But the whole body grows from the head. The muscles and tendons hold the body together. And God causes it to grow.

²⁰ Some people still follow the basic spiritual powers of the world. But you died with Christ as far as these powers are concerned. So why do you act as if you still belong to the world? Here are the rules you follow. ²¹ “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” ²² Rules like these are about things that will pass away soon. They are based on merely human rules and teachings. ²³ It is true that these rules seem wise. Because of them, people give themselves over to their own kind of worship. They pretend they are humble. They treat their bodies very badly. But rules like these don’t help. They don’t stop people from chasing after sinful pleasures.

Teachings About Holy Living

3 You have been raised up with Christ. So think about things that are in heaven. That is where Christ is. He is sitting at God’s right hand. ² Think about things that are in heaven. Don’t think about things that are only on earth. ³ You died. Now your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ Christ is your life. When he appears again, you also will appear with him in heaven’s glory.

⁵ So put to death anything that comes from sinful desires. Get rid of sexual sins and impure acts. Don’t let your feelings get out of control. Remove from your life all evil desires. Stop always wanting more and more. You might as well be worshiping statues of gods. ⁶ God’s anger is going to come because of these things. ⁷ That’s the way you lived at one time in your life. ⁸ But now here are the kinds of things you must also get rid of. You must get rid of anger, rage, hate and lies. Let no dirty words come out of your mouths. ⁹ Don’t lie to one another. You have gotten rid of your old way of life and its habits. ¹⁰ You have started living a new life. Your knowledge of how that life should have the Creator’s likeness is being made new. ¹¹ Here there is no Gentile or Jew. There is no difference between those who are circumcised and those who are not. There is no rude outsider, or even a Scythian. There is no slave or free person. But Christ is everything. And he is in everything.

¹² You are God’s chosen people. You are holy and dearly loved. So put on tender mercy and kindness as if they were your clothes. Don’t be proud. Be gentle and patient. ¹³ Put up with one another. Forgive one another if you are holding something against someone. Forgive, just as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these good things put on love. Love holds them all together perfectly as if they were one.

¹⁵ Let the peace that Christ gives rule in your hearts. As parts of one body, you were appointed to live in peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message about Christ live among you like a rich treasure. Teach and correct one another wisely. Teach one another by singing psalms and hymns and songs from the Spirit. Sing to God with thanks in your hearts. ¹⁷ Do everything you say or do in the name of the Lord Jesus. Always give thanks to God the Father through Christ.

Teachings About Christian Families

¹⁸ Wives, follow the lead of your husbands. That’s what the Lord wants you to do.

¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives. Don’t be mean to them.

²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything. That pleases the Lord.

²¹ Fathers, don’t make your children bitter. If you do, they will lose hope.

²² Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything. Don’t do it just to please them when they are watching you. Obey them with an honest heart. Do it out of respect for the Lord. ²³ Work at everything you do with all your heart. Work as if you were working for the Lord, not for human masters. ²⁴ Work because you know that you will finally receive as a reward what the Lord wants you to have. You are slaves of the Lord Christ. ²⁵ Anyone who does wrong will be paid back for what they do. God treats everyone the same.

4 Masters, give your slaves what is right and fair. Do it because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

More Teachings

² Give a lot of time and effort to prayer. Always be watchful and thankful. ³ Pray for us too. Pray that God will give us an opportunity to preach our message. Then we can preach the mystery of Christ. Because I preached it, I am being held by chains. ⁴ Pray that I will preach it clearly, as I should. ⁵ Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. ⁶ Let the words you speak always be full of grace. Learn how to make your words what people want to hear. Then you will know how to answer everyone.

Final Greetings

⁷ Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother. He is a faithful worker. He serves the Lord together with us. ⁸ I am sending him to you for one reason. I want you to know what is happening here. I want him to encourage you and make your hearts strong. ⁹ He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother. He is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

¹⁰ Aristarchus is in prison with me. He sends you his greetings. So does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. You have been given directions about him. If he comes to you, welcome him.

¹¹ Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. They are the only Jews who have worked together with me for God’s kingdom. They have been a comfort to me.

¹² Epaphras sends greetings. He is one of you. He serves Christ Jesus. He is always praying hard for you. He prays that you will hold on tightly to all that God has in mind for us. He prays that you will keep growing in your knowledge of what God wants. He also prays that you will be completely sure about it. ¹³ I am happy to tell you that he is working very hard for you. He is also working hard for everyone in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

¹⁴ Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, sends greetings. So does Demas.

¹⁵ Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters in Laodicea. Also give my greetings to Nympha and the church that meets in her house.

¹⁶ After this letter has been read to you, send it on. Be sure that it is also read to the church in Laodicea. And be sure that you read the letter from Laodicea.

¹⁷ Tell Archippus, “Be sure that you complete the work the Lord gave you to do.”

¹⁸ I, Paul, am writing this greeting with my own hand. Remember that I am being held by chains. May grace be with you.