Colossians 1:13-27

Amplified Bible

The Incomparable Christ

¹³For He has rescued us and has drawn us to Himself from the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption [because of His sacrifice, resulting in] the forgiveness of our sins [and the cancellation of sins’ penalty].

¹⁵He is the exact living image [the essential manifestation] of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible], the firstborn [the preeminent one, the sovereign, and the originator] of all creation. ¹⁶For ^[a]by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, [things] visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [that is, by His activity] and for Him. ¹⁷And He Himself existed and is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [His is the controlling, cohesive force of the universe.]^(A) ¹⁸He is also the head [the life-source and leader] of the body, the ^[b]church; and He is the beginning, ^[c]the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will occupy the first place [He will stand supreme and be preeminent] in everything.^(B) ¹⁹For it pleased the Father for all the fullness [of deity—the sum total of His essence, all His perfection, powers, and attributes] to dwell [permanently] in Him (the Son), ²⁰and through [the intervention of] the Son to reconcile all things to Himself, making peace [with believers] through the blood of His cross; through Him, [I say,] whether things on earth or things in heaven.

²¹And although you were at one time estranged and alienated and hostile-minded [toward Him], participating in evil things, ²²yet Christ has now reconciled you [to God] in His ^[d]physical body through death, in order to present you before the Father holy and blameless and beyond reproach— ²³[and He will do this] if you continue in the faith, well-grounded and steadfast, and not shifting away from the [confident] hope [that is a result] of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed ^[e]in all creation under heaven, and of which [gospel] I, Paul, was made a minister.

²⁴Now I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf. And with my own body I ^[f]supplement whatever is lacking [on our part] of Christ’s afflictions, on behalf of His body, which is the church. ²⁵In this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship which God entrusted to me for your sake, so that I might make the word of God fully known [among you]— ²⁶that is, ^[g]the mystery which was hidden [from angels and mankind] for ages and generations, but has now been revealed to His saints (God’s people). ²⁷God [in His eternal plan] chose to make known to them how great for the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in and among you, the hope and guarantee of [realizing the] glory.

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Footnotes

Colossians 1:16 Or in.
Colossians 1:18 This refers to the entire body of born-again believers (whether past, present, or future), not a local congregation.
Colossians 1:18 Christ is the first to be resurrected with an incorruptible, immortal body. Others who were raised had to die again.
Colossians 1:22 Lit body of flesh.
Colossians 1:23 Paul may be referring to the fact that the created world displays proof of the existence of an omnipotent, benevolent God (cf Rom 1:20), without whom there would be no possibility of salvation. Such a God is the foundation of the “good news.”
Colossians 1:24 I.e. since the church is Christ’s body, figuratively speaking, whatever the church suffers can be considered additional sufferings by Christ Himself, and all such suffering was ordained and destined by God; what is left to suffer in God’s plan is what is “lacking of Christ’s afflictions.” Paul, as a member of the church, was destined to suffer through persecution etc., thereby taking his share of the church body’s divinely-ordained suffering.
Colossians 1:26 I.e. that believing Gentiles would be united with believing Jews into one body of believers.