-
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
-
To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
-
Thanksgiving and Prayer
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
-
because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—
-
that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.
-
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,
-
so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
-
being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,
-
The Supremacy of the Son of God
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
-
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
-
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
-
But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
-
I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—
-
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
-
He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.
-
To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
-
My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
-
For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
-
rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
-
In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,
-
having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
-
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
-
Freedom From Human Rules
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
-
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.
-
They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
