Colossians

Greeting and Thanksgiving

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy, our brother,

to the saints in Colossae, our faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Thanks be to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! We pray always for you,

for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints.

Indeed, you eagerly await the inheritance reserved for you in heaven, which you have heard about through the word of truth. This gospel,

already present among you, is bearing fruit and growing throughout the world just as it has among you since the day you accepted it and understood the gift of God in all its truth.

He who taught you, Epaphras, our dear fellow worker in Christ and faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,

has reminded me of the love you have for me through the Spirit.

Prayer for the Colossians

Because of this, since we heard about you, we have not stopped praying to God for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and spiritual understanding he gives.

May your lifestyle be worthy of the Lord and entirely pleasing to him. May you bear fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God.

May you become strong in everything through sharing in the glory of God, so that you may have great endurance and persevere with joy,

giving thanks to the Father, who has empowered us to receive our portion in the inheritance of the saints in light.

He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved Son.

In him, we are redeemed and forgiven.

Christ, Savior and Firstborn of All Creation

He is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn of all creation.

For, in him, all things were created:

Things in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible:

Thrones, rulers, authorities, powers.

All was made through him and for him.

He is before all things,

and in him all things hold together.

He is the head of the body,

the Church, he is the beginning,

the firstborn from the dead,

that he himself might be preeminent

in everything.

For God was pleased to dwell fully in him.

Through him, God chose to reconcile all things to himself,

and through his blood shed on the cross,

God establishes peace on earth and in heaven.

You, yourselves, were once separated from God and opposed to him because of your evil deeds,

but now, God has reconciled you through the body of his Son, by His death, so that you may be blameless, holy, and without fault before him.

Just stand firm on the foundation of your faith and remain steadfast in hope. Remember the gospel you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, have become a servant of this gospel.

Currently, I rejoice when I suffer for you; I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ in my own flesh for the sake of his body, which is the church.

For I serve the church because God entrusted me with the ministry to make the word of God fully known,

the mystery hidden for ages and generations, and now revealed to his holy ones.

God chose to reveal to them the riches and even the glory that his mysterious plan kept for the pagan nations: Christ is in you, the hope of glory.

This is the Christ we preach. We warn and teach everyone true wisdom, aiming to make everyone perfect in Christ.

For this reason, I labor and struggle with the energy of Christ working powerfully in me.