1 P aul, an apostle (special messenger) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah), by the will of God, and Timothy brother,

This letter is from Paul, a missionary for Jesus Christ. God wanted me to work for Him. This letter is from brother Timothy also.

2 T o the saints (the consecrated people of God) and believing and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace (spiritual favor and blessing) to you and peace from God our Father.

I am writing to you who belong to Christ in the city of Colossae. May all the Christian brothers there have loving-favor and peace from God our Father.

3 W e continually give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), as we are praying for you,

We always pray and give thanks to God for you. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

4 F or we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus '> the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] and of the love which you for all the saints (God’s consecrated ones),

We give thanks to God for you because we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. We thank God for your love for all those who belong to Christ.

5 B ecause of the hope laid up ( reserved and waiting) for you in heaven. Of this you heard in the past in the message of the truth of the Gospel,

We thank God for the hope that is being kept for you in heaven. You first heard about this hope through the Good News which is the Word of Truth.

6 W hich has come to you. Indeed, in the whole world is bearing fruit and still is growing, even as it has done among yourselves ever since the day you first heard and came to know and understand the grace of God in truth.

The Good News came to you the same as it is now going out to all the world. Lives are being changed, just as your life was changed the day you heard the Good News. You understood the truth about God’s loving-kindness.

7 Y ou so learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ in our stead and as our representative and yours.

You heard the Good News through our much-loved brother Epaphras who is taking my place. He is a faithful servant of Christ.

8 A lso he has informed us of your love in the Spirit.

He told us that the Holy Spirit had given you much love.

9 F or this reason we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make '> special] request for you, that you may be filled with the full (deep and clear) knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom '> in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God] and in understanding and discernment of spiritual things—

This is why I have never stopped praying for you since I heard about you. I ask God that you may know what He wants you to do. I ask God to fill you with the wisdom and understanding the Holy Spirit gives.

10 T hat you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God '> acquaintance, and recognition].

Then your lives will please the Lord. You will do every kind of good work, and you will know more about God.

11 t hat you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy,

I pray that God’s great power will make you strong, and that you will have joy as you wait and do not give up.

12 G iving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God’s holy people) in the Light.

I pray that you will be giving thanks to the Father. He has made it so you could share the good things given to those who belong to Christ who are in the light.

13 h as delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

God took us out of a life of darkness. He has put us in the holy nation of His much-loved Son.

14 I n Whom we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins.

We have been bought by His blood and made free. Our sins are forgiven through Him.

15 H e is the exact likeness of the unseen God; He is the Firstborn of all creation.

Christ is as God is. God cannot be seen. Christ lived before anything was made.

16 F or it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him and in and for Him.

Christ made everything in the heavens and on the earth. He made everything that is seen and things that are not seen. He made all the powers of heaven. Everything was made by Him and for Him.

17 A nd He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).

Christ was before all things. All things are held together by Him.

18 H e also is the Head of body, the church; seeing He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the chief place.

Christ is the head of the church which is His body. He is the beginning of all things. He is the first to be raised from the dead. He is to have first place in everything.

19 F or it has pleased that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should dwell in Him permanently.

God the Father was pleased to have everything made perfect by Christ, His Son.

20 A nd God purposed that through ( by the service, the intervention of) Him all things should be completely reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, made peace by means of the blood of His cross.

Everything in heaven and on earth can come to God because of Christ’s death on the cross. Christ’s blood has made peace.

21 A nd although you at one time were estranged and alienated from Him and were of hostile attitude of mind in your wicked activities,

At one time you were strangers to God and your minds were at war with Him. Your thoughts and actions were wrong.

22 Y et now has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His presence.

But Christ has brought you back to God by His death on the cross. In this way, Christ can bring you to God, holy and pure and without blame.

23 p rovided that you continue to stay with and in the faith, well-grounded and settled and steadfast, not shifting or moving away from the hope the glad tidings (the Gospel), which you heard and which has been preached to every person under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

This is for you if you keep the faith. You must not change from what you believe now. You must not leave the hope of the Good News you received. The Good News was preached to you and to all the world. And I, Paul, am one of Christ’s missionaries. Paul Is Sent by God to Preach

24 n ow I rejoice in the midst of my sufferings on your behalf. And in my own person I am making up whatever is still lacking and remains to be completed '> on our part] of Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church.

Now I am full of joy to be suffering for you. In my own body I am doing my share of what has to be done to make Christ’s sufferings complete. This is for His body which is the Church.

25 I n it I became a minister in accordance with the divine stewardship which was entrusted to me for you, to make the Word of God fully known —

I became a preacher in His church for your good. In the plan of God I am to preach the Good News.

26 T he mystery of which was hidden for ages and generations '> from angels and men], but is now revealed to His holy people (the saints),

This great secret was hidden to the people of times past, but it is now made known to those who belong to Christ.

27 T o whom God was pleased to make known how great for the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ within and among you, the Hope of glory.

God wants these great riches of the hidden truth to be made known to the people who are not Jews. The secret is this: Christ in you brings hope of all the great things to come.

28 H im we preach and proclaim, warning and admonishing everyone and instructing everyone in all wisdom ( comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God), that we may present every person mature (full-grown, fully initiated, complete, and perfect) in Christ (the Anointed One).

We preach Christ. We tell every man how he must live. We use wisdom in teaching every man. We do this so every man will be complete in Christ.

29 F or this I labor '> unto weariness], striving with all the superhuman energy which He so mightily enkindles and works within me.

This is the reason I am working. God’s great power is working in me.