1 ¶ Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our 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 and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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 ¶ We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you

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

4 s ince we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the charity which ye have toward all the saints,

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 f or the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which ye have already heard by the word 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 is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and brings forth fruit, as it does also in you, since the day ye heard it and knew 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 a s ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ,

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

8 w ho also declared unto us your charity in the Spirit.

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

9 ¶ For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, asking that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

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 ye might walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing him in everything, being fruitful in every good work, and growing in the knowledge of God,

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

11 s trengthened with all might, according to the power of his glory unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness,

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 ¶ giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us worthy to participate in the inheritance of the saints in 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 w ho has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,

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 redemption through his blood, even the remission of sins,

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

15 w ho is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature;

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

16 f or by him were all things created, that are in the heavens and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they are thrones or dominions or principalities or powers: all things were created by him and in 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 is before all things, and by him all things consist.

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

18 A nd he is the head of the body, the congregation, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

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 pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell

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

20 a nd by him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, whether they are the things in the earth or the things in the heavens.

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 you, that were in another time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled you

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

22 i n the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight

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 i f ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard and which is preached to every creature which is under heaven, of which I Paul am made 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 w ho now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fulfill in my flesh that which is lacking of the tribulations of the Christ for his body’s sake, which is the congregation,

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 o f which I am made a minister by the dispensation of God which is given to me in you, to fulfil the word of God,

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

26 e ven the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his 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 would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery in the Gentiles, which is Christ in 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 w hom we preach, warning every man and teaching in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,

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 i n which I continue to labour, contending according to his operation, which he works in me mightily.

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