1 P aul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus 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 which 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 W e give thanks to God and the 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 love which ye have to 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 heaven, whereof ye heard before in 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 bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of 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 love in the Spirit.

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

9 F or this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire 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 unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing 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 his glorious power, 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 G iving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of 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 hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath 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 forgiveness 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 heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, 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 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 church: 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 fulness dwell;

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

20 A nd, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

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 sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

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 be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof 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 fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, 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 W hereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for 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 hath 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 among 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 every man 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 W hereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

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