1:3 We always ¹  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 1:4 since ²  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. 1:5 Your faith and love have arisen ³  from the hope laid up ⁴  for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel ⁵  1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ⁶  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ⁷  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. 1:7 You learned the gospel ⁸  from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave ⁹  – a ¹⁰  faithful minister of Christ on our ¹¹  behalf – 1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ¹²  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ¹³  to fill ¹⁴  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ¹⁵  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ¹⁶  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ¹⁷  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ¹⁸  in the saints’ ¹⁹  inheritance in the light. 1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, ²⁰  1:14 in whom we have redemption, ²¹  the forgiveness of sins.

1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, ²⁵  whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ²⁶  in him.

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ²⁷  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ²⁸ 

1:19 For God ²⁹  was pleased to have all his ³⁰  fullness dwell ³¹  in the Son ³² 

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ³³  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ³⁴  minds ³⁵  as expressed through ³⁶  your evil deeds, 1:22 but now he has reconciled you ³⁷  by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him – 1:23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ³⁸  without shifting ³⁹  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. 1:25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship ⁴⁰  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ⁴¹  the word of God, 1:26 that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. 1:27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious ⁴²  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 1:28 We proclaim him by instructing ⁴³  and teaching ⁴⁴  all people ⁴⁵  with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature ⁴⁶  in Christ. 1:29 Toward this goal ⁴⁷  I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully ⁴⁸  works in me.

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ⁴⁹  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ⁵⁰  2:2 My goal is that ⁵¹  their hearts, having been knit together ⁵²  in love, may be encouraged, and that ⁵³  they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ⁵⁴  2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 2:4 I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments ⁵⁵  that sound reasonable. ⁵⁶  2:5 For though ⁵⁷  I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, rejoicing to see ⁵⁸  your morale ⁵⁹  and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

2:6 Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, ⁶⁰  continue to live your lives ⁶¹  in him, 2:7 rooted ⁶²  and built up in him and firm ⁶³  in your ⁶⁴  faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 2:8 Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you ⁶⁵  through an empty, deceitful philosophy ⁶⁶  that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits ⁶⁷  of the world, and not according to Christ. 2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives ⁶⁸  in bodily form, 2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ⁶⁹  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ⁷⁰  of the fleshly body, ⁷¹  that is, ⁷²  through the circumcision done by Christ. 2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ⁷³  faith in the power ⁷⁴  of God who raised him from the dead. 2:13 And even though you were dead in your ⁷⁵  transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless ⁷⁶  made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions. 2:14 He has destroyed ⁷⁷  what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness ⁷⁸  expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 2:15 Disarming ⁷⁹  the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ⁸⁰ 

2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days – 2:17 these are only ⁸¹  the shadow of the things to come, but the reality ⁸²  is Christ! ⁸³  2:18 Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths ⁸⁴  about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind. ⁸⁵  2:19 He has not held fast ⁸⁶  to the head from whom the whole body, supported ⁸⁷  and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. ⁸⁸ 

2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits ⁸⁹  of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? 2:21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” 2:22 These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are ⁹⁰  on human commands and teachings. ⁹¹  2:23 Even though they have the appearance of wisdom ⁹²  with their self-imposed worship and false humility ⁹³  achieved by an ⁹⁴  unsparing treatment of the body – a wisdom with no true value – they in reality result in fleshly indulgence. ⁹⁵