1:1 From Paul, ¹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful ²  brothers and sisters ³  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁴  from God our Father! ⁵ 

1:3 We always ⁶  give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 1:4 since ⁷  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 ⁸  from the hope laid up ⁹  for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel ¹⁰  1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ¹¹  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ¹²  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. 1:7 You learned the gospel ¹³  from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave ¹⁴  – a ¹⁵  faithful minister of Christ on our ¹⁶  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, ¹⁷  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ¹⁸  to fill ¹⁹  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ²⁰  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²¹  – 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 ²²  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ²³  in the saints’ ²⁴  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, ²⁵  1:14 in whom we have redemption, ²⁶  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, ³⁰  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 ³¹  in him.

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ³²  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ³³ 

1:19 For God ³⁴  was pleased to have all his ³⁵  fullness dwell ³⁶  in the Son ³⁷ 

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ³⁸  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ³⁹  minds ⁴⁰  as expressed through ⁴¹  your evil deeds, 1:22 but now he has reconciled you ⁴²  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, ⁴³  without shifting ⁴⁴  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 ⁴⁵  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ⁴⁶  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 ⁴⁷  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 1:28 We proclaim him by instructing ⁴⁸  and teaching ⁴⁹  all people ⁵⁰  with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature ⁵¹  in Christ. 1:29 Toward this goal ⁵²  I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully ⁵³  works in me.

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, ⁵⁴  and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face. ⁵⁵  2:2 My goal is that ⁵⁶  their hearts, having been knit together ⁵⁷  in love, may be encouraged, and that ⁵⁸  they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ⁵⁹  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 ⁶⁰  that sound reasonable. ⁶¹  2:5 For though ⁶²  I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, rejoicing to see ⁶³  your morale ⁶⁴  and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

2:6 Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, ⁶⁵  continue to live your lives ⁶⁶  in him, 2:7 rooted ⁶⁷  and built up in him and firm ⁶⁸  in your ⁶⁹  faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 2:8 Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you ⁷⁰  through an empty, deceitful philosophy ⁷¹  that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits ⁷²  of the world, and not according to Christ. 2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives ⁷³  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, ⁷⁴  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ⁷⁵  of the fleshly body, ⁷⁶  that is, ⁷⁷  through the circumcision done by Christ. 2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ⁷⁸  faith in the power ⁷⁹  of God who raised him from the dead. 2:13 And even though you were dead in your ⁸⁰  transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless ⁸¹  made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions. 2:14 He has destroyed ⁸²  what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness ⁸³  expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. 2:15 Disarming ⁸⁴  the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ⁸⁵ 

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 ⁸⁶  the shadow of the things to come, but the reality ⁸⁷  is Christ! ⁸⁸  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 ⁸⁹  about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind. ⁹⁰  2:19 He has not held fast ⁹¹  to the head from whom the whole body, supported ⁹²  and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. ⁹³ 

2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits ⁹⁴  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 ⁹⁵  on human commands and teachings. ⁹⁶  2:23 Even though they have the appearance of wisdom ⁹⁷  with their self-imposed worship and false humility ⁹⁸  achieved by an ⁹⁹  unsparing treatment of the body – a wisdom with no true value – they in reality result in fleshly indulgence. ¹⁰⁰