Old Testament

Colossians
The apostle Paul was the inspired writer of Colossians. It is one of the four “captivity letters” written while Paul was under house arrest in Rome. See Acts 28:30; Colossians 4:3, 7-9, 18; Ephesians 6:20. The approximate date of writing may have been 60-61 AD.
Greeting
11Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2To the holy and faithful brothers[] in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.[]
Paul's Prayer for the Colossians
3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints 5because of the hope that is stored up for you in heaven. You have already heard about this in the word of truth, the gospel 6that is present with you now. The gospel is bearing fruit and growing in the entire world, just as it also has been doing among you from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth. 7You learned this from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your[] behalf. 8He is the one who told us about your love in the Spirit.[]
9For this reason, from the day we heard about your love, we also have not stopped praying for you. We keep asking that you would be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10so that you might live in a way that is worthy of the Lord. Our goal is that you please him by bearing fruit in every kind of good work and by growing in the knowledge of God, 11as you are being strengthened with all power because of his glorious might working in you. Then you will have complete endurance and patience, joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who qualified us[] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
What the Father Did Through Christ
13The Father rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption,[] the forgiveness of sins.
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, 16for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17He is before all things, and all things hold together in him.
18He is also the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in all things he might have the highest rank. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile all things to himself (whether things on earth or in heaven) by establishing peace through the blood of his cross.
Reconciled Through Christ's Death
21At one time, you were alienated from God and hostile in your thinking as expressed through your evil deeds. 22But now Christ reconciled you in his body of flesh through death, in order to present you holy, blameless, and faultless before him— 23if you continue steadfast and firm in faith, without being moved away from the hope of the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a minister.
Paul's Service in Preaching the Gospel
24Now I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church. 25I became a minister of the church for your benefit when God gave me the task of fully proclaiming the word of God, 26namely, the mystery that was hidden for past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to his saints. 27God wanted to make known to them what is the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles—this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28We proclaim him as we admonish and teach everyone with all wisdom, so that we might present everyone perfect in Christ. 29This is the goal I am laboring to reach, striving with his strength, which is powerfully at work in me.

Footnotes

  • 1:2 When context indicates it, the Greek word for brothers may refer to all fellow believers, male and female.
  • 1:2 Some witnesses to the text add and our Lord Jesus Christ. (“Witnesses to the text” mentioned in footnotes may include Greek manuscripts, lectionaries, translations, and quotations in the church fathers.)
  • 1:7 Some witnesses to the text read our.
  • 1:8 Or about the love the Spirit worked in you
  • 1:12 Some witnesses to the text read you.
  • 1:14 A few witnesses to the text add through his blood.