The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Colossians 01
1 Paul, anapostle ofChrist† Jesus through
the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 to the saints and faithful brothers‡ in
Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
3 We give thanks to God the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
4 having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus
and of the love which you have toward
all the saints,
5 because of the hope which is laid up
for you in the heavens, of which you heard
before in the word of the truth of the Good News
6 which has come to you, even as it is
in all the world and is bearing fruit and
growing, as it does in you also, since the
day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth,
7 even as you learned from Epaphras our
beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful
servant of Christ on your§ behalf,
8 who also declared to us your love in the
Spirit.
9 For this cause, we also, since the day
we heard this, don’t cease praying and
making requests for you, that you may be
filled with the knowledge of his will in all
spiritual wisdom and understanding,
10 that you may walk worthily of the
Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing
fruit in every good work and increasing in
the knowledge of God,
11 strengthened with all power, according to
the might of his glory, for all endurance
and perseverance with joy,
12 giving thanks to the Father, who made
us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of
the saints in light,
13 who delivered us out of the power of
darkness, and translated us into the
Kingdom of the Son of his love,
14 in whom we have our redemption,†
the forgiveness of our sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by him all things were created
in the heavens and on the earth, visible
things and invisible things, whether
thrones or dominions or principalities or
powers. All things have been created
through him and for him.
17 He is before all things, and in him all
things are held together.
18 He is the head of the body, the
assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might
have the preeminence.
19 For all the fullness was pleased to
dwell in him,
20 and through him to reconcile allthings
to himself by him, whether things on the
earth or things in the heavens, having
made peace through the blood of his cross.
21 You, being in past times alienated and
enemies in your mind in your evil deeds,
22 yet now he has reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death, to present you
holy and without defect and blameless before him,
23 if it is so that you continue in the faith,
grounded and steadfast, and not moved
away from the hope of the Good News
which you heard, which was proclaimed
in all creation under heaven, of which I,
Paul, was made a servant.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your
sake, and fill up on my part that which is
lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my
flesh for his body’s sake, which is the assembly,
25 of which I was made a servant according
to the stewardship of God which was
given me toward you to fulfill the
word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden
for ages and generations. But now it has
been revealed to his saints,
27 to whom God was pleased to make
known what are the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 We proclaim him, admonishing every
man and teaching every man in all
wisdom, that we may present every man
perfect in Christ Jesus;
29 for which I also labor, striving
according to his working, which works
in me mightily.