Colossians 1:9-22

Christian Standard Bible

Prayer for Spiritual Growth

⁹For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking^(A) that you may be filled with the knowledge^(B) of his will^(C) in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,^[a] ¹⁰so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work^(D) and growing in the knowledge of God,^(E) ¹¹being strengthened^(F) with all power,^(G) according to his glorious^(H) might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you^[b] to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.^(I) ¹³He has rescued^(J) us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom^(K) of the Son^(L) he loves.^(M) ¹⁴In him we have redemption,^[c] the forgiveness of sins.

The Centrality of Christ

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God,^(N)
the firstborn over all creation.^(O)
¹⁶For everything was created by him,^(P)
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through him and for him.^(Q)
¹⁷He is before all things,^(R)
and by him all things^(S) hold together.
¹⁸He is also the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning,^(T)
the firstborn from the dead,^(U)
so that he might come to have
first place in everything.
¹⁹For God was pleased to have
all his fullness^(V) dwell in him,^(W)
²⁰and through him to reconcile
everything to himself,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace^(X)
through his blood,^(Y) shed on the cross.^[d]^(Z)

²¹Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. ²²But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death,^(AA) to present you holy, faultless,^(AB) and blameless before him^(AC)—

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Footnotes

1:9 Or all spiritual wisdom and understanding
1:12 Other mss read us
1:14 Other mss add through his blood
1:20 Other mss add through him

Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

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