Colossians 1:3-18

New King James Version

Their Faith in Christ

³^(A)We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, ⁴^(B)since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of ^(C)your love for all the saints; ⁵because of the hope ^(D)which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, ⁶which has come to you, ^(E)as it has also in all the world, and ^(F)is bringing forth ^[a]fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew ^(G)the grace of God in truth; ⁷as you also learned from ^(H)Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is ^(I)a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, ⁸who also declared to us your ^(J)love in the Spirit.

Preeminence of Christ

⁹^(K)For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask ^(L)that you may be filled with ^(M)the knowledge of His will ^(N)in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; ¹⁰^(O)that you may walk worthy of the Lord, ^(P)fully pleasing Him, ^(Q)being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the ^(R)knowledge of God; ¹¹^(S)strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, ^(T)for all patience and longsuffering ^(U)with joy; ¹²^(V)giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of ^(W)the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³He has delivered us from ^(X)the power of darkness ^(Y)and ^[b]conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴^(Z)in whom we have redemption ^[c]through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

¹⁵He is ^(AA)the image of the invisible God, ^(AB)the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For ^(AC)by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or ^(AD)dominions or ^[d]principalities or ^[e]powers. All things were created ^(AE)through Him and for Him. ¹⁷^(AF)And He is before all things, and in Him ^(AG)all things consist. ¹⁸And ^(AH)He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, ^(AI)the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.