¹⁸ He is also the head [the life-source and leader] of the body, the ^[a]church; and He is the beginning, ^[b]the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will occupy the first place [He will stand supreme and be preeminent] in everything.^{(A) 19} For it pleased the Father for all the fullness [of deity—the sum total of His essence, all His perfection, powers, and attributes] to dwell [permanently] in Him (the Son), ²⁰ and through [the intervention of] the Son to reconcile all things to Himself, making peace [with believers] through the blood of His cross; through Him, [I say,] whether things on earth or things in heaven.

²¹ And although you were at one time estranged and alienated and hostile-minded [toward Him], participating in evil things, ²² yet Christ has now reconciled you [to God] in His ^[c]physical body through death, in order to present you before the Father holy and blameless and beyond reproach—