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问安

奉 神旨意作基督耶稣使徒的保罗,和提摩太弟兄, 写信给在歌罗西的圣徒,和在基督里忠心的弟兄。愿恩惠平安从我们的父 神临到你们。

为歌罗西信徒感谢 神

我们为你们祈祷的时候,常常感谢 神我们主耶稣基督的父, 因为听见你们在基督耶稣里的信心,和对众圣徒的爱心。 这都是由于那给你们存在天上的盼望,这盼望是你们从前在福音真理的道上听过的。 这福音传到你们那里,也传到全世界;你们听了福音,因着真理确实认识了 神的恩典之后,这福音就在你们中间不断地结果和增长,在全世界也是一样。 这福音也就是你们从我们亲爱的、一同作仆人(“仆人”或译:“执事”)的以巴弗那里学到的。他为你们作了基督忠心的仆役, 也把你们在圣灵里的爱心告诉了我们。

保罗的祈祷

因此,我们从听见的那天起,就不停地为你们祷告祈求,愿你们借着一切属灵的智慧和悟性,可以充分明白 神的旨意, 10 使你们行事为人对得起主,凡事蒙他喜悦;在一切善事上多结果子,更加认识 神; 11 依照他荣耀的大能得着一切能力,带着喜乐的心,凡事忍耐宽容; 12 并且感谢父,他使你们有资格分享圣徒在光明中的基业。 13 他救我们脱离了黑暗的权势,把我们迁入他爱子的国里。 14 我们在爱子里蒙了救赎,罪得赦免。

基督在万有之上

15 这爱子是那看不见的 神的形象,是首先的,在一切被造的之上。 16 因为天上地上的万有:看得见的和看不见的,无论是坐王位的,或是作主的,或是执政的,或是掌权的,都是本着他造的;万有都是借着他,又是为着他而造的。 17 他在万有之先;万有也一同靠着他而存在。 18 他是身体的头,这身体就是教会。他是元始,是死人中首先复生的,好让他在凡事上居首位; 19 因为 神乐意使所有的丰盛都住在爱子里面, 20 并且借着他在十字架上所流的血成就了和平,使万有,无论是地上天上的,都借着他与 神和好了。

21 虽然你们从前也是和 神隔绝,心思上与他为敌,行为邪恶, 22 但现今 神在爱子的肉身上,借着他的死,使你们与 神和好了,为了要把你们这些圣洁、无瑕疵、无可指摘的人,呈献在他面前。 23 只是你们要常存信心,根基稳固,不受动摇偏离福音的盼望。这福音你们听过了,也传给了天下万民;我保罗也作了这福音的仆役。

竭力传扬 神的奥秘

24 现在我为你们受苦,我觉得喜乐;为了基督的身体,就是为了教会,我要在自己的肉身上,补满基督苦难的不足。 25-26 我照着 神为你们而赐给我的管家职分,作了教会的仆役,要把 神的道,就是历世历代隐藏的奥秘,传得完备。现在这奥秘已经向他的众圣徒显明了。 27  神愿意使他们知道这奥秘在外族人中有多么荣耀的丰盛,这奥秘就是基督在你们里面成了荣耀的盼望。 28 我们传扬他,是用各样的智慧,劝戒各人,教导各人,为了要使各人在基督里得到完全。 29 我也为了这事劳苦,按着他用大能在我心中运行的动力,竭力奋斗。

Paul, an emissary[a] of Jesus the Anointed serving at God’s pleasure, along with our brother Timothy to you, dear holy and faithful brothers and sisters in the family of the Anointed who live in Colossae. May grace and peace from God our Father [and the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One][b] envelop you.

As always, we’ve been praying for you, thanking God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed, ever since we heard of your faith in Jesus the Anointed and your love for His holy ones— a faith and love that emerge from the hope you have heard about in the word of truth—the gospel—the very hope that awaits you in heaven. 6-7 The same gospel that was brought to you is growing and bearing fruit all over the world, just as it has been growing among you since the day you heard and took in the truth of God’s grace from our beloved fellow servant Epaphras. (He is a faithful minister of the Anointed on our[c] behalf.) He was the one who told us how you demonstrate your love in the power of the Spirit. Since the day we got this good news about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We ask:

This is a prayer for knowledge and insight that only can come from God.

Father, may they clearly know Your will and achieve the height and depth of spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 May their lives be a credit to You, Lord; and what’s more, may they continue to delight You by doing every good work and growing in the true knowledge that comes from being close to You. 11 Strengthen them with Your infinite power, according to Your glorious might, so that they will have everything they need to hold on and endure hardship patiently and joyfully. 12 Thank You, Father, as You have made us[d] eligible to receive our portion of the inheritance given to all those set apart by the light. 13 You have rescued us from dark powers and brought us safely into the kingdom of Your Son, whom You love 14 and in whom we are redeemed and forgiven of our sins [through His blood].[e]

15 He is the exact image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation, the eternal. 16 It was by Him that everything was created: the heavens, the earth, all things within and upon them, all things seen and unseen, thrones and dominions, spiritual powers and authorities. Every detail was crafted through His design, by His own hands, and for His purposes. 17 He has always been! It is His hand that holds everything together. 18 He is the head of this body, the church. He is the beginning, the first of those to be reborn from the dead, so that in every aspect, at every view, in everything—He is first. 19 God was pleased that all His fullness should forever dwell in the Son 20 who, as predetermined by God, bled peace into the world by His death on the cross as God’s means of reconciling to Himself the whole creation—all things in heaven and all things on earth.

As Paul gives thanks to God—a normal thing to do in a letter—he remembers a hymn he heard in the churches. The Colossian hymn (verses 15–20), as we call it, is all about Jesus. It celebrates His reign, first as the Creator and Sustainer of the cosmos and second as the head of the church and the One who reconciles every broken thing to God by what He accomplished on the cross. In this hymn, the story of redemption is a witness to God’s love. Paul wants the Colossians to understand who they are; but to do that, they must first know to whom they belong.

21 You were once at odds with God, wicked in your ways and evil in your minds; 22 but now He has reconciled you in His body—in His flesh through His death—so that He can present you to God holy, blameless, and totally free of imperfection 23 as long as you stay planted in the faith. So don’t venture away from what you have heard and taken to heart: the living hope of the good news that has been announced to all creation under heaven and has captured me, Paul, as its servant.

24 Now I rejoice in what I’ve suffered on your behalf, but even more suffering is ahead for me as I take on and complete what remains of the Anointed’s suffering for the sake of His body, the church. 25 I am a servant appointed by God to preach the Word of God until it is known to you and all over—what I am talking about is nothing less than 26 the mystery of the ages! What was hidden for ages, generations and generations, is now being revealed to His holy ones. 27 He decided to make known to them His blessing to the nations; the glorious riches of this mystery is the indwelling of the Anointed in you! The very hope of glory.

28 We are preaching Him—spreading the Word to all with equal amounts of wise warning and instruction—so that, at the final judgment, we will be able to present everyone to the Creator fully mature because of what Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King, has done. 29 This is why I continue to toil and struggle—because His amazing power and energy surge within me.

Footnotes

  1. 1:1 Literally, apostle
  2. 1:2 Some manuscripts omit this portion.
  3. 1:6-7 Some manuscripts read “your.”
  4. 1:12 Other manuscripts read “you.”
  5. 1:14 Early manuscripts omit this portion.