Colossians 1
King James Version
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,
5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:
7 As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;
8 Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:
25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
Colossians 1
New King James Version
Greeting
1 Paul, (A)an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints (B)and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:
(C)Grace to you and peace from God our Father [a]and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Their Faith in Christ
3 (D)We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 (E)since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of (F)your love for all the saints; 5 because of the hope (G)which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6 which has come to you, (H)as it has also in all the world, and (I)is bringing forth [b]fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew (J)the grace of God in truth; 7 as you also learned from (K)Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is (L)a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 who also declared to us your (M)love in the Spirit.
Preeminence of Christ
9 (N)For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask (O)that you may be filled with (P)the knowledge of His will (Q)in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 (R)that you may walk worthy of the Lord, (S)fully pleasing Him, (T)being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the (U)knowledge of God; 11 (V)strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, (W)for all patience and longsuffering (X)with joy; 12 (Y)giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of (Z)the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from (AA)the power of darkness (AB)and [c]conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 (AC)in whom we have redemption [d]through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is (AD)the image of the invisible God, (AE)the firstborn over all creation. 16 For (AF)by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or (AG)dominions or [e]principalities or [f]powers. All things were created (AH)through Him and for Him. 17 (AI)And He is before all things, and in Him (AJ)all things consist. 18 And (AK)He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, (AL)the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Reconciled in Christ
19 For it pleased the Father that (AM)in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and (AN)by Him to reconcile (AO)all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, (AP)having made peace through the blood of His cross.
21 And you, (AQ)who once were alienated and enemies in your mind (AR)by wicked works, yet now He has (AS)reconciled 22 (AT)in the body of His flesh through death, (AU)to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue (AV)in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are (AW)not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, (AX)which was preached to every creature under heaven, (AY)of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Sacrificial Service for Christ
24 (AZ)I now rejoice in my sufferings (BA)for you, and fill up in my flesh (BB)what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for (BC)the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to (BD)the [g]stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 (BE)the [h]mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, (BF)but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 (BG)To them God willed to make known what are (BH)the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: [i]which is (BI)Christ in you, (BJ)the hope of glory. 28 Him we preach, (BK)warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, (BL)that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me (BM)mightily.
Footnotes
- Colossians 1:2 NU omits and the Lord Jesus Christ
- Colossians 1:6 NU, M add and growing
- Colossians 1:13 transferred
- Colossians 1:14 NU, M omit through His blood
- Colossians 1:16 rulers
- Colossians 1:16 authorities
- Colossians 1:25 dispensation or administration
- Colossians 1:26 secret or hidden truth
- Colossians 1:27 M who
Colossians 1
EasyEnglish Bible
Paul and Timothy say ‘Hello’
1 This letter is from me, Paul. God chose me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. Our friend Timothy is here with me while I write.
2 We are writing to you, God's own people who live in Colossae. You are like brothers and sisters to us because you continue to believe in Christ.
I pray that God, our Father, will continue to help you. I pray that he will give you peace in your minds.
Paul thanks God for the believers
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. 4 We thank God because people have told us good things about you. You continue to trust Christ Jesus. You also love all God's people. 5 You live like that because you hope to receive good things from God.[a] You know that God has prepared those good things for you. He is keeping them safe in heaven. You learned that when people first told you God's true message, his good news.
6 You have heard this good news, like people all over the world have heard it. It has caused good results among you since the time when you heard it first. At that time, you understood the true message about how kind God really is. As a result, God is blessing you more and more, like he blesses his people everywhere. 7 It was our good friend Epaphras who first told you this good news. Like us, he is Christ's servant. He serves Christ on our behalf. 8 He has told us about the love that God's Spirit has given to you.
Paul prays that they will know God more and more
9 Because of all that, we have not stopped praying for you, ever since the day that we heard about you. We ask God that his Spirit will make you truly wise. He will help you to know clearly what he wants you to do. You will understand his true message. 10 Then you will be able to live in a way that the Lord wants you to live. Everything that you do will please him. We pray that all these good things will have good results. We pray that you will know God better and better. 11 God rules from heaven with great power. We pray that he will make you strong with every kind of strength. Then, when troubles come, you can still be patient and strong. 12 You will be able to thank God, our Father, and be happy. God has prepared good things for his people to receive in heaven. Because God has included you among his people, you will also share those good things in the kingdom of light. 13 God has saved us from the dark kingdom where Satan rules.[b] He has brought us into the kingdom of his Son, whom he loves. 14 God's Son, Jesus, paid the price for our sins and made us free. Yes, God has forgiven us.[c]
Who God's Son, Jesus Christ, is
15 We cannot see God. But Jesus Christ shows us completely who God is. Even before God made anything, Jesus was already there as God's Son who rules everything. 16 When God created everything, it was his Son who did it. His Son made everything that is on earth and in heaven. He created everything that we can see, as well as the things that we cannot see. He made rulers and leaders. He made everything that has power and authority. God gave his Son the authority to create everything, so that his Son would receive praise. 17 God's Son was there before anything else was there. And now he causes everything to continue in its proper place. 18 The church is like Christ's body and he is its head.[d] He is where it all begins. As God's special Son, he was the first person who became alive again after death.[e] As a result, Christ is first and most important in all things.
19 God chose to put his nature in Christ completely. 20 He decided that Christ would die on the cross as a sacrifice. In that way, God would bring all things back to himself. Then everything could live in peace with God. That includes everything on the earth and everything in heaven.
21 As for you, you were far away from God at one time. You thought bad things and you did bad things. As a result, you were God's enemies. 22 But now you have become God's friends. This happened because Christ's human body died on the cross. As a result, God has brought you to himself. As you stand in front of him, you are completely good and clean inside. He sees nothing in you that is bad.
23 But you must continue to believe God's true message. Do not turn away from it. Continue to trust God, as you did when you first heard the good news. People have told this good news to everyone all over the world. And God has chosen me, Paul, as his servant to tell this good news.
Paul's work for Christ's people
24 At this time, I am suffering on your behalf, but I am still happy. Christ himself suffered on behalf of his people, the church. Now, while I live in my human body, I also suffer. I continue to receive the pain that Christ received, so that it may be complete.[f] In that way, I help the church, which is like Christ's own body.
25 I have become God's servant, so that I can help the church. God chose me to do that. He chose me to explain his message to you completely. 26 That message is a secret that God hid from everyone before now. He hid it from all the people who lived in past times. But now he has shown this secret to his people. 27 God wanted them to understand how great this secret is. It shows that God will bless people who live in all countries of the world. This secret message is that Christ lives in you. And because of that, you know that you will live with God in heaven one day.
28 That is why we tell everyone the message about Christ. God helps us to be very wise as we warn people and we teach them. We want every person who belongs to Christ to become complete, as God sees them. 29 That is why I work very hard. Christ works powerfully in me to make me strong for this difficult work.
Footnotes
- 1:5 In the Bible, to ‘hope’ means to trust God for what will happen. We wait to receive the good things that he has promised to give us. We know that we will live with Christ for ever. As believers we can be completely sure that these things will happen to us.
- 1:13 A place of light is a place where God rules. If we belong to God's kingdom, we live ‘in the light’. Any place where Satan rules is a dark place. Bad things happen in places like that.
- 1:14 Jesus made believers free from their sins when he died on the cross. God has forgiven us because Jesus died as a sacrifice on our behalf.
- 1:18 Christ gives his Spirit to those people who belong to him. He lives in his people because his Spirit is in them. They are united to him. They are like his body on earth.
- 1:18 Other people had become alive again after they died, but Jesus never died again. He became alive again to show us that we also will become alive again after death, if we believe in him. So he was the first and believers will follow him.
- 1:24 The Bible says that Christians will have troubles and pain. See Acts 14:22 and 1 Thessalonians 3:3-4. Christians, like Paul, sometimes suffer because they are helping other Christians. Paul does not mean that we have to do anything else to save ourselves. Christ suffered on our behalf. His death saves us completely, if we believe in him. We also suffer because we are his people.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.