Colossians 1
The Voice
1 Paul, an emissary[a] of Jesus the Anointed serving at God’s pleasure, along with our brother Timothy 2 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.
3 As always, we’ve been praying for you, thanking God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed, 4 ever since we heard of your faith in Jesus the Anointed and your love for His holy ones— 5 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.) 8 He was the one who told us how you demonstrate your love in the power of the Spirit. 9 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.
Colossians 1
Worldwide English (New Testament)
1 I am Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. God wanted me to be an apostle.
2 Timothy our brother, and I are writing this letter to God's people, the Christian brothers in the city of Colossae. May the kindness of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.
3 We give thanks to God. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we ask God to bless you, we always thank him for you.
4 We have heard that you believe in Christ Jesus and love all of God's people.
5 And also, you are looking ahead to what you will have in heaven. You have heard about it already when the good news was told to you.
6 That message has reached you. It is doing good and it is spreading everywhere in the world. It is doing the same among you. It began the day you heard and understood God's blessing, which came to you in a clear way.
7 Epaphras taught you the truth. He is Christ's servant, as we are also, and we love him. He is a good worker to help you.
8 Also, it is he who told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 That is why we keep on talking to God about you since the day we heard about you. We ask him that you may know everything he wants you to do. We ask him that you may be very wise and that the Spirit will help you to understand.
10 We ask him that you will live the way the Lord wants you to live, so that you will please him in everything you do. We ask that you will do everything that is good. We ask that you will see the fruit from what you do. We ask that you will know more and more about God.
11 God has wonderful power. And we ask him to give you all the strength you need to go through all your troubles, to be very patient in them, and to be happy.
12 Thank the Father who has made us ready to be with the people of God who live in his light.
13 He has set us free from the kingdom where it is dark. And he has put us into the kingdom where his dear Son rules.
14 Because of his Son, we are set free and the wrong things we have done are forgiven.
15 The Son is like God who cannot be seen. He was his Son before anything was made.
16 He made everything in the sky and on the earth. He made the things which can be seen and the things which cannot be seen. That means angels, kings, great powers, and rulers. They were all made by him and for him.
17 He himself was before all things. And he holds all things together.
18 He is also the head of the body which is the church [the people who believe in Jesus Christ]. He is the beginning, the first one to rise from death, so that he would be the first one in everything.
19 God wanted Christ to have everything in himself.
20 And God chose him to be the one who would bring all things back to himself. God made peace by the blood which Christ gave on his cross. He would bring back all things on earth and in heaven.
21 At one time you were far away from God. You hated him in your hearts and you did wrong things.
22 But now Christ himself has died on a cross, and he has brought you back to God. Christ will bring you before God holy, clean, and good.
23 But you must keep on believing and stand strong and true. Let nothing shake the hope which the good news brought you. You heard the same good news as is told to everyone in the whole world. I, Paul, was given the work of telling that same good news.
24 And now, even though I suffer for you, I am happy. There are still some things for Christ to suffer in his body, which is the church. So I am glad to take my share of his suffering in my body.
25 God gave me work to do for the church people so that you might know all of God's message.
26 This message is about the secret plan of God. People who lived in all the past times of the world did not know about this plan. But now it has been told to God's people.
27 He wanted them to know that his plan is very great and wonderful for those who are not Jews. And this plan is that Christ is in you! He is your hope for all the wonderful things that are to come.
28 We tell about him. We tell everyone to be careful to live in the right way. We teach everyone all he needs to know. We do this so that we can bring everyone before God and he will be grown up in the things of Christ.
29 And I am working for this with all the strength that God gives me.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
© 1969, 1971, 1996, 1998 by SOON Educational Publications