Colossians 1-2

Christian Standard Bible

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will,^(A) and Timothy^(B) our brother:

² To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.^[a]

Thanksgiving

³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints ⁵ because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the word of truth,^(C) the gospel ⁶ that has come to you. It is bearing fruit^(D) and growing all over the world,^(E) just as it has among you since the day you heard it and came to truly appreciate^(F) God’s grace.^{[b](G) 7} You learned this from Epaphras,^(H) our dearly loved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ^(I) on your^[c] behalf, ⁸ and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.^(J)

Prayer for Spiritual Growth

⁹ For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking^(K) that you may be filled with the knowledge^(L) of his will^(M) in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,^{[d] 10} so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work^(N) and growing in the knowledge of God,^{(O) 11} being strengthened^(P) with all power,^(Q) according to his glorious^(R) might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you^[e] to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.^{(S) 13} He has rescued^(T) us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom^(U) of the Son^(V) he loves.^{(W) 14} In him we have redemption,^[f] the forgiveness of sins.

The Centrality of Christ

²¹ Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. ²² But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death,^(AK) to present you holy, faultless,^(AL) and blameless before him^(AM)— ²³ if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith^(AN) and are not shifted away from the hope^(AO) of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation^(AP) under heaven,^(AQ) and I, Paul,^(AR) have become a servant of it.

Paul’s Ministry

²⁴ Now I rejoice in my sufferings^(AS) for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body,^(AT) that is, the church. ²⁵ I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, ²⁶ the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. ²⁷ God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ^(AU) in you, the hope^(AV) of glory. ²⁸ We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. ²⁹ I labor for this, striving^(AW) with his strength that works powerfully in me.^(AX)

2 For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling^(AY) for you, for those in Laodicea,^(AZ) and for all who have not seen me in person. ² I want their hearts to be encouraged^(BA) and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery^(BB)—Christ.^{[h](BC) 3} In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom^(BD) and knowledge.^(BE)

Christ versus the Colossian Heresy

⁴ I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable. ⁵ For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit,^(BF) rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

⁶ So then, just as you have received^(BG) Christ Jesus as Lord,^(BH) continue to walk in him, ⁷ being rooted and built up in him^(BI) and established in the faith, just as you were taught,^(BJ) and overflowing with gratitude.

⁸ Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition,^(BK) based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ.^{(BL) 9} For the entire fullness^(BM) of God’s nature dwells bodily^[i] in Christ, ¹⁰ and you have been filled by him, who is the head^(BN) over every ruler and authority. ¹¹ You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh,^(BO) in the circumcision of Christ,^{(BP) 12} when you were buried with him^(BQ) in baptism, in which you were also raised with him^(BR) through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.^{(BS) 13} And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. ¹⁴ He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.^{(BT) 15} He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.^[j](BU)

¹⁶ Therefore, don’t let anyone judge^(BV) you in regard to food and drink^(BW) or in the matter of a festival or a new moon^(BX) or a Sabbath day.^{[k] 17} These are a shadow^(BY) of what was to come;^(BZ) the substance is^[l] Christ.^{(CA) 18} Let no one condemn^[m] you^(CB) by delighting in ascetic practices^(CC) and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated^(CD) by empty notions of their unspiritual^[n] mind. ¹⁹ They don’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body,^(CE) nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God.

²⁰ If you died with Christ^(CF) to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: ²¹ “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? ²² All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. ²³ Although these have a reputation for wisdom^(CG) by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.^[o](CH)