³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory^(A) and the exact representation of his being,^(B) sustaining all things^(C) by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins,^(D) he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.^(E)

The Supremacy of the Son of God

¹⁵ The Son is the image^(A) of the invisible God,^(B) the firstborn^(C) over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created:^(D) things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;^(E) all things have been created through him and for him.^{(F) 17} He is before all things,^(G) and in him all things hold together.

⁴ The god^(A) of this age^(B) has blinded^(C) the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ,^(D) who is the image of God.^(E)

⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.^(A) How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?^(B) The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority.^(C) Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

²⁶ Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world.^(A) But he has appeared^(B) once for all^(C) at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.^(D)

¹⁴ The Word became flesh^(A) and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,^(B) the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace^(C) and truth.^(D)

⁴ In him was life,^(A) and that life was the light^(B) of all mankind.

⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”^[a](A) made his light shine in our hearts^(B) to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.^(C)

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay^(D) to show that this all-surpassing power is from God^(E) and not from us.