¹⁵ [Now] He is the ^[a]exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation.

¹⁶ For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him.

¹⁷ And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).^(A)

¹⁸ He also is the Head of [His] body, the church; seeing He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the chief place [stand first and be preeminent].

¹⁹ For it has pleased [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should dwell in Him ^[b]permanently.

²⁰ And God purposed that through (^[c]by the service, the intervention of) Him [the Son] all things should be completely reconciled ^[d]back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, [the Father] made peace by means of the blood of His cross.

²¹ And although you at one time were estranged and alienated from Him and were of hostile attitude of mind in your wicked activities,

²² Yet now has [Christ, the Messiah] reconciled [you to God] in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His [the Father’s] presence.

²³ [And this He will do] provided that you continue to ^[e]stay with and in the faith [in Christ], well-grounded and settled and steadfast, not shifting or moving away from the hope [which rests on and is inspired by] the glad tidings (the Gospel), which you heard and which has been preached ^[f][as being designed for and offered without restrictions] to every person under heaven, and of which [Gospel] I, Paul, became a minister.