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because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—
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For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,
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being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,
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The Supremacy of the Son of God
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
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For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
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He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
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For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
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and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
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He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.
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To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
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I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.
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in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
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For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
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When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
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These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.
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But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
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Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
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And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
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Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
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And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
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Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
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Final Greetings
Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.
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Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.
