Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

1 ¶ Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

² to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ ¶ We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you

⁴ since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the charity which ye have toward all the saints,

⁵ for the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which ye have already heard by the word of the truth of the gospel,

⁶ which is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and brings forth fruit, as it does also in you, since the day ye heard it and knew the grace of God in truth,

⁷ as ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ,

⁸ who also declared unto us your charity in the Spirit.

⁹ ¶ For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, asking that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

¹⁰ that ye might walk worthy of the Lord, pleasing him in everything, being fruitful in every good work, and growing in the knowledge of God,

¹¹ strengthened with all might, according to the power of his glory unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness,

¹² ¶ giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us worthy to participate in the inheritance of the saints in light,

¹³ who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,

¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the remission of sins,

¹⁵ who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature;

¹⁶ for by him were all things created, that are in the heavens and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they are thrones or dominions or principalities or powers: all things were created by him and in him;

¹⁷ And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the congregation, {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

¹⁹ For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell

²⁰ and by him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, {Gr. stauro – stake} whether they are the things in the earth or the things in the heavens.

²¹ And you, that were in another time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled you

²² in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight

²³ if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard and which is preached to every creature which is under heaven, of which I Paul am made a minister,

²⁴ who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fulfill in my flesh that which is lacking of the tribulations of the Christ for his body’s sake, which is the congregation, {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}

²⁵ of which I am made a minister by the dispensation of God which is given to me in you, to fulfil the word of God,

²⁶ even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints,

²⁷ to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery in the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,

²⁸ whom we preach, warning every man and teaching in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,

²⁹ in which I continue to labour, contending according to his operation, which he works in me mightily.

2 ¶ For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,

² that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in charity and in all the riches of the fulfilled understanding to know the mystery of the God and Father and of the Christ;

³ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

⁴ ¶ And this I say lest anyone should beguile you with enticing words.

⁵ For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

⁶ Therefore in the manner in which ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him,

⁷ rooted and built up in him and confirmed in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

⁸ Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, according to the elements of the world, and not after Christ.

⁹ For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,

¹⁰ and ye are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power.

¹¹ In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of the Christ;

¹² buried together with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead.

¹³ ¶ And you, being dead in sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses,

¹⁴ blotting out the bill of the decrees that was against us, which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, {Gr. stauro – stake}

¹⁵ and having spoiled the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

¹⁶ ¶ Let no one therefore judge you in food or in drink or in respect of a feast day or of the new moon or of the sabbath days,

¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of the Christ.

¹⁸ Let no one govern you according to their own will under pretext of humility and religion of angels, intruding into those things which they have not seen, vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind,

¹⁹ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, fed and united by its joints and bonds, grows in the increase of God.

²⁰ For if ye are dead with the Christ to the elements of the world, why, as though living unto the world, do ye decree rites,

²¹ touch not; taste not; handle not?

²² Which all perish with the using, because they are the commandments and doctrines of men,

²³ which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship and humility and neglecting of the body, but they have absolutely no value against the appetites of the flesh.