PAUL, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy a
brother, (2)to the saints at Colosse, and to the faithful brethren in
Christ: 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,
always praying for you, (4)having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus,
and the love ye show to all the saints; (5)because of the hope laid up
for you in the heavens, which ye have heard before in the word of
truth, the gospel, (6)which is come unto you, as it is also unto all
the world; and beareth fruit, as also among you, from the day that ye
heard and knew the grace of God in truth; (7)even as ye have learned
from Epaphras our beloved fellow-labourer, who is a faithful minister
of Christ for you; (8)who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
(9)For this cause we also from the day we heard it have not ceased
praying for you, and beseeching God that ye may be filled with the
knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
(10)that ye may walk worthy of the Lord, well pleasing him in all
things, in every good work fruitful, and increasing in the knowledge of
God; (11)strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power,
unto all patience and long-suffering with joy; (12)giving thanks to
God, even the Father, who hath made us meet for a portion in the
inheritance of the saints in light; (13)who hath plucked us out from
the dominion of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of the
Son of his love: (14)in whom we have redemption through his blood, and
forgiveness of sins. (15)Who is the image of the invisible God, the
prime author of all creation: (16)for by him were all things created,
celestial and terrestrial, visible or invisible, whether thrones, or
dominations, or principalities, or powers, all were created by him, and
for him: (17)and he is before all, and by him all things subsist.
(18)And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning,
the first begotten from the dead, that he might be in all things
pre-eminent. (19)For it hath pleased the Father that in him all fulness
should dwell; (20)and by him to reconcile all things to himself, making
peace by the blood of his cross: by him, I say, whether they be things
on earth, or things in the heavens. (21)And you who in time past were
all aliens, and enemies in mind by wicked works, hath he now
reconciled, (22)by the body of his flesh, through death, to present you
holy, and blameless, and irreprehensible in his presence: (23)if ye
abide in faith grounded and firm, and never moved aside from the hope
of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which hath been preached to the
whole creation which is under heaven, of which I Paul am a minister.
(24)Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh the
measure of afflictions for Christ which remains to be endured for his
body, which is the church, (25)of which I am a minister, according to
the dispensation of God, which was given me for you to fulfil the
ministry of the word of God--(26)the mystery which was hid from ages
and from generations, but is now unveiled to his saints; (27)to whom
God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (28)whom
we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom,
that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; (29)for which
also I am labouring, conflicting in the energy of his might, which
worketh in me powerfully.