1Paul , an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God , and Timothy our brother, 2to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ that are at Colossæ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father .
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ , praying always for you , 4having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus , and of the love which ye have toward all the saints, 5because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens , whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel , 6which is come unto you ; even as it is also in all the world bearing fruit and increasing, as it doth in you also , since the day ye heard and knew the grace of God in truth; 7even as ye learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf , 8who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit .
The Supremacy of Christ
9For this cause we also , since the day we heard it , do not cease to pray and make request for you , that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding , 10to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work , and increasing in the knowledge of God ; 11strengthened with all power , according to the might of his glory , unto all patience and longsuffering with joy ; 12giving thanks unto the Father , who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light ; 13who delivered us out of the power of darkness , and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; 14in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins: 15who is the image of the invisible God , the firstborn of all creation ; 16for in him were all things created , in the heavens and upon the earth , things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers ; all things have been created through him , and unto him ; 17and he is before all things , and in him all things consist . 18And he is the head of the body , the church : who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead ; that in all things he might have the preeminence . 19For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell ; 20and through him to reconcile all things unto himself , having made peace through the blood of his cross ; through him , I say , whether things upon the earth , or things in the heavens .
Reconciliation Through Christ
21And you , being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works , 22yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death , to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him : 23if so be that ye continue in the faith , grounded and stedfast , and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven ; whereof I Paul was made a minister .
Paul's Ministry and Suffering
24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake , and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body ’s sake , which is the church ; 25whereof I was made a minister , according to the dispensation of God which was given me to you-ward, to fulfil the word of God , 26even the mystery which hath been hid for ages and generations : but now hath it been manifested to his saints, 27to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles , which is Christ in you , the hope of glory : 28whom we proclaim , admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom , that we may present every man perfect in Christ ; 29whereunto I labor also , striving according to his working , which worketh in me mightily .