1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and
Timothy [our] brother,
1:2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at
Colosse: Grace [be] to you, and peace, from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, praying always for you,
1:4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the
love [which ye have] to all the saints,
1:5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which ye
have heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
1:6 Which is come to you, as [it is] in all the world; and
bringeth forth fruit, as [it doth] also in you, since the day
ye heard [of it], and knew the grace of God in truth:
1:7 As ye also learned from Epaphras our dear fellow-servant,
who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;
1:8 Who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard [it], do not
cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye may be filled with
the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding;
1:10 That ye may walk worthy of the Lord to all pleasing, being
fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of
God;
1:11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious
power, to all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness;
1:12 Giving thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated [us] into the kingdom of his beloved Son:
1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, [even] the
forgiveness of sins:
1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of
every creature:
1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and
that are upon earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were
created by him, and for him:
1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the
beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all [things]
he may have the pre-eminence.
1:19 For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fullness
dwell;
1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by
him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, [I say],
whether [they are] things on earth, or things in heaven.
1:21 And you, that were formerly alienated and enemies in [your]
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled,
1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy
and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight:
1:23 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 hath been preached to every creature which
is under heaven; of which I Paul am made a minister;
1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that
which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for
his body's sake, which is the church:
1:25 Of which I am made a minister, according to the
dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill
the word of God;
1:26 [Even] the mystery which hath been hid from ages, and from
generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
1:27 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:
1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man
in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ
Jesus.
1:29 For which I also labor, striving according to his working,
which worketh in me mightily.
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