Colossians 1
1"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2to the holy ones in Colossae—those who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
3We always give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you, 4because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all the holy ones. 5This faith and love spring from the hope stored up for you in the heavens, which you first heard about in the word of truth—the Good News 6that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in all the world, it is doing the same among you from the day you heard it and truly came to know the grace of God in truth. 7You learned this from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-slave, who is a faithful servant of the Christ on our behalf, 8and who has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
9Because of this, from the day we heard about it, we have not stopped praying for you. We ask that you may be filled with the deep knowledge of his will, through all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10so that you may walk in a way worthy of the Lord, seeking to please him in everything. We pray that you will bear fruit in every good work and grow in the deep knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, resulting in absolute endurance and patience. With joy, 12give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share in the inheritance of the holy ones in the light. 13He rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, 14in whom we have release through ransom, the forgiveness of sins.
15He is the visible image of the invisible God, the firstborn heir over all creation. 16For in him all things were created—in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through him and for him. 17He exists before all things, and in him all things are held together. 18He is the head of the body, the ekklesia; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the Fullness was pleased to make its home, 20and through him to reconcile all things to himself—whether things on earth or things in the heavens—by making peace through the blood of his cross.
21And you, who were once alienated and hostile in your mind because of your wicked deeds, 22he has now reconciled in his body of flesh through death, to present you holy, blameless, and irreproachable before him. 23This holds true if you continue in the faith, established and firm, not shifting from the hope of the Good News that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a servant.
24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of the Christ for the sake of his body, which is the ekklesia. 25I became its servant according to the stewardship from God given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God— 26the sacred secret that was hidden for ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his holy ones. 27To them God chose to make known how great among the nations is the riches of the glory of this sacred secret, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28He is the one we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29For this I labor, struggling with all his energy that works so powerfully within me."