He is a likeness of the unseen God, born before any creature,

for it was through him that everything was created in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen, angelic thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities??ll things were created through him and for him.

If, then, you have been raised to life with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are where Christ is, above, seated at God's right hand.

As persons chosen by God, then, consecrated and dearly loved, you must clothe yourselves with tenderness of heart, kindness, humility, gentleness, forbearance.

Let the message of Christ live in your hearts in all its wealth of wisdom. Teach it to one another and train one another in it with thankfulness, with psalms, hymns, and sacred songs, and sing to God with all your hearts.

He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us into the realm of his dear Son,

Take care that nobody exploits you through the pretensions of philosophy, guided by human tradition, following material ways of looking at things, instead of following Christ.

For it is in him that all the fulness of God's nature lives embodied,

He is the head of the church, it is his body; for he is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead??hat he might come to stand first in everything.

came among you, to thrive and bear its fruit among you, as it does all over the world, from the time when you first heard about the mercy of God,

Work at everything you do with all your hearts, as work done not for men only but for the Lord,

when in your baptism you were buried with him, and raised to life with him through your faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead.

And in spreading the news of him, we warn everyone and teach everyone all our wisdom, in order to bring everyone to Christian perfection.

So treat as dead your physical nature, as far as immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed are concerned; for it is really idolatry.

That is why, from the day I first heard of it, I have never given up praying for you and asking God to fill you, through full spiritual wisdom and insight, with a clear knowledge of what his will is,

So no one can call you to account for what you eat or drink, or do about annual or monthly feasts or Sabbaths.

and it is he who has told me of the love the Spirit has awakened in you.

And whatever you have to say or do, do it all as followers of the Lord Jesus, and offer your thanksgiving to God the Father through him.

and really came to know it, in the form in which Epaphras, my dear fellow-slave, taught it to you. He is my faithful representative as a servant of Christ,

So just as you once accepted the Christ, Jesus, as your Lord, you must live in vital union with him.

Yes, you who were dead through your misdeeds and physically uncircumcised, God raised to life with Christ. He forgave us all our misdeeds,

At present I am glad to be suffering in your interest, and I am making up in my own person what is lacking in Christ's sufferings for the church, which is his body.

Be persistent in prayer and wide awake about it when you give thanks.

You married women must subordinate yourselves to your husbands, for that is your duty as Christians.

to whom God has chosen to make known among the heathen how glorious this mystery of Christ in you, the promise of glorification, really is.

and you will thank the Father who has entitled you to share the lot of God's people in the realm of light.

And it has brought you, who were once estranged from him, hostile in attitude and engaged in doing wrong (though now he has reconciled you

Let the ruling principle in your hearts be Christ's peace, for in becoming members of one body you have been called under its sway. And you must be thankful.

Paul, by God's will an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Timothy,

canceled the bond which stood against us, with its requirements, and put it out of our way when he nailed it to the cross.

You must bear with one another and forgive one another, if anyone has reason to be offended with anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive.

by whom we have been ransomed from captivity through having our sins forgiven.

You must not lie to one another. For you have stripped off your old self with its ways

Through your relation to him you have received not a physical circumcision, but a circumcision effected by Christ, in stripping you of your material nature,

and through him to reconcile to God all things on earth or in heaven, making this peace through his blood shed on the cross.

For all the divine fulness chose to dwell in him,

It is on account of these things that God's anger is coming.

What I mean is, let nobody mislead you by specious arguments.

He disarmed the principalities and dominions and displayed them openly, triumphing over them through him.

Fix your thoughts on the things that are above, not on those that are on earth.

He existed before all things and he sustains and embraces them all.

But now you too must put them all aside??nger, rage, spite, rough, abusive talk??hese must be banished from your lips.

Use wisdom in dealing with outsiders, making the most of your opportunities.

and have put on that new self newly made in the likeness of its Creator, to know him fully.

so that the lives you live may be worthy of your Master and wholly pleasing to him, and you may be fruitful in all kinds of good deeds, and may grow into fuller knowledge of God.

You who are slaves must always obey your earthly masters, not with mere external service, as though you had only men to please, but with sincerity of heart, because you fear the Lord.

Always put your message attractively, and yet pointedly, and be prepared to give every inquirer a fitting answer.

And you once practiced them as others do, when you lived that old earthly life.

that your hearts may be cheered. I want you to be united by love, and to have all the benefit of assured knowledge in coming to know Christ??3 that divine mystery in which all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are to be found.

When Christ, who is our true life, shall make his appearance, then you also will appear glorified with him.

Here, what matters is not "Greek" and "Jew," the circumcised and the uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeborn, but Christ is everything and in us all.

For you have died, and your life now lies hidden with Christ in God.

to the devoted and steadfast Christian brothers in Colossae; God our Father bless you and give you peace.

and in union with him you too are filled with it. He is the head of all your principalities and dominions.

For though I am absent from you in person I am with you in spirit, and I am glad to observe your harmony and the solidity of your faith in Christ.

That is what I am working for, fighting with all the energy with which he so mightily endows me.

Our dear brother Tychicus, my faithful helper and fellow-servant in the Lord's work, will tell you all about me.

I am sending him to you for the express purpose of letting you know my circumstances, and of cheering your hearts.

I can testify how anxious he is about you and the brothers in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

And with him I send my dear, faithful brother Onesimus, who is one of your own number. They will tell you all about matters here.

So also does Jesus who is called Justus. They are the only ones among the converts from Judaism who have worked with me for the reign of God who have proved a comfort to me.

For the man who wrongs anyone will be paid back for the wrong he has done; there will be no exceptions.

You who are masters must treat your slaves justly and fairly, and remember that you have a Master too, in heaven.

Such practices pass for wisdom, with their self-imposed devotions, their self-humiliation, and their ascetic discipline, but they carry with them no real distinction, they are really only a catering to the flesh.

When this letter has been read to you, have it read to the church at Laodicea also, and see that you read the letter that is coming from there.

for you know that it is from him that you are to receive that inheritance which is to be your reward. Think of Christ as the master you are working for.

That was all only the shadow of something that was to follow; the reality is found in Christ.

Remember me to the brothers in Laodicea and to Nympha and the church that meets at her house.

And tell Archippus, "See that you perform the Christian service you have been assigned."

Such people lose their connection with the head, from which the whole body through its ligaments and sinews must be governed and united if it is to grow in the divine way.

This farewell is in my own hand, from Paul. Remember that I am in prison. God bless you.

until I can make clear to the authorities why I cannot help telling it.

"You must not handle," "You must not taste," "You must not touch"??22 referring to things that are all meant to be used up and destroyed? This is to follow mere human rules and regulations.

Children, always obey your parents, for that is commendable in Christians.

We never pray for you without thanking God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

No one can put you in the wrong by persisting in studied humility and the worship of angels, being absorbed in the visions he has seen, and groundlessly conceited over his mere human mind.

If you have died with Christ to material ways of looking at things, why do you act as though you still belonged to the world, and submit to rules like

and for the hope of what is stored up for you in heaven. You first heard of it long ago when the true message of the gospel

And over all these put on love, which completes them and fastens them all together.

You who are husbands must love your wives and not be harsh to them.

For I want you to know what a fight I am putting up for you and for our brothers in Laodicea, and for all who do not know me personally,

Fathers, do not irritate your children, or they may lose heart.

Then, so mighty is his majesty, he will nerve you perfectly with strength for the cheerful exercise of endurance and forbearance in every situation,

Aristarchus, my fellow-prisoner, wishes to be remembered to you, and so does Barnabas' cousin Mark. (About him you have had instructions; if he comes to see you, make him welcome.)

Our dear Luke, the doctor, and Demas wish to be remembered to you.

through dying in his human body) in holiness, and free from reproach or blame, into God's presence??23 if at least you continue firm and steadfast in the exercise of faith, and never shift from the hope held out in the good news to which you listened, which has been preached all over the world, and for which I, Paul, became a worker.

Epaphras, one of your own number, a slave of Christ Jesus, wishes to be remembered to you. He is always standing up for you in his prayers that you may stand fast, like men of mature convictions, whatever God's will for you may be.

In it, by divine appointment, I became a worker, that I might preach among you the message of God in its fulness??26 that secret, hidden from the ages and generations, but now disclosed to those who are consecrated to him,

Pray for me too, that God may give me an opening for the message, and let me tell the secret of Christ on account of which I am kept in prison

for what we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love you have for all God's people,

You must be rooted and built up in him and made strong in faith, just as you were taught to be, overflowing with it in your gratitude.