Colossians 1:9-23 - Prayer For Maturity Based On Christ's Preeminence

⁹ So, this is why, since the day we heard about these things, we do not stop praying for you and requesting that you people be filled [by God] with the knowledge of what He wants [for your lives], and with spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰ [We pray for you] to live a life deserving of the Lord, pleasing to Him in every way, producing fruit in every good deed and growing in the knowledge of God. ¹¹ [We also pray that you will be] strengthened with great power, according to God's glorious might, so that you will have great endurance and patience [coupled] with joy. ¹² [May you] give thanks to the Father who has enabled you to share [i.e., eventually] in the inheritance of the saints [i.e., God's holy people] in [the kingdom of] light. ¹³ He rescued us from the domain of [spiritual] darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son whom He loves, ¹⁴ through whom we receive redemption [i.e., are bought back from Satan], which is the forgiveness of [our] sins.

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn One [i.e., who takes preeminence] over all that is created. ¹⁶ For all things were created by Him; things in heaven and on earth; things visible and invisible, whether they are thrones [i.e., reigning beings], or lords, or rulers or authorities. [Note: "Authorities" here may refer to angelic beings]. All things were created by Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He existed before all things and all things are held together by Him. ¹⁸ And He is the head of the [spiritual] body, the church. He is [its] source, the firstborn One from the dead [i.e., the first one to return to life, never to die again], so that He could rank first [in importance] over all things. ¹⁹ For God was very pleased to have all of [His] fullness dwell in Christ [See 2:9], ²⁰ and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven. He made peace [with mankind] through the [sacrificial] blood of Christ's [death on the] cross.

²¹ And though you were once estranged [from God] and were enemies [of His] in your mind because of your evil deeds, ²² yet now God has reconciled [you] to Himself through the death of Christ's physical body in order to present you holy, without fault and free from just blame before Him [on judgment day]. ²³ [This will happen] if you continue in the faith [Note: This means either "continue to observe God's teaching" or, "continue to believe"], firmly grounded and established, and not moved away from the hope offered by the Gospel message, which you have heard and which was preached to people throughout the entire created world under heaven. I, Paul, was made a minister of this Gospel.