Colossians 1:13-23 - What God Has Done Through Christ

¹³ God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of the Son whom he loves, ¹⁴ through whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For by him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether they are kings, lords, rulers, or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He himself existed before anything else did, and he holds all things together. ¹⁸ He is also the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself might have first place in everything. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all of his divine essence inhabit him. ²⁰ Through the Son, God also reconciled all things to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, thereby making peace through the blood of his cross.

²¹ You who were once alienated with a hostile attitude, doing evil, ²² he has now reconciled by the death of his physical body, so that he may present you holy, blameless, and without fault before him. ²³ However, you must remain firmly established and steadfast in the faith, without being moved from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.