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

because of the [confident] hope [of experiencing that] which is reserved and waiting for you in heaven. You previously heard of this hope in the message of truth, the gospel [regarding salvation]

Because of this we also, from the day that we heard, cease not praying for you and making request that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

Because in him all things were created, things in the heavens and things upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or lordships or principal offices or positions of authority, all things have been created

Because in him it was considered good for all the fullness dwell,

Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions.

Now I have joy in my pain because of you, and in my flesh I undergo whatever is still needed to make the sorrows of Christ complete, for the salvation of his body, the church;

Because they are united in love, I pray that their hearts may be encouraged by all the riches that come from a complete understanding of the full knowledge of the Messiah, who is the mystery of God.

Because in him all the fullness of the divinity dwells bodily.

And when you were [spiritually] dead because of your sins and your lack of being physically circumcised [Note: This refers to their having been unconverted Gentiles and therefore outside of a relationship with God], God made you alive [again] together with Christ, having forgiven us for all of our sins.

Do not allow anyone, who delights in acting humble [i.e., living an ascetic life] and who worships angels, to rob you of your reward [in heaven]. [Note: This "angel worship" could mean holding angels in high regard because of their role as God's messengers, or the claim that God can be approached only through angelic intermediaries]. He places great importance on what he [claims to] see [i.e., visions], being inflated with pride by his fleshly mind for no [good] reason.

All of these things will be destroyed as they are used, because they are based on human commands and teachings.

Because of which the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience,

Do not make false statements to one another; because you have put away the old man with all his doings,

Servants, in everything obey those who are your masters on earth, not only with external service, as those who merely please people, but with sincerity of heart because of your fear of the Lord.

[because you] know that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. Serve the Lord Christ.

Masters, treat your slaves with justice and fairness, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

Praying simultaneously about us also, so that God may open to us a door of the word, to speak the mystery of the Christ, because of which I have also been bound,