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

to the holy and believing brothers in Christ who are in Colosse. Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father.

Whenever I pray for you I am continually thanking God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

(since I heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love to all the saints)

as you learned it from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful minister of Jesus Christ in your behalf,

And you will give thanks to the Father who made you fit to share the lot which awaits Christ's People in the realms of Light.

For Christ is the very incarnation of the invisible God-- First-born and Head of all creation;

for it seemed good to the father to inhabit the whole body of the church by Christ:

And through him to reconcile all things to himself (making peace by the shedding of Christ's blood offered upon the cross)-- whether on earth or in Heaven.

You then that formerly were alienated from God, and were enemies by your imaginations and wicked practices, even you has Jesus Christ now reconciled to the body of his church,

But now he has reconciled you to himself by the sacrifice of Christ's earthly body in death--it has pleased God that you should stand in his presence holy, pure, and blameless,

[and He will do this] if you continue in the faith, well-grounded and steadfast, and not shifting away from the [confident] hope [that is a result] of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which [gospel] I, Paul, was made a minister.

I am now rejoicing in my sufferings on your behalf; and I am filling up in my own body what is yet lacking of the sufferings of Christ in behalf of the church, his Body.

To them God willed to make known among the Gentiles how glorious are the riches of that secret truth, which is "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Him I am ever proclaiming, warning every one and teaching every one, in all wisdom; that I may bring every man into his presence, full grown in Christ.

I want you to know in how great a struggle I am engaged for you and for Christ's People at Laodicea, and for all who have not yet seen me;

May their hearts be comforted! May they be knit together in love! May they gain in all its riches the full assurance of their understanding! May they come to a perfect knowledge of the secret truth of God, which is Christ himself.

Even Christ himself, in whom all treasures of wisdom and knowledge lie hidden.

For though I am absent from you in body, I am with you in spirit, happy to note your discipline and the solid front of your faith in Christ.

As then you have received Jesus Christ, your Lord, in him live your lives;

Be careful that you do not let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ.

For it is in Christ that all the fullness of deity dwells bodily,

And in Him you have been made complete [achieving spiritual stature through Christ], and He is the head over all rule and authority [of every angelic and earthly power].

in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;

which were buried (as Christ was) in your baptism, by virtue of which you rise (as he did) to a new life, through a belief of that divine power, which raised him from the dead.

Yes, although you were dead through your shortcomings and were physically uncircumcised, God made you live again through fellowship with Christ. He graciously forgave us all our shortcomings,

and having divested principalitys and powers, he made them an example of obedience, and caus'd them to triumph in Christ.

which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ's.

Such a one does not keep his hold upon Christ, the Head, from whom the Body, in all its parts nourished and strengthened by its points of contact and its connections, grows with a divine growth.

If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,

If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, your life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.

where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.

As God's own chosen, then, as consecrated and beloved, be clothed with compassion, kindliness, humility, gentleness, and good temper ??13 forbear and forgive each other in any case of complaint; as Christ forgave you, so must you forgive.

bearing with one another and forgiving each other, if any one has a grievance against another. Just as Christ the Lord forgave you, so must you forgive.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to God.

And whatever you do, whether in [your] words or actions, do everything in the name [i.e., by the authority] of Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds;

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.