To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

You learned this from Epaphras, our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah on your behalf,

He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.

He is also the head of the body, the church;
He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that He might come to have
first place in everything.

if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.

Having been buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

He doesn’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God.

But now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.

knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ.

When this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.