to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father.

even as ye learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant, who is for us a faithful minister of Christ,

And He is the Head of the body, the assembly; Who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead, that in all things He may be preeminent;

if, at least, ye continue in the faith, founded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel, which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under the heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations, but was now made manifest to His saints;

having been buried with Him in your immersion, in which ye were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, Who raised Him from the dead;

and not holding fast the Head from Whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God.

If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as if living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to decrees,

knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the inheritance: ye are doing service to the Lord, Christ.

together with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is from among you; they will make known to you all things here.

Epaphras, who is from among you, salutes you, a servant of Christ Jesus, always striving in your behalf in his prayers, that ye may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

And, when the letter may be read among you, cause that it be read also in the assembly of the Laodiceans, and that ye also read the one from Laodicea.