[and is being sent] to the saints [i.e., God's holy people] and faithful brothers in [fellowship with] Christ [who live] at Colosse. May you have unearned favor and peace from God our Father.

since we heard of your faith which ye have in Christ Jesus: and of the love which ye bear to all saints

for the hope's sake which is laid up in store for you in heaven, of which hope ye have heard before by the true word of the gospel,

having come to you, as it is indeed in the whole world bearing fruit and increasing, as also among you, from the day on which you heard and have known the grace of God in truth;

even as ye have learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow-labourer, who is a faithful minister of Christ for you;

which also declared unto us your love, which ye have in the spirit.

For this reason from the day I heard of it I have never ceased to pray for you, asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will with every kind of wisdom and spiritual insight;

[We also pray that you will be] strengthened with great power, according to God's glorious might, so that you will have great endurance and patience [coupled] with joy.

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.

He is the likeness of the unseen God, born first before all the creation ??16 for it was by him that all things were created both in heaven and on earth, both the seen and the unseen, including Thrones, angelic Lords, celestial Powers and Rulers; all things have been created by him and for him;

for in him was the universe created, things in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen, thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; by him and for him all have been created;

All things are created by him, and in him, and he is before all things, and in him all things have their being.

And he is the head of the body, that is, to wit, of the congregation: he is the beginning and first begotten of the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.

For God was pleased to have all of his divine essence inhabit him.

but now you have been reconciled by {his physical body} through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

if ye continue grounded and established in the faith, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, whereof ye have heard, how that it is preached among all creatures, which are under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister.

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;

In it I have been made a minister in accordance with the trusteeship God entrusted to me for you, that I might prove among you the universal message of God,

to whom God does disclose the glorious advantages of this mystery to you Gentiles, to wit, "that by Christ you may have the expectation of glory."

For I would have you know how great a contest I am waging for you and the brethren in Laodicea, and for all who have never seen my face.

that your hearts may be cheered. I want you to be united by love, and to have all the benefit of assured knowledge in coming to know Christ??3 that divine mystery in which all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are to be found.

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

and steadfast in the faith, as ye have learned: and therein be plenteous in giving thanks.

and in him you have your fulness, and he is the Lord of all the principalities and powers.

In whom, ye have also been circumcised with a circumcision not done by hand, in the despoiling of the body of flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ, -

having been buried with him in baptism, in which you have also been raised together through the effectual faith of God who raised him from the dead;

Such things are only a shadow of what is to come and they have only symbolic value; but the substance [the reality of what is foreshadowed] belongs to Christ.

If you have died with the Messiah to the basic principles of the world, why are you submitting to its decrees as though you still lived in the world?

For these precepts, although they have a show of wisdom with their self-imposed devotions and fastings and bodily austerities, are of no real value against the indulgence of the carnal appetites.

So if you have been raised to life in fellowship with Christ, keep on seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth;

for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

but now ye have put away all these things, anger, asperity, malice, scandal, obscenity, out of your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,

and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;

forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel to another; even as Christ forgave you, even so do ye.

and above all these things, have love, which is a bond of the perfection,

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, for which you have been called in one body; and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ have its home in you richly, in all wisdom. Teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, ever singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

And whatever you have to say or do, do it all as followers of the Lord Jesus, and offer your thanksgiving to God the Father through him.

Husbands, have love for your wives, and be not bitter against them.

servants, be entirely obedient to those, whom the laws have made your masters, and not meerly out of regard to their observation, as designing only to please men, but from a principle of integrity, as fearing God:

For the wrongdoer will have punishment for the wrong he has done, without respect for any man's position.

Masters, give to your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

praying at the same time also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the secret of the Christ, because of which also I have been bound,

in order to make it evident why I have to tell it.

let your talk always have a saving salt of grace about it, and learn how to answer any question put to you.

whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know how ye do, and might comfort your hearts,

with Onesimus, that faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you: they will make known unto you all things that have passed here.

Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. You have received instructions about him. If he comes to you, welcome him.

and Jesus who is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These are my only fellow workers for the Kingdom of God, men who have been a comfort to me.

have cordially reliev'd me. Epaphras a servant of Christ, and your countryman, salutes you, who is always very earnest in his prayers, that you may be perfectly acquainted with, and constantly observe,

When this letter has been read to you, have it read to the church at Laodicea too, and see to it that you too read the one that is coming from Laodicea.

Tell Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it."

have received from the Lord. I Paul salute you, and this salutation I write with my own hand. remember my bonds. grace be with you. AMEN.