From Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and from Timothy, our Brother.

Then you will live lives worthy of the Master, and so please God in every way. Your lives will be fruitful in every kind of good action, and your characters will grow through a fuller knowledge of God;

You will be made strong at all points with a strength worthy of the power manifested in his Glory--strong to endure with patience, and even with gladness, whatever may befall you;

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.

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,

Now at last I can rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and in my own person I supplement the afflictions endured by the Christ, for the sake of his Body, the Church;

This is the Christ whom we proclaim, warning every one, and instructing every one, with all the wisdom that we possess, in the hope of bringing every one into God's presence perfected by union with Christ.

In the hope that they, being bound to one another by love, and keeping in view the full blessedness of a firm conviction, may be encouraged to strive for a perfect knowledge of God's hidden Truth,

I say this to prevent any one from deceiving you by plausible arguments.

Take care there is not some one who will carry you away by his 'philosophy'--a hollow sham!--following, as it does, mere human traditions, and dealing with puerile questions of this world, and not with Christ.

And, by your union with him, you also are filled with it. He is the Head of all Archangels and Powers of Heaven.

By your union with him you received a circumcision that was not performed by human hands, when you threw off the tyranny of the earthly body, and received the circumcision of the Christ.

And to you, who once were 'dead,' by reason of your sins and your uncircumcised nature--to you God gave Life in giving life to Christ! He pardoned all our sins!

He canceled the bond which stood against us--the bond that consisted of ordinances--and which was directly hostile to us! He has taken it out of our way by nailing it to the cross!

Do not let any one defraud you of the reality by affecting delight in so-called 'humility' and angel-worship. Such a man busies himself with his visions, and without reason is rendered conceited by his merely human intellect.

He fails to maintain union with the Head, to whom it is due that the whole body, nourished and knit together by the contact and Keynesian of every part, grows with a divine growth.

Since you know that it is from the Master that you will receive the inheritance which will be your recompense. You are serving Christ, the Master.

Those who do wrong will reap the wrong they have done; and there will be no partiality.

Masters, do what is right and fair by your slaves, for you know that you also have a Master--in Heaven.

Let your conversation always be kindly, and seasoned, as it were, with salt; that you may know in each case what answer you ought to give.

With him will be Onesimus, our dear faithful Brother, who is one of yourselves. They will tell you all that is going on here.

And when this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read before the Church at Laodicea, and that you yourselves read the letter which will be forwarded from there.

I, Paul, add this greeting in my own handwriting. Remember these chains of mine. God's blessing be with you.