of which number we all have formerly been, leading our dissolute lives in gratifying the desires of our sensual imaginations: and were indeed obnoxious to the divine displeasure, as other. Gentiles were:

even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved),

for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

It has not been earned, so that no one can boast of it.

For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them.

that ye were at that time apart from Christ, having been alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope, and without God, in the world;

But now [at this very moment] in Christ Jesus you who once were [so very] far away [from God] have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, who has made the two into one, and by whom the middle wall of division has been broken down,

and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.

You are a building which has been reared on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself,

in whom every building having been fitly framed together, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord;

by whom also ye have been built up together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

(if indeed ye have heard of the administration of the grace of God which has been given to me towards you,

that by revelation the mystery has been made known to me, (according as I have written before briefly,

by reading which you can understand my knowledge of the mystery of Christ,??5 which in other generations was not made known to the children of men as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit,

which in other generation was not made known unto the sons of men, as it hath now been revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;

I mean the truth that the Gentiles are joint heirs with us Jews, and that they form one body with us, and have the same interest as we have in the promise which has been made good in Christ Jesus through the Good News,

in which I have been appointed to serve, in virtue of the work which God, in the exercise of His power within me, has graciously entrusted to me.

To me, less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given, to announce among the nations the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ,

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

that the Christ may dwell through the faith in your hearts, in love having been rooted and founded,

having been rooted and grounded in love, so that ye may be able to grasp with all the sanctified what is the breadth and length and depth and height,

I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you therefore to walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye have been called,

There is one body and one Spirit, as ye have been also called in one hope of your calling;

But to each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ.

Whose thoughts are dark, to whom the life of God is strange because they are without knowledge, and their hearts have been made hard;

That is not the way you have been taught what Christ means,

If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

He who has been a thief must steal no more, but, instead of that, should work with his own hands in honest industry, so that he may have something of which he can give the needy a share.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which ye have been sealed for the day of redemption.

be kind to each other, be tender-hearted, be generous to each other as God has been generous to you in Christ.

So, it says, "You who are asleep, wake up and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you [i.e., illuminate you]." [Note: The foregoing words may have been an early saying, used at someone's immersion, which included the ideas of "rising up" (See Col. 2:12) and "illumination" (See Heb. 6:4)].

having been confident of this very thing, that He who did begin in you a good work, will perform it till a day of Jesus Christ,

having been filled [with the] fruit of righteousness which [comes] through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Now it is my purpose to make clear to you, brothers, that the cause of the good news has been helped by my experiences;

So that my bonds in Christ have been made manifest in the whole palace, and to all others:

and many of the brothers having been made confident by my bonds in the Lord have more abundant courage to speak the word without fear.

The latter are motivated by love, because they know that I have been appointed to defend the gospel.

But those are preaching Christ in a spirit of competition, not from their hearts, but with the purpose of giving me pain in my prison.

And having been convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and will continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.

because to you it hath been granted in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer in his behalf:

but did empty himself, the form of a servant having taken, in the likeness of men having been made,

and having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always been obedient in the past, so now work out your own Salvation with anxious care, not only when I am with you, but all the more now that I am absent.

offering men the message of life. Then I will have reason to boast of you on the Day of Christ, because my exertion and labor have not been wasted.

However, I thought it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, [who has been] my brother and companion and fellow soldier, who was also sent as your messenger to take care of my needs.

For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.

For it is true that he has been ill, and was apparently at the point of death; but God had pity on him, and not only on him, but also on me, to save me from having sorrow upon sorrow.

Therefore I have been the more eager to send him, in order that you may rejoice in seeing him again, and that I may have one sorrow less.

Having been circumcised on the eighth day, I am of the nation of Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As far as the Law is concerned, I was a Pharisee.

But whatever former things were gains to me [as I thought then], these things [once regarded as advancements in merit] I have come to consider as loss [absolutely worthless] for the sake of Christ [and the purpose which He has given my life].

But surely, I also think all things to be loss for the superiority of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have been made to lose all things, and I think to be offscourings, that I shall gain Christ,

Not that I have already obtained the prize, or am already perfected; but I pursue, if also I may get possession of it, seeing that also I have been taken possession of by Christ Jesus.

Brethren, I reckon not myself to have been overtaken: but one, truly forgetting things behind, and stretching still farther to things before,

Let us therefore, who have been instructed, have this in view: and if you are sollicitous about any thing else, God will reveal even that unto you.

For, many, are walking - of whom I have often been telling you, and, now, even weeping, am telling, - the enemies of the cross of the Christ;

Yes, and I am asking you also, [my] faithful partner [Note: This person is unknown, but may have been one of Paul's preacher companions], help those women, for they have worked hard with me in [spreading] the Gospel, along with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life. [See Rev. 3:5; Heb. 12:23].

But I rejoice with a deep and holy joy that now at length you have revived your thoughtfulness for my welfare. Indeed you have always been thoughtful for me, although opportunity failed you.

I have known both to be abased, and I have known to abound; in everything and in all things I have been initiated, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want.

I have been paid in full and have more than enough. I am fully supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus what you sent a fragrant aroma, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

for the sake of that happiness, which you hope for, and is reserv'd for you in heaven, of which you have already been inform'd by the preaching of the truth, that is, the gospel:

that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and spreading all over the world, so it has been doing among you from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth.

by whom we have been ransomed from captivity through having our sins forgiven.

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 were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him;

All has been created through him and for him. He was before all things, and all things unite in 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 indeed ye abide in the faith founded and firm, and not moved away from the hope of the glad tidings, which ye have heard, which have been proclaimed in the whole creation which is under heaven, of which I Paul became 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;

I have been appointed to serve the Church in the position of responsibility entrusted to me by God for your benefit, so that I may fully deliver God's Message--

Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

Unto whom God hath been pleased to make known what is the glorious wealth of this sacred secret among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory, -

My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ,

Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

in whom also ye have been circumcised with circumcision not done by hand, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ;

having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

And when you were [spiritually] dead because of your sins and your lack of being physically circumcised [Note: This refers to their having been unconverted Gentiles and therefore outside of a relationship with God], God made you alive [again] together with Christ, having forgiven us for all of our sins.

and not holding the Head, from whom all the body, having been supplied through the joints and bands, and having been joined together, will grow with the growth of God.

If then ye have been dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye dogmatically taught,

If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ, seek the things which are above, where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God:

for ye did die, and your life hath been hid with the Christ in God;

and have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it.

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

And let the peace of Christ preside in your hearts, to which also ye have been called in one body, and be thankful.

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,

Let your speech be always with grace, having been seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

Aristarchus, my brother-prisoner, sends his love to you, and Mark, a relation of Barnabas (about whom you have been given orders: if he comes to you, be kind to him),

And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.

Epaphras, who is from you, the servant of Jesus Christ, always agonizing in your behalf in his prayers, in order that you may stand perfect even having been fully carried away in all the will of God, salutes you.

And when this epistle hath been read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye also read the epistle from Laodicea.

And tell Archippus [Note: He may have been the preacher at Colosse or Laodicia. See Philemon 1:1-2], "See to it that you fulfill your ministry [there], which you have received in [the service of] the Lord."

Being conscious, my brothers, dear to God, that you have been marked out by God's purpose;

For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in great fulness of assurance; as ye know what manner of men we have been among you for your sakes.

For from you the word of the Lord has been declared, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone out; so that we need not to say anything.

For yourselves, brethren, know our entering in unto you, that it hath not been found vain:

but having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as ye know, at Philippi, we waxed bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God in much conflict.

but even as we have been approved of God to be intrusted with the gospel, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God who proveth our hearts.

For we have not at any time been among you with flattering discourse, even as ye know, nor with a pretext for covetousness, God is witness;