You, too, have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed in the Messiah, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the most glorious Father, would give you a wise spirit, along with revelation that comes through knowing the Messiah fully.

He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens—

God has put everything under the Messiah's feet and has made him the head of everything for the good of the church,

made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

And He raised us up together with Him [when we believed], and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, [because we are] in Christ Jesus,

so that in the coming ages he might display the limitless riches of his grace that comes to us through his kindness in the Messiah Jesus.

For we are God's masterpiece, created in the Messiah Jesus to perform good actions that God prepared long ago to be our way of life.

At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.

having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the Messiah Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

For this reason I, Paul, am the prisoner of the Messiah Jesus for the sake of you gentiles.

By reading this you are able to understand my insight about the mystery of the Messiah.

The gentiles are heirs-in-common, members-in-common of the body, and common participants in what was promised by the Messiah Jesus through the gospel.

This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of the Messiah,

This is according to His eternal purpose accomplished in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord.

This is the reason I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,

and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love,

and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

to him be glory in the church and in the Messiah Jesus to all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the Messiah’s gift.

to equip the saints, to do the work of ministry, and to build up the body of the Messiah

until all of us are united in the faith and in the full knowledge of God's Son, and until we attain mature adulthood and the full standard of development in the Messiah.

But speaking the truth in love [in all things—both our speech and our lives expressing His truth], let us grow up in all things into Him [following His example] who is the Head—Christ.

But that is not how you learned about the Messiah,

And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another just as God has forgiven you in the Messiah.

And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God.

for what makes everything clear is light. Therefore it is said:

Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,
and the Messiah will shine on you.

you will consistently give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah;

being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

For the husband is the head of his wife as the Messiah is the head of the church. It is he who is the Savior of the body.

Indeed, just as the church is submissive to the Messiah, so wives must be submissive to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives as the Messiah loved the church and gave himself for it,

For no one has ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, as the Messiah does the church.

This is a great secret, but I am talking about the Messiah and the church.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear, trembling, and sincerity, as when you obey the Messiah.

Do not do this only while you're being watched in order to please them, but be like slaves of the Messiah, who are determined to obey God's will.

Peace be to the brothers and sisters, and love joined with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

May grace be with all who sincerely love the Lord Jesus, the Messiah!

Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed),

To all the saints (God’s people) in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, including the overseers and deacons:

Grace to you and peace [inner calm and spiritual well-being] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am convinced of this, that the one who began a good action among you will bring it to completion by the Day of the Messiah Jesus.

For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

so that you may be able to choose what is best and be pure and blameless until the day when the Messiah returns,

having been filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus the Messiah so that God will be glorified and praised.

As a result, it has become clear to the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that I am in prison for preaching about the Messiah.

Some, it is true, are [actually] preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry [toward me—for no better reason than a competitive spirit or misguided ambition], but others out of goodwill and a loyal spirit [toward me].

The former proclaim the Messiah because they are selfishly ambitious and insincere, thinking that they will stir up trouble for me during my imprisonment.

But so what? Just this that in every way, whether by false or true motives, the Messiah is being proclaimed. Because of this, I rejoice and will continue to rejoice.

for I know [with confidence] that this will turn out for my deliverance and spiritual well-being, through your prayers and the [superabundant] supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ [which upholds me].

It is my own eager expectation and hope, that [looking toward the future] I will not disgrace myself nor be ashamed in anything, but that with courage and the utmost freedom of speech, even now as always, Christ will be magnified and exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

For to me, to go on living is the Messiah, and to die is gain.

Indeed, I cannot decide between the two. I have the desire to leave this life and be with the Messiah, for that is far better.

Then your rejoicing in the Messiah Jesus will increase along with mine when I visit with you again.

The only thing that matters is that you continue to live as good citizens in a manner worthy of the gospel of the Messiah. Then, whether I come to see you or whether I stay away, I may hear all about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, struggling with one mind for the faith of the gospel,

For you have been given the privilege for the Messiah's sake not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him.

Therefore, if there is any encouragement in the Messiah, if there is any comfort of love, if there is any fellowship in the Spirit, if there is any compassion and sympathy,

Have the same attitude among yourselves that was also in the Messiah Jesus:

Then every tongue in one accord, will say that Jesus the Messiah is Lord, while God the Father praising.

as you hold firmly to the word of life. Then I will be proud when the Messiah returns that I did not run in vain or work hard in vain.

For the others [who deserted me after my arrest] all seek [to advance] their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

because he came close to death for the work of the Messiah by risking his life to complete what remained unfinished in your service to me.

For it is we who are the circumcision we who worship in the Spirit of God and find our joy in the Messiah Jesus. We have not placed any confidence in the flesh,

But whatever things were assets to me, these I now consider a loss for the sake of the Messiah.

What is more, I continue to consider all these things to be a loss for the sake of what is far more valuable, knowing the Messiah Jesus, my Lord. It is because of him that I have experienced the loss of all those things. Indeed, I consider them rubbish in order to gain the Messiah

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but one that comes through the faithfulness of the Messiah, the righteousness that comes from God and that depends on faith.

I want to know the Messiah what his resurrection power is like and what it means to share in his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,

Not that I have already obtained it [this goal of being Christlike] or have already been made perfect, but I actively press on so that I may take hold of that [perfection] for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own.

I keep pursuing the goal to win the prize of God's heavenly call in the Messiah Jesus.

For I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of the Messiah.

But [we are different, because] our citizenship is in heaven. And from there we eagerly await [the coming of] the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;

Then God's peace, which goes far beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your hearts and minds in union with the Messiah Jesus.

And my God will fully supply your every need according to his glorious riches in the Messiah Jesus.

Greet every saint who is in union with the Messiah Jesus. The brothers who are with me send their greetings to you.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be with your spirit! Amen.

Paul, an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed) by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To: The holy and faithful brothers in Colossae who are in union with the Messiah. May grace and peace from God our Father be yours!

We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we pray always for you,

because we have heard about your faith in the Messiah Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints,

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

yet Christ has now reconciled you [to God] in His physical body through death, in order to present you before the Father holy and blameless and beyond reproach—

Now I am rejoicing while suffering for you as I complete in my flesh whatever remains of the Messiah's sufferings on behalf of his body, which is the church.

to whom God wanted to make known the glorious riches of this secret among the gentiles which is the Messiah in you, our glorious hope.

It is he whom we proclaim as we admonish and wisely teach everyone, so that we may present everyone mature in the Messiah.

Because they are united in love, I pray that their hearts may be encouraged by all the riches that come from a complete understanding of the full knowledge of the Messiah, who is the mystery of God.

For although I am physically absent, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how stable you are and how firm your faith in the Messiah is.

So then, just as you have received the Messiah Jesus the Lord, continue to live dependent on him.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception [pseudo-intellectual babble], according to the tradition [and musings] of mere men, following the elementary principles of this world, rather than following [the truth—the teachings of] Christ.

You were also circumcised in Him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of the Messiah.

When you were buried with the Messiah in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is the Messiah.

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?

So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God.

When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

In him there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free person. Instead, the Messiah is all and in all.

And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful.

Let the [spoken] word of Christ have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being] as you teach [spiritual things] and admonish and train one another with all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

knowing [with all certainty] that it is from the Lord [not from men] that you will receive the inheritance which is your [greatest] reward. It is the Lord Christ whom you [actually] serve.