In our prayers we continually give thanks to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ upon your account,

who also declared to us the love you bear to us upon a spiritual account.

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;

and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say , whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens.

for I am a minister of the church by the divine commission which has been granted me in your interests, to make a full presentation of God's message ??26 of that open secret which, though concealed from ages and generations of old, has now been disclosed to the saints of God.

the open secret, covered up from the people of former ages and generations, but now uncovered to God's people,

to whom God has chosen to make known how glorious are the riches of this open secret among the heathen, namely, Christ in you the hope of your glorification.

To this end, like an earnest wrestler, I exert all my strength in reliance upon the power of Him who is mightily at work within me.

May their hearts be encouraged! May they learn the meaning of love! May they have all the wealth of conviction that comes from insight! May they learn to know that open secret of God, the Father of Christ,

being firmly attach'd to, and founded upon him: establishing yourselves in the faith you have been taught, and being thankful for the improvement you make therein.

beware lest any one seduce you by the vain illusions of philosophy, founded upon human traditions, and meer shadows, and not upon Christ:

Spoiling the principalities and the authorities, he made of them an open example, celebrating a triumph over them thereby.

Let, no one, against you, be arbitrating, however wishful, - in respect of lowliness of mind, and of a religious observance of the messengers: upon what things he hath seen, taking his stand, in vain, puffed up by his carnal mind, -

Such a one does not keep his hold upon Christ, the Head, from whom the Body, in all its parts nourished and strengthened by its points of contact and its connections, grows with a divine growth.

Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth.

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

for which things'sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience:

and have put on the new [spiritual] self who is being continually renewed in true knowledge in the image of Him who created the new self—

Whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [and in dependence on Him], giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

children, obey your parents upon all occasions, for that is graceful in a christian.

Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:

And tell Archippus to discharge carefully the duties devolving upon him as a servant of the Lord.