New Living Translation

English Standard Version

Greetings from Paul

This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.

1

Greeting

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2

We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sistersa in Christ.
May God our Father give you grace and peace.

2

To the saints and faithful brothersa in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

3

Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer

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

3

Thanksgiving and Prayer

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

4

For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people,

4

since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,

5

which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

5

because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,

6

This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

6

which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing — as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,

7

You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf.b

7

just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant.b He is a faithful minister of Christ on yourc behalf

8

He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.

8

and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

9

So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

9

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

10

Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

10

so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

11

We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy,c

11

being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

12

always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.

12

giving thanksd to the Father, who has qualified youe to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

13

For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,

13

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

14

who purchased our freedomd and forgave our sins.
Christ Is Supreme

14

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,e

15

The Preeminence of Christ

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16

for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see —
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.

16

For byf him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him.

17

He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.

17

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

18

Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.f
So he is first in everything.

18

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

19

For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,

19

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

20

and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

20

and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

21

This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.

21

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

22

Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

22

he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

23

But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.

23

if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creationg under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

24

Paul’s Work for the Church

I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.

24

Paul’s Ministry to the Church

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

25

God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you.

25

of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,

26

This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people.

26

the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.

27

For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

27

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

28

So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfectg in their relationship to Christ.

28

Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

29

That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

29

For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Parallel

New Living Translation

English Standard Version

Colossians 1

Colossians 1