Chapter 1

1From Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by God’s will, and from our brother Timothy.

2To God’s people in Colossae, our faithful brothers and sisters who are united with the Messiah: May God our Father give you grace and peace.

3Whenever we pray for you, we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

4We have heard about your trust in the Messiah Jesus and the love you have for all God’s people.

5Your faith and love grow from the hope being kept safe for you in heaven. You first heard about this hope in the true message—the good news

6that has reached you. This good news is producing results and spreading throughout the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.

7You learned this from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah working on our behalf,

8and he told us about the love that God’s Spirit has produced in you.

9For this reason, ever since we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We ask God to fill you with a full understanding of what he wants, giving you every kind of wisdom and understanding that comes from his Spirit.

10Then you will live in a way worthy of the Lord and please him in every way. You will produce good results through every good thing you do, and you will grow in your knowledge of God.

11May God strengthen you with every kind of power, in keeping with his glorious might, so that you can endure everything with patience and joy.

12Give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of his people who live in the light.

13He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.

14In this Son we have been set free, which means that our sins have been forgiven.

15The Son is the visible image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn, supreme over all creation,

16because everything in heaven and on earth was created through him: everything visible and invisible, including thrones, ruling powers, rulers, and authorities. Everything was created through him and for him.

17He existed before everything else, and through him everything holds together.

18He is also the head of the body, the community of believers. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that he may hold first place in everything.

19For God was pleased to have his entire fullness live in the Son

20and, through him, to bring everything back into harmony with himself. Through the blood the Son shed on the cross, God made peace through him with everything on earth and everything in heaven.

21You were once separated from God and hostile toward him in your minds, as your evil actions showed.

22But now you have been brought back into harmony with God through the death of the Son’s physical body. His purpose is to present you before him as people completely devoted to God, free from fault and beyond accusation.

23But you must continue in the faith, firmly founded and steady. Do not move away from the hope promised in the good news you heard. That good news has been announced throughout creation under heaven, and I, Paul, became its servant.

24I now rejoice in what I suffer for you. Through the suffering I experience in my own body, I am completing what remains of the Messiah’s suffering for the sake of his body, the community of believers.

25I became a servant of this community because God gave me the responsibility of making his message fully known to you.

26This message is the secret that was hidden through past ages and generations but has now been revealed to God’s people.

27God wanted them to know how rich and glorious this secret is among all nations: the Messiah lives in you, giving you the hope of sharing in God’s glory.

28He is the one we announce. With all wisdom, we warn and teach every person so that we may present everyone as mature through their union with the Messiah.

29This is why I work so hard and struggle, relying on the Messiah’s power, which works mightily within me.