King James Version

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. 2 To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. 3 We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you. 4 Hearing of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints. 5 Through the hope that is laid up for you in the heavens, which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. 6 Of this present, to you, as it is also bearing fruit and increasing in the whole world, as also in you, from the day you heard and understood the Grace of God in truth; 7 As you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 He who also made your love evident to us in spirit. 9 For this reason, we also, since the day we heard, do not cease praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10 to walk worthily of the Lord in all pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and increasing in the knowledge of God, 11 Being strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for the share of the inheritance of the saints in the light, 13 who rescued us from the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the son of his love, 14 In whom we have the Redemption, the forgiveness of sins; 15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, 16 For in him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body of the church; he who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might have the preeminence. 19 For in Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell. 20 And through him to reconcile all things to himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, whether things on earth or things in heaven. 21 And you who were once alienated and hostile in mind in your evil deeds— 22 But now you have been reconciled in the body of his flesh through death—to present you holy and unblemished and blameless before him. 23 If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. 24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 Of which I became a minister according to the stewardship of God that was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. 26 The mystery that has been hidden from the ages and from the generations has now been made known to His saints. 27 To whom God wanted to make known what is the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I also labor, striving according to his working that is being worked in me with power.