| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, | 1This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. |
| 2to the saints, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you from God our Father! | 2We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace. Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer |
| 3We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, | 3We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. |
| 4since we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. | 4For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, |
| 5Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel | 5which 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. |
| 6that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. | 6This 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. |
| 7You learned the gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave--a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf-- | 7You 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. |
| 8who also told us of your love in the Spirit. | 8He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you. |
| 9For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, | 9So 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. |
| 10so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects--bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, | 10Then 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. |
| 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of all patience and steadfastness, joyfully | 11We 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, |
| 12giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints' inheritance in the light. | 12always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. |
| 13He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, | 13For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, |
| 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. | 14who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. Christ Is Supreme |
| 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, | 15Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, |
| 16for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him--all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers--all things were created through him and for him. | 16for 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. |
| 17He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. | 17He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. |
| 18He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. | 18Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. |
| 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son | 19For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, |
| 20and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross--through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. | 20and 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. |
| 21And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds, | 21This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. |
| 22but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him-- | 22Yet 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. |
| 23if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant. | 23But 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. Paul’s Work for the Church |
| 24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body--for the sake of his body, the church--what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. | 24I 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. |
| 25I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship from God--given to me for you--in order to complete the word of God, | 25God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. |
| 26that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. | 26This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. |
| 27God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. | 27For 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. |
| 28We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ. | 28So 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, perfect in their relationship to Christ. |
| 29Toward this goal I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully works in me. | 29That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me. |
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