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Colossians 1 :: New International Version (NIV)

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Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:1 - Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:2 - To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters[fn] in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.[fn]

Thanksgiving and Prayer

Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:3 - We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:4 - because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:5 - the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:6 - that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:7 - You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,[fn] who is a faithful minister of Christ on our[fn] behalf,
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:8 - and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:9 - For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:10 - so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:11 - being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:12 - and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[fn] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:13 - For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:14 - in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Supremacy of the Son of God

Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:15 - The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:16 - For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:17 - He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:18 - And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:19 - For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:20 - and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:21 - Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[fn] your evil behavior.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:22 - But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:23 - if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Paul’s Labor for the Church

Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:24 - Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:25 - I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:26 - the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:27 - To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:28 - He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 1:29 - To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
NIV Footnotes
The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 4:15.
Some manuscripts Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Or slave
Some manuscripts your
Or all spiritual wisdom and understanding
Some manuscripts us
Or minds, as shown by
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THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.


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For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.

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