1From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2to the holy and faithful brothers in Colossae who are in union with Christ.May grace and peace from God our Father be yours! 3We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints, 5based on the hope laid up for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel 6that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and spreading all over the world, so it has been doing among you from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth. 7You learned about this gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf. 8He has told us about your love in the Spirit. 9For this reason, since the day we heard about this, we have not stopped praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the full knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10so that you might live in a manner worthy of the Lord and be fully pleasing to him as you bear fruit in every good work and grow in the full knowledge of God. 11You are being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so that you might patiently endure everything with joy 12and might thank the Father, who has enabled us to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13He has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of the Son whom he loves. 14In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether they are kings, lords, rulers, or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. 17He himself existed before all things, and by him all things hold together. 18He is also the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself might have first place in everything. 19For God was pleased to have all of his fullness live in him. 20Through him he also reconciled all things to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, thus making peace through the blood of his cross. 21You who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22he has now reconciled by the death of his physical body so that he might present you holy, blameless, and without fault before him. 23However, you must remain firmly established and steadfast in the faith, without being moved from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. 24Now I am rejoicing in my sufferings for you and completing in my flesh whatever remains of Christ's sufferings on behalf of his body, which is the church. 25I became its servant according to God's commission that was given to me for you, so that I might fulfill the ministry of the word of God. 26This secret was hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints, 27to whom God wanted to make known the glorious riches of this secret among the Gentiles—which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28It is he whom we proclaim as we admonish everyone and teach everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29I work hard and struggle to do this according to his energy that powerfully works in me.