Greeting
1 Paul, an aapostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and bfaithful brothers1 in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 cWe always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since dwe heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the ehope flaid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the gword of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed hin the whole world it is ibearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you jheard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from kEpaphras our beloved fellow servant.2 He is a faithful minister of Christ on your3 behalf 8 and has made known to us your llove in the Spirit.
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have mnot ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge nof his will in oall spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to pwalk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: qbearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being rstrengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks4 to the Father, who has qualified you5 to share in the sinheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has tdelivered us from the udomain of darkness and vtransferred us to the kingdom of his wbeloved Son, 14 in whom we have xredemption, the yforgiveness of sins.
The Preeminence of Christ
15 He is the zimage of the ainvisible God, bthe firstborn of all creation. 16 For cby6 him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether dthrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is ebefore all things, and in him all things fhold together. 18 And he is the ghead of the body, the church. He is hthe beginning, ithe firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be jpreeminent. 19 For in him all the kfullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him lto reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, mmaking peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you, nwho once were oalienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now preconciled qin his body of flesh by his death, rin order to present you sholy and blameless and tabove reproach before him, 23 uif indeed you continue in the faith, vstable and wsteadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation7 under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a xminister.
Paul’s Ministry to the Church
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am yfilling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his zbody, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the astewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the bmystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them cGod chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the driches of the glory of this emystery, which is Christ fin you, the ghope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone hmature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling iwith all his energy that he powerfully jworks within me.
Greeting
1 Paul, a aprisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2 and Apphia our sister and bArchippus our cfellow soldier, and dthe church in your house:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philemon’s Love and Faith
4 eI thank my God always when I fremember you in my prayers, 5 because gI hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full hknowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.1 7 For iI have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
Paul’s Plea for Onesimus
8 Accordingly, though I am jbold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 9 yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— 10 kI appeal to you for my child, lOnesimus,2 whose mfather I became in my imprisonment. 11 (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, nin order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might onot be by compulsion but of your own accord. 15 For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 pno longer as a bondservant3 but more than a bondservant, as a beloved qbrother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17 So if you consider me your rpartner, receive him as you would receive me. 18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 sI, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.
21 tConfident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do ueven more than I say. 22 At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for vI am hoping that wthrough your prayers I will be graciously given to you.
Final Greetings
23 xEpaphras, my yfellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, 24 and so do Mark, Aristarchus, zDemas, and aLuke, my fellow workers.
25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
