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.

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.