Greeting and Thanksgiving
Study note
Paul and Timothy greet the Colossian believers, giving thanks for the triad of faith, love, and hope that characterizes their community. The gospel came to them through Epaphras, whom Paul commends as a faithful minister, indicating that although Paul did not plant this church, he considers it part of his apostolic care. The description of the gospel bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world (v. 6) highlights its universal scope and unstoppable power.
1 From Paul, chosen by God's will to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, and from our brother Timothy. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,
2 We are writing to God's holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Colosse who belong to Christ. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Whenever we pray for you, we always start by thanking God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
4 We thank him because we have heard about your trust in Jesus Christ and your love for every one of God's people. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,
5 Both of these grow out of the hope that is waiting for you in heaven. You first heard about this hope when the true message -- the good news -- came to you. For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
6 This same good news has reached you, just like it is spreading and producing results all across the world. It has been doing the same among you ever since the day you first heard it and truly understood God's grace. Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:
7 Epaphras is the one who taught you all of this. He is our dear friend and a fellow servant who faithfully represents Christ to you. As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;
8 He is also the one who told us about the love the Spirit has created in your hearts. Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
Paul's Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom and Strength
Study note
Paul's prayer reveals the antidote to the false teaching threatening Colosse: not esoteric knowledge or human philosophy, but being filled with the knowledge of God's will through genuine wisdom and spiritual understanding. The goal is a life worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in good works and growing in the knowledge of God. Paul prays for supernatural strength that produces endurance and patience with joy, and thanks the Father for qualifying believers to share in the inheritance of the saints. The language of rescue from darkness and transfer into the kingdom of God's Son frames salvation as both deliverance and a new citizenship.
9 Therefore, from the moment we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We ask God to fill you with a deep understanding of what he wants, giving you spiritual wisdom and insight. For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10 We pray this so that you will live the life that honors the Lord and makes him completely happy. We want your life to be full of every kind of good work and to keep growing in your knowledge of God. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 We pray that God's glorious power will make you strong in every way. We pray he will give you the ability to keep going through anything with patience and joy. Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
12 Thank the Father! He made you ready to share in everything he has stored up for his people in the kingdom of light. Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
13 He pulled us out of the territory controlled by darkness and moved us into the kingdom of his beloved Son. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14 Through his Son, we have been set free and our sins have been forgiven. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
The Supremacy of Christ Over All Creation
Study note
This Christ hymn is the theological centerpiece of Colossians and one of the highest Christological passages in the New Testament. Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, the agent through whom all things were created, whether visible or invisible, thrones or powers. He existed before all things and actively holds the universe together. He is the head of the church, the firstborn from the dead, and the one in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Through his blood shed on the cross, God reconciled all things to himself. Every claim the false teachers might make about spiritual powers or hidden wisdom is rendered unnecessary by the all-sufficient Christ described here.
15 Christ is the visible picture of the God we cannot see. He was there before anything was ever made. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
16 Through him, God made everything that exists -- everything in heaven and on earth, what we can see and what we cannot see. This includes every throne, every ruling power, every authority, and every force. Everything was made through him and for him. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17 He was there before anything else existed. He is the one who holds the whole universe together. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
18 He is the head of the body, which is the church. He is the starting point of everything, the first to come back from the dead, so that he would hold the number one position in everything. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
19 God was happy to have all of his fullness live inside his Son. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
20 And through his Son, God chose to bring everything back to himself and make peace -- peace made possible through the blood Jesus shed on the cross. This includes everything on earth and everything in heaven. And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Reconciliation and Paul's Ministry of the Mystery
Study note
Paul applies the cosmic reconciliation of the hymn personally to the Colossians, who were once alienated enemies of God but are now presented holy and blameless through Christ's death. The condition is that they continue firm in the faith without drifting from the gospel's hope. Paul then describes his own ministry as fulfilling God's commission to reveal the mystery hidden for ages: 'Christ in you, the hope of glory' (v. 27). This phrase encapsulates the letter's message: the indwelling Christ is the source of hope and the antidote to every false teaching. Paul labors with all of Christ's energy working powerfully within him to present every person mature in Christ.
21 There was a time when you were separated from God. Your thoughts and actions made you his enemies. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
22 But now God has brought you back through the physical body of Christ, through his death. His goal is to present you to himself as holy, free from blame, and beyond accusation. In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
23 This will happen if you keep standing firm in your faith and do not drift from the hope the good news gives you. This good news has been shared with every person under heaven. And I, Paul, became a servant of this message. If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
24 Right now, I find joy in the suffering I go through for your sake. Through my own body, I am filling up what still remains of Christ's sufferings for the benefit of his body, the church. Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:
25 God gave me the job of serving the church for your good. My task is to make God's message known fully. Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
26 This message was a secret hidden for ages and ages. But now it has been shown to God's holy people. Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
27 God decided to let them in on the glorious riches of this secret among the non-Jewish nations. And this is the mystery: Christ lives inside you, and he is your hope of glory. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
28 He is the one we tell everyone about. We warn and teach every person with all the wisdom we have. We want to bring every person to full growth in Christ Jesus. Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
29 That is the goal I pour all my energy into, working with the mighty strength that Christ provides inside me. Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.