Colossians

This letter is from Paul, sent out by Christ Jesus as an apostle, one with authority to speak for him, because God wanted it that way. It is also from Timothy, our brother.

1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,

Note"Apostle" translates a Greek word meaning one who is sent, an authorized representative who carries the sender's commission and speaks with the sender's backing. "Timotheus" is the King James spelling of the Greek form of the name Timothy, a younger coworker who traveled with Paul.

2We write to God's holy people in the city of Colossae, our faithful brothers and sisters who belong to Christ. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

2To 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.

Note"Saints" translates a word meaning set apart or holy, and in Paul's letters it covers every member of the congregation, not a select few. "Brethren" is the ordinary term for fellow members of the group and includes women. Colossae was a declining town in the Lycus valley in what is now western Turkey, near the larger cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis. Ordinary Greek letters opened with a one word "greetings"; "Grace be unto you, and peace" fuses a variation on that with the standard Jewish greeting of peace, shalom. Many of the earliest Greek copies end the verse at "from God our Father," without the words that follow.

3We thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray for you all the time.

3We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

4We thank him because we have heard about your trust in Christ Jesus, and about the love you have for all of God's people.

4Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,

5Your faith and love come from the hope that is being kept safe for you in heaven. You already heard about that hope in the true message, the good news,

5For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

Note"Laid up" means stored away and kept in reserve, the way valuables are put in safekeeping. "Gospel" translates a word meaning good news: in ordinary use, the public announcement of an event such as a victory or the birth of an heir.

6which has come to you. All over the world this good news is producing fruit, just as it has among you from the day you heard it and truly understood how kind God is.

6Which 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:

Note"The grace of God" is God's generous goodwill given freely rather than earned or owed.

7You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf.

7As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;

Note"Fellowservant" renders a compound built on the word for slave, so Paul is placing Epaphras on exactly the same footing as himself. Epaphras came from Colossae and appears to be the man who first brought the message there; Paul himself had never visited the town.

8He is also the one who told us about your love in the Spirit.

8Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.

9So from the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We ask that God will fill you with the knowledge of what he wants, giving you every kind of wisdom and understanding that his Spirit brings.

9For 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;

10We pray this so that you will live the way the Lord's people should live and please him in every way: producing fruit in every good work, and growing in your knowledge of God.

10That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Note"Walk" is a standing idiom of the Bible for the whole conduct of a life, the way a person habitually behaves, not physical walking.

11We pray that his glorious power will make you strong, so that you can hold up under anything and stay patient, and do it with joy.

11Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

Note"Longsuffering" is a King James word for patience under provocation, holding back anger toward people; it does not mean suffering for a long time.

12We pray that you will thank the Father, who has made you fit to share in what belongs to his people in the light.

12Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Note"Meet" here is the old adjective meaning fit, suitable or qualified, unrelated to the verb to meet. "Inheritance" carries the sense of an allotted share, the word used for the portions of land assigned to the tribes of Israel.

13He rescued us from the rule of darkness and moved us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

13Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Note"Translated" in 1611 English means transferred or carried across from one place to another. Ancient empires did this to whole populations, moving conquered peoples from their own territory into another kingdom.

14It is through the Son that we are set free, that is, that our sins are forgiven.

14In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Note"Redemption" was the everyday word for buying a person out of slavery or out of captivity by paying a price for their release.

15The Son is the image of the God no one can see. He is the firstborn over all creation.

15Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Note"Firstborn" in this world indicated rank and legal right as much as order of birth: the eldest son held first place in the family and the largest share of the estate, and the term could be applied to a king as the one holding highest status. The Greek phrase can be read either as firstborn belonging to creation or as firstborn ranking over all creation, and the wording itself does not settle which.

16For everything was created by him: everything in heaven and everything on earth, what can be seen and what cannot, whether thrones or rulers or governments or powers. All of it was created through him and for him.

16For 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:

Note"Thrones," "dominions," "principalities" and "powers" are terms for ranks of governing authority. Readers of the time heard them as names for levels in an ordered hierarchy of powers, both the spiritual beings thought to stand behind the world's structures and the human rulers who exercise them. "Principalities" means rulerships or offices of rule, not small countries.

17He existed before anything else, and everything holds together in him.

17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Note"Consist" is used in its older sense of holding together or staying coherent, not the modern "consist of."

18He is the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning, the first to be raised from the dead, so that he is first in everything.

18And 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.

Note"The church" translates ekklesia, the ordinary Greek word for an assembly of citizens summoned to meet. It refers to the gathered people themselves and never to a building. "Preeminence" means first place, holding rank ahead of everything else.

19For God was pleased to have all of his own fullness live in his Son,

19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

Note"Fulness" translates pleroma, the entire sum of what something contains, its complete content with nothing held back. The Greek leaves the subject of "it pleased" unstated, so the sentence can be read either as God being pleased to have his fullness dwell in him, or as all the fullness itself being pleased to dwell in him.

20and through him to bring everything back into a right relationship with himself. He made peace by the blood shed on his cross. This is true of things on earth and things in heaven.

20And, 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.

Note"Reconcile" was used of ending hostilities and restoring a friendly relationship between parties who had become enemies. "The blood of his cross" refers to death by crucifixion, the public Roman execution reserved for slaves, rebels and non citizens.

21There was a time when you were cut off from God. In your thinking you were his enemies, and your actions were evil.

21And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

Note"Sometime" is old English for at one time or formerly. It does not mean occasionally.

22But now God has brought you back to himself through Christ's physical body when Christ died. He did it to present you to himself as holy people, with no flaw and no charge against you,

22In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Note"Unblameable and unreproveable" draw on two settings: the inspection of a sacrificial animal for blemishes, and a court, where no charge can be brought against the accused. "Present" suggests bringing someone formally before a ruler or judge.

23if you keep on trusting, standing firm and settled, and do not let anything move you away from the hope this good news gives. You heard that good news. It has been announced to every creature under heaven, and I, Paul, became its servant.

23If 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;

Note"Minister" translates diakonos, a servant or attendant who carries out the orders of another. Here it describes a role, not an ordained office.

24Right now I am glad about what I suffer for you. In my own body I am filling up what is still missing of Christ's sufferings, and I do it for his body, which is the church.

24Who 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:

Note"That which is behind" is King James English for what is still lacking or left outstanding. What Paul means by a lack in Christ's afflictions has been argued over since the earliest readers; the Greek says only that he fills up in his own flesh what is lacking of those afflictions, and does not explain further.

25I became a servant of the church when God gave me this job for your sake: to make his message fully known.

25Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

Note"Dispensation" translates oikonomia, the management of a household entrusted to a steward, and so an assignment or commission given by an owner. "To fulfil the word of God" means to deliver the message in full, carrying it out completely rather than partly.

26This message is the secret that was hidden for ages and generations, but that has now been shown openly to God's people.

26Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

Note"Mystery" here does not mean a puzzle to be worked out. It translates a word for a secret that was deliberately kept hidden and has now been disclosed by the one who kept it.

27God chose to let them know how rich and glorious this secret is among people who are not Jewish. The secret is this: Christ is in you, and he is the hope of glory.

27To 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:

Note"Gentiles" is the standard term for all the nations other than the Jews, that is, everyone outside Israel. The "you" in "Christ in you" is plural, so it can mean within each person or among the group as a whole.

28He is the one we announce. We warn everyone and teach everyone, using every kind of wisdom, so that we can present each person to God complete and mature in Christ Jesus.

28Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

Note"Perfect" translates teleios, meaning complete, fully grown, having reached the end it was aimed at. It does not mean faultless.

29This is what I work hard at. I struggle for it, using the strength Christ supplies, which works powerfully in me.

29Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Note"Labour" is the word for exhausting physical toil, and "striving" comes from the language of athletic contests, wrestling or running with everything a competitor has. The Greek noun behind it is the source of the English word agony.