1 I am Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. God wanted me to be an apostle.
2 Timothy our brother, and I are writing this letter to God's people, the Christian brothers in the city of Colossae. May the kindness of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.
3 We give thanks to God. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we ask God to bless you, we always thank him for you.
4 We have heard that you believe in Christ Jesus and love all of God's people.
5 And also, you are looking ahead to what you will have in heaven. You have heard about it already when the good news was told to you.
6 That message has reached you. It is doing good and it is spreading everywhere in the world. It is doing the same among you. It began the day you heard and understood God's blessing, which came to you in a clear way.
7 Epaphras taught you the truth. He is Christ's servant, as we are also, and we love him. He is a good worker to help you.
8 Also, it is he who told us of your love in the Spirit.
9 That is why we keep on talking to God about you since the day we heard about you. We ask him that you may know everything he wants you to do. We ask him that you may be very wise and that the Spirit will help you to understand.
10 We ask him that you will live the way the Lord wants you to live, so that you will please him in everything you do. We ask that you will do everything that is good. We ask that you will see the fruit from what you do. We ask that you will know more and more about God.
11 God has wonderful power. And we ask him to give you all the strength you need to go through all your troubles, to be very patient in them, and to be happy.
12 Thank the Father who has made us ready to be with the people of God who live in his light.
13 He has set us free from the kingdom where it is dark. And he has put us into the kingdom where his dear Son rules.
14 Because of his Son, we are set free and the wrong things we have done are forgiven.
15 The Son is like God who cannot be seen. He was his Son before anything was made.
16 He made everything in the sky and on the earth. He made the things which can be seen and the things which cannot be seen. That means angels, kings, great powers, and rulers. They were all made by him and for him.
17 He himself was before all things. And he holds all things together.
18 He is also the head of the body which is the church [the people who believe in Jesus Christ]. He is the beginning, the first one to rise from death, so that he would be the first one in everything.
19 God wanted Christ to have everything in himself.
20 And God chose him to be the one who would bring all things back to himself. God made peace by the blood which Christ gave on his cross. He would bring back all things on earth and in heaven.
21 At one time you were far away from God. You hated him in your hearts and you did wrong things.
22 But now Christ himself has died on a cross, and he has brought you back to God. Christ will bring you before God holy, clean, and good.
23 But you must keep on believing and stand strong and true. Let nothing shake the hope which the good news brought you. You heard the same good news as is told to everyone in the whole world. I, Paul, was given the work of telling that same good news.
24 And now, even though I suffer for you, I am happy. There are still some things for Christ to suffer in his body, which is the church. So I am glad to take my share of his suffering in my body.
25 God gave me work to do for the church people so that you might know all of God's message.
26 This message is about the secret plan of God. People who lived in all the past times of the world did not know about this plan. But now it has been told to God's people.
27 He wanted them to know that his plan is very great and wonderful for those who are not Jews. And this plan is that Christ is in you! He is your hope for all the wonderful things that are to come.
28 We tell about him. We tell everyone to be careful to live in the right way. We teach everyone all he needs to know. We do this so that we can bring everyone before God and he will be grown up in the things of Christ.
29 And I am working for this with all the strength that God gives me.
