Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy {Greek: the brother.}our brother,
{Or, to those that are at Colossae, holy and faithful brethren in Christ}to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ that are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have toward all the saints,
because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel,
which is come unto you; even as it is also in all the world bearing fruit and increasing, as it doth in you also, since the day ye heard and knew the grace of God in truth;
even as ye learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on {Many ancient authorities read your.}our behalf,
who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
to walk worthily of the Lord {Or, unto all pleasing, in every good work, bearing fruit and increasing &c.}unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing {Or, by}in the knowledge of God;
{Greek: made powerful.}strengthened {Or, in}with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto all {Or, stedfastness}patience and longsuffering with joy;
giving thanks unto the Father, who made {Some ancient authorities read you.}us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;
who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love;
in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins:
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;
for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him;
and he is before all things, and in him all things {That is, hold together.}consist.
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; {Or, that among all he might have &c.}that in all things he might have the preeminence.
{Or, For the whole fullness of God was pleased to dwell in him}For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell;
and through him to reconcile all things {Or, into him}unto {Or, him}himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens.
And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works,
yet now {Some ancient authorities read ye have been reconciled.}hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him:
if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church;
whereof I was made a minister, according to the {Or, stewardship See 1 Corinthians 9:17}dispensation of God which was given me to you-ward, to fulfil the word of God,
even the mystery which hath been hid for {Or, from all the ages &c. Greek: from the ages and from the generations.}ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to his saints,
to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ;
whereunto I labor also, striving according to his working, which worketh in me {Or, in power}mightily.
Querverweise zu Kolosser 1,6 Kol 1,6
if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister.
to walk worthily of the Lord {Or, unto all pleasing, in every good work, bearing fruit and increasing &c.}unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing {Or, by}in the knowledge of God;
So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Thy people {Hebrew: are freewill-offering.}offer themselves willinglyIn the day of thy {Or, army}power, in {Or, in the beauty of holiness}holy array:Out of the womb of the morning {Or, Thy youth are to thee as the dew}Thou hast the dew of thy youth.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: {Or, for such the Father also seeketh}for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers.
He hath remembered his lovingkindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel:All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
And others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing; and brought forth, thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.
And when they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life.
And this {Or, these good tidings}gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole {Greek: inhabited earth.}world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.
And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth;
and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how.
The earth {Or, yielded}beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
But when the fruit {Or, alloweth}is ripe, straightway he {Or, sendeth forth}putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest is come.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to give heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul.
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:
Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
to open their eyes, {Or, to turn them}that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me.
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the {See marginal note on chapter 1:1.}gospel to the whole creation.
But the word of God grew and multiplied.
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not found {Or, void}vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
But I say, Did they not hear? Yea, verily, {Psalm 19:4}Their sound went out into all the earth,And their words unto the ends of {Greek: the inhabited earth.}the world.
And I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you (and was hindered hitherto), that I might have some fruit {Or, among}in you also, even as {Or, among}in the rest of the Gentiles.
Whether then it be I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of {Many ancient authorities read the Spirit of God. One reads the Spirit.}the Holy Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and round about even unto Illyricum, I have {Greek: fulfilled. Compare Colossians 1:25.}fully preached the {See marginal note on chapter 1:1}gospel of Christ;
When therefore I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by you unto Spain.
And working together with him we entreat also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain
but now is manifested, and {Greek: through.}by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all the {Or, Gentiles}nations unto obedience {Or, to the faith}of faith:
(for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
if so be that ye have heard of the {Or, stewardship}dispensation of that grace of God which was given me to you-ward;
For we stretch not ourselves overmuch, as though we reached not unto you: for we {Or, were the first to come}came even as far as unto you in the {Greek: good tidings. See marginal note on chapter 2:12.}gospel of Christ:
being filled with the {Greek: fruit.}fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
Not that I seek for the gift; but I seek for the fruit that increaseth to your account.
{Or, because our gospel & c.}how that our {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much {Or, fulness}assurance; even as ye know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your sake.
And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye received from us {Greek: the word of hearing. Galatians 3:2, 5}the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe.
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you {Many ancient authorities read as firstfruits.}from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and {Or, faith}belief of the truth:
For the grace of God {Or, hath appeared to all men, bringing salvation}hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present {Or, age}world;
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
Blessed be {Or, God and the Father See Romans 15:6 margin.}the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
By Silvanus, {Greek: the.}our faithful brother, as I account him, I have written unto you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God: stand ye fast therein.