1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy, a brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus, who are at Colossa. 3 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. 4 Hearing your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which you have towards all the saints. 5 For the hope that is laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6 Which is come unto you, as also it is in the whole world, and bringeth forth fruit and groweth, even as it doth in you, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. 7 As you learned of Epaphras, our most beloved fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ Jesus; 8 Who also hath manifested to us your love in the spirit. 9 Therefore we also, from the day that we heard it, cease not to pray for you, and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom, and spiritual understanding: 10 That you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God: 11 Strengthened with all might, according to the power of his glory, in all patience and longsuffering with joy, 12 Giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love, 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins; 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and in him. 17 And he is before all, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he may hold the primacy: 19 Because in him, it hath well pleased the Father, that all fullness should dwell; 20 And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven. 21 And you, whereas you were some time alienated and enemies in mind in evil works: 22 Yet now he hath reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unspotted, and blameless before him: 23 If so ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and immoveable from the hope of the gospel which you have heard, which is preached in all the creation that is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister. 24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church: 25 Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given me towards you, that I may fulfill the word of God: 26 The mystery which hath been hidden from ages and generations, but now is manifested to his saints, 27 To whom God would make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ, in you the hope of glory. 28 Whom we preach, admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 Wherein also I labour, striving according to his working which he worketh in me in power.
Colossians · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Colossians 1 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Epaphras
A faithful minister of Christ who taught the Colossians, wrestled for them in prayer, and was Paul's fellow prisoner.
Cited in the guide: Colossians 1:7; Colossians 4:12; Philemon 23
Cross references (29)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 2 Corinthians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; Philemon 1; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; Romans 1:1
- 2 2 Peter 1:2; Ephesians 1:1; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Revelation 1:4
- 3 1 Thessalonians 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:3; Colossians 1:9; Romans 1:8–9; 1 Corinthians 1:4
- 4 Ephesians 1:15; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; Hebrews 6:10; Philemon 5
- 5 1 Peter 1:3–4; Ephesians 1:13; 2 Timothy 4:8; Titus 1:2; Colossians 1:27
- 6 John 15:16; Philippians 1:11; Colossians 1:23; 1 Peter 5:12; Romans 10:17–18
- 7 Colossians 4:12; Philemon 23; Hebrews 2:17; Colossians 4:7; Hebrews 3:2
- 8 Romans 15:30; 2 Timothy 1:7; Galatians 5:22; Romans 5:5; Colossians 1:4
- 9 James 3:17; Philippians 1:9–11; James 1:5; Ephesians 1:15–20; Colossians 4:5
- 10 Ephesians 4:1; Hebrews 13:21; 2 Peter 1:2–3; John 15:16; 1 John 3:22
- 11 Ephesians 3:16; Philippians 4:13; Ephesians 6:10; Ephesians 4:2; Romans 5:3–5
- 12 Acts 20:32; Ephesians 1:11; Ephesians 1:18; Acts 26:18; Romans 8:17
- 13 Ephesians 5:8; Acts 26:18; 1 Peter 2:9; Titus 3:3–6; 1 Thessalonians 2:12
- 14 Ephesians 1:7; Romans 3:24–25; 1 Peter 1:19–20; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:22
- 15 Hebrews 1:3; John 14:9; John 1:1; 2 Corinthians 4:4; John 1:18
- 16 Romans 11:36; John 1:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Hebrews 2:10; 1 Chronicles 29:11
- 17 Hebrews 1:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; John 17:5; John 8:58; John 1:1–3
- 18 Ephesians 1:22–23; Revelation 1:5; Ephesians 4:15–16; 1 Corinthians 15:20–23; Matthew 28:18
- 19 Colossians 2:9; John 1:16; Ephesians 1:23; Colossians 2:3; Colossians 3:11
- 20 2 Corinthians 5:18–21; Ephesians 1:10; 1 John 4:9–10; Ephesians 2:13–17; Colossians 1:21–22
- 21 Ephesians 2:12; Titus 3:3–7; Ephesians 2:1–3; Romans 5:9–10; Ephesians 4:18
- 22 Ephesians 5:27; Ephesians 1:4; Jude 24; Hebrews 10:10; Titus 2:14
- 23 Hebrews 3:14; Hebrews 3:6; Matthew 24:13–14; Galatians 6:9; Hebrews 10:38
- 24 Romans 5:3; 2 Timothy 1:8; 2 Corinthians 1:5–8; 2 Timothy 2:9–10; Philippians 3:10
- 25 Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:23; Galatians 2:7–8; 2 Timothy 4:2–5; 1 Thessalonians 3:2
- 26 Luke 8:10; Romans 16:25–26; Ephesians 3:3–10; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Matthew 13:11
- 27 John 14:20; Romans 8:10; Ephesians 3:16–17; 1 John 4:4; Galatians 2:20
- 28 Ephesians 5:27; Jeremiah 3:15; Ephesians 4:11–13; Matthew 5:48; Colossians 3:16
- 29 1 Corinthians 15:10; Ephesians 1:19; 1 Corinthians 9:25–27; Ephesians 3:7; Philippians 2:13
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Holy indeed are all the Epistles of Paul: but some advantage have those which he sent after he was in bonds: those, for instance, to the Ephesians and Philemon: that to Timothy, that to the Philippians, and the one before us: for this also was sent when he was a prisoner, since he writes in it thus: "for which I …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 13 (1889)
This being was endowed with all power by the Father, who placed everything under his authority, the Æons doing so likewise, so that "by him were all things, visible and invisible, created, thrones, divinities, dominions." He then was sent to her along with his contemporary angels.
But yet the Scripture hath not declared that God made this formlessness, any more than it hath declared many other things; as the Cherubim,' and Seraphim,' and those of which the apostle distinctly speaks, Thrones,' Dominions,' Principalities,' Powers,' all of which it is manifest God made.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
For in proof that He meant this, and that before the taking of Jerusalem the gospel was preached, hear what Paul saith, "Their sound went into all the earth;" and again, "The gospel which was preached to every creature which is under Heaven." And seest thou him running from Jerusalem unto Spain?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… bodies: One the Creator of heaven and earth, the Maker of Angels and Archangels: of many the Creator, but of One only the Father before all ages,--of One only, His Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom He made all things visible and invisible.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)