1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Timotheus the brother, 2 to the holy ones in Colossae, and to the faithful brothers in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! 3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you, 4 having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love that [is] to all the holy ones, 5 because of the hope that is laid up for you in the heavens, which you heard of beforehand by the word of the truth of the good news, 6 which has come to you, as also in all the world, and is bearing fruit, as also in you, from the day in which you heard, and knew the grace of God in truth, 7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful servant of the Christ for you, 8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. 9 Because of this, we also, from the day in which we heard, do not cease praying for you, and asking that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10 to walk worthily of the LORD, pleasing in all, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, 11 in all might being made mighty according to the power of His glory, to all endurance and long-suffering with joy. 12 Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us for the participation of the inheritance of the holy ones in the light, 13 who rescued us out of the authority of the darkness, and translated [us] into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have the redemption [[through His blood]], the forgiveness of sins, 15 who is the image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation, 16 because all things were created in Him, those in the heavens, and those on the earth, those visible, and those invisible, whether thrones, whether lordships, whether principalities, whether authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him, 17 and He is before all, and all things have consisted in Him. 18 And He is the head of the body—the Assembly—who is a beginning, a firstborn out of the dead, that He might become first in all [things] Himself, 19 because all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself—having made peace through the blood of His Cross—through Him, whether the things on the earth, whether the things in the heavens. 21 And you—once being alienated, and enemies in the mind, in the evil works, yet now He reconciled, 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and unblemished, and unblameable before Himself, 23 if you also remain in the faith, being founded and settled, and not moved away from the hope of the good news, which you heard, which was preached in all the creation that [is] under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a servant. 24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up the things lacking of the tribulations of the Christ in my flesh for His body, which is the Assembly, 25 of which I became a servant according to the dispensation of God, that was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the secret that has been hid from the ages and from the generations, but now was revealed to His holy ones, 27 to whom God willed to make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this secret among the nations—which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory, 28 whom we proclaim, warning every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, 29 for which I also labor, striving according to His working that is working in me in power.
Colossians · Literal Standard Version
Colossians 1 Literal Standard Version
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)