1 Paul,aSee 2 Cor. 1:1 an apostle of Christ JesusbSee 1 Cor. 1:1 by the will of God, and TimothycSee 1 Thess. 3:2 our brother,
2 To thedEph. 1:1; See Phil. 1:1 saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:eRom. 1:7 Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
3 fEph. 1:15, 16; Philem. 4 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard ofgSee 1 Thess. 1:3 your faith in Christ Jesus and ofgSee 1 Thess. 1:3 the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because ofhver. 23; See Acts 23:6; Titus 1:2; Heb. 3:6 the hopei2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Pet. 1:4 laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before injSee Eph. 1:13 the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeedk[ver. 23; Ps. 98:3]; See Matt. 24:14 in the whole world it islJohn 15:5, 16; [Phil. 1:11] bearing fruit and growing—as it also does among you, since the day youm[Rom. 16:26; Eph. 4:21] heard it and understoodnSee Acts 11:23 the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it fromoch. 4:12; Philem. 23 Epaphras our belovedpch. 4:7 fellow servant. He ispch. 4:7 a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us yourq[Rom. 15:30] love in the Spirit.
9 And so,rver. 4 from the day we heard,s2 Thess. 1:11 we have not ceased to pray for you, asking thatt[Eph. 1:17] you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in alluch. 4:5; Eph. 1:8; [1 Cor. 12:8] spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so asv[Ps. 1:1, 3]; See Eph. 4:1 to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,w[2 Cor. 5:9; Eph. 5:10; 1 Thess. 4:1] fully pleasing to him,xver. 6 bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 ySee Eph. 3:16 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, forzEph. 4:2 all endurance and patienceaSee Matt. 5:12 with joy, 12 bch. 3:15; Eph. 5:20 giving thanks1Or patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share incSee Acts 26:18 the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 Hed1 Thess. 1:10 has delivered us fromeLuke 22:53; Eph. 6:12 the domain of darkness and transferred us tof2 Pet. 1:11 the kingdom ofg[Eph. 1:6] his beloved Son, 14 hSee Eph. 1:7 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 iSee 2 Cor. 4:4 He is the image ofjSee 1 Tim. 1:17 the invisible God,k[Ps. 89:27]; See Rom. 8:29 the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created,lEph. 1:10 in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whetherm[Ezek. 10:1] thrones ornEph. 1:21 dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were createdoRom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 8:6 through him and for him. 17 Andp[John 8:58]; See John 1:1 he is before all things, and in him all thingsq[Heb. 1:3] hold together. 18 AndrSee Eph. 1:22, 23 he is the head of the body, the church. He issRev. 3:14 the beginning,tActs 26:23; 1 Cor. 15:20; Rev. 1:5 the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 Foruch. 2:9 in him all thevSee John 1:16 fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 andwSee 2 Cor. 5:18; Eph. 1:10 through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven,xSee Eph. 2:14 making peacey[Eph. 2:13] by the blood of his cross.
21 zSee Eph. 2:1, 2, 12 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind,a[Titus 1:16] doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciledb[Rom. 7:4] in his body of flesh by his death,cJude 24; See Eph. 1:4; 5:27 in order to present you holy and blameless andd1 Cor. 1:8 above reproach before him, 23 eSee John 15:4 if indeed you continue in the faith,fch. 2:7; Eph. 3:17 stable and steadfast, not shifting fromgver. 5, 6 the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimedhMark 16:15; [Acts 2:5] in all creation1Or to every creature under heaven,iSee 2 Cor. 3:6 and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
24 NowjSee 2 Cor. 7:4 I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my fleshk[2 Tim. 1:8; 2:10] I am filling uplSee 2 Cor. 1:5 what is lacking in Christ's afflictionsm[Eph. 4:12] for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 nver. 23 of which I became a minister according tooSee Eph. 3:2 the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 pEph. 3:9; See Rom. 16:25, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 q[ch. 2:2] To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles arerEph. 1:18; 3:16 the riches of the glory ofp[See ver. 26 above] this mystery, which is Christ in you,s1 Tim. 1:1 the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, thattSee ver. 22, 23 we may present everyoneuSee Matt. 5:48 mature in Christ. 29 For thisv1 Cor. 15:10; 1 Tim. 4:10 I toil,wch. 4:12; [ch. 2:1] strugglingxSee Eph. 1:19 with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.