Study Desk

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will,^(a) and Timothy^(b) our^[a] brother:

To the saints in Christ at Colossae, who are faithful brothers. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.^[b]

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints

because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth,^(c) the gospel

that has come to you. It is bearing fruit^(d) and growing all over the world,^(e) just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God's grace^(f) in the truth.^[c](g)

You learned this from Epaphras,^(h) our dearly loved fellow slave. He is a faithful servant of the Messiah⁽ⁱ⁾ on your^[d] behalf,

and he has told us about your love in the Spirit.^(j)

For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven't stopped praying for you. We are asking^(k) that you may be filled with the knowledge^(l) of His will^(m) in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,^[e]

so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work⁽ⁿ⁾ and growing in the knowledge of God.^(o)

May you be strengthened^(p) with all power,^(q) according to His glorious^(r) might, for all endurance and patience, with joy

giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you^[f] to share in the saints'^[g] inheritance in the light.^(s)

He has rescued^(t) us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom^(u) of the Son^(v) He loves.^(w)

We have redemption,^[h] the forgiveness of sins, in Him.

He is the image of the invisible God,^(x) the firstborn over all creation.^[i](y)

For everything was created by Him,^(z) in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him.^(aa)

He is before all things,^(ab) and by Him all things^(ac) hold together.

He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning,^(ad) the firstborn from the dead,^(ae) so that He might come to have first place in everything.

For God was pleased to have all His fullness^(af) dwell in Him,^(ag)

and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace^(ah) through the blood^(ai) of His cross^[j](aj)— whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions.

But now He has reconciled you by His physical body^[k] through His death,^(ak) to present you holy, faultless,^(al) and blameless before Him^(am)—

if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith^(an) and are not shifted away from the hope^(ao) of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation^(ap) under heaven,^(aq) and I, Paul,^(ar) have become a servant of it.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings^(as) for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for His body,^(at) that is, the church.

I have become its servant, according to God's administration that was given to me for you, to make God's message fully known,

the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to His saints.

God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ^(au) in you, the hope^(av) of glory.

We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

I labor for this, striving^(aw) with His strength that works powerfully in me.^(ax)

For I want you to know how great a struggle^(a) I have for you, for those in Laodicea,^(b) and for all who have not seen me in person.

I want their hearts to be encouraged^(c) and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God's mystery^(d)—Christ.^[a](e)

All the treasures of wisdom^(f) and knowledge^(g) are hidden in Him.

I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments.

For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit,^(h) rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

Therefore, as you have received⁽ⁱ⁾ Christ Jesus the Lord,^(j) walk in Him,

rooted and built up in Him^(k) and established in the faith, just as you were taught,^(l) overflowing with gratitude.

Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition,^(m) based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.⁽ⁿ⁾

For the entire fullness^(o) of God's nature^[b] dwells bodily^[c] in Christ,

and you have been filled by Him, who is the head^(p) over every ruler and authority.

You were also circumcised in Him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh,^(q) in the circumcision of the Messiah.^[d](r)

Having been buried with Him^(s) in baptism, you were also raised with Him^(t) through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.^(u)

And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him and forgave us all our trespasses.

He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.^(v)

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; He triumphed over them by Him.^[e](w)

Therefore, don't let anyone judge^(x) you in regard to food and drink^(y) or in the matter of a festival or a new moon^(z) or a Sabbath day.^[f]

These are a shadow^(aa) of what was to come;^(ab) the substance is^[g] the Messiah.^(ac)

Let no one disqualify you,^[h](ad) insisting on ascetic practices^(ae) and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated^(af) without cause by his unspiritual^[i] mind.

He doesn't hold on to the head, from whom the whole body,^(ag) nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God.

If you died with the Messiah^(ah) to the elemental forces of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations:

"Don't handle, don't taste, don't touch"?

All these regulations refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are commands and doctrines of men.

Although these have a reputation of wisdom^(ai) by promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.^[j](aj)