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Thankfulness for Spiritual Attainments

^1 (C1)Paul, ^(C2)an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed) ^(C3)by the will of God, and ^(C4)Timothy our brother,

² To the ^(F1)(C1)saints and faithful ^(F2)believers in Christ who are at Colossae: ^(C2)Grace to you and peace inner calm and spiritual well-being from God our Father.

^3 (C1)We give thanks to God, ^(C2)the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we pray always for you,^4 (C1)for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus how you lean on Him with absolute confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness, and of the unselfish ^(F1)(C2)love which you have for ^(C3)all the saints (God's people);⁵ because of the confident ^(C1)hope of experiencing that ^(C2)which is reserved and waiting for you in heaven. You previously ^(C3)heard of this hope in the message of truth, the gospel regarding salvation⁶ which has come to you. Indeed, just as ^(C1)in the whole world the gospel is constantly bearing ^(C2)fruit and spreading by God's power, just as it has been doing among you ever since the day you first ^(C3)heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth becoming thoroughly and deeply acquainted with it.⁷ You learned it from our representative ^(C1)Epaphras, our ^(C2)beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf⁸ and he also has told us of your ^(C1)love well-grounded and nurtured in the Holy Spirit.

⁹ For this reason, ^(C1)since the day we heard about it, ^(C2)we have not stopped praying for you, asking specifically that you may be filled with the ^(C3)knowledge of His will in all spiritual ^(C4)wisdom with insight into His purposes, and in understanding of spiritual things,¹⁰ so that you will ^(C1)walk in a manner worthy of the Lord displaying admirable character, moral courage, and personal integrity, ^(C2)to fully please Him in all things, ^(C3)bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing in the knowledge of God with deeper faith, clearer insight and fervent love for His precepts;¹¹ we pray that you may be ^(C1)strengthened and invigorated with all power, according to His glorious might, to attain every kind of endurance and patience ^(C2)with joy;¹² giving thanks to ^(C1)the Father, who has qualified us to share in ^(C2)the inheritance of the saints (God's people) in the ^(C3)Light.

The Incomparable Christ

¹⁵ He is the ^(C1)exact living image the essential manifestation of the ^(C2)unseen God the visible representation of the invisible, the ^(C3)firstborn the preeminent one, the sovereign, and the originator of all creation.¹⁶ For ^(F1)(C1)by Him all things were created ^(C1)in heaven and on earth, things visible and invisible, whether ^(C2)thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; ^(C3)all things were created and exist through Him that is, by His activity and for Him.¹⁷ And He Himself ^(C1)existed and is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. His is the controlling, cohesive force of the universe. ^(VR1)18 He is also the ^(C1)head the life-source and leader of ^(C2)the body, the ^(F1)church; and He is ^(C3)the beginning, ^(F2)(C4)the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will occupy the first place He will stand supreme and be preeminent in everything. ^(VR1)19 For it pleased ^(C1)the Father for all ^(C2)the fullness of deity—the sum total of His essence, all His perfection, powers, and attributes to dwell permanently in Him (the Son),²⁰ and through the intervention of the Son to ^(C1)reconcile all things to Himself, making ^(C2)peace with believers through ^(C3)the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, ^(C4)whether things on earth or things in heaven.

²¹ And although you were ^(C1)at one time estranged and alienated and hostile-minded toward Him, participating in evil things,²² yet Christ has now ^(C1)reconciled you to God in His ^(F1)physical ^(C2)body through death, in order to ^(C3)present you before the Father ^(C4)holy and blameless and beyond reproach—²³ and He will do this if you continue in the faith, ^(C1)well-grounded and steadfast, and not shifting away from the confident ^(C2)hope that is a result of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed ^(F1)(C3)in all creation under heaven, ^(C4)and of which gospel I, Paul, was made a ^(C5)minister.

^24 (C1)Now I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf. And with my own body ^(C2)I ^(F1)supplement whatever is lacking on our part of Christ's afflictions, on behalf of ^(C3)His body, which is the church.^25 (C1)In this church I was made a minister according to the ^(C2)stewardship which God entrusted to me for your sake, so that I might make the word of God fully known among you—²⁶ that is, ^(F1)(C1)the mystery which was hidden from angels and mankind for ages and generations, but has now been revealed to His saints (God's people).^27 (C1)God in His eternal plan chose to make known to them how great for the Gentiles are ^(C2)the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is ^(C3)Christ in and among you, the ^(C4)hope and guarantee of realizing the glory.²⁸ We proclaim Him, ^(C1)warning and instructing everyone in all ^(C2)wisdom that is, with comprehensive insight into the word and purposes of God, so that we may ^(C3)present every person ^(C4)complete in Christ mature, fully trained, and perfect in Him—the Anointed.²⁹ For this I ^(C1)labor often to the point of exhaustion, ^(C2)striving ^(C3)with His power and energy, which so greatly works within me.