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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Colossians 1 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/colossians/1.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/colossians/1-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Colossians 1</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../philippians/4.htm" title="Philippians 4">◄</a> Colossians 1 <a href="../colossians/2.htm" title="Colossians 2">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/colossians/1.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">Greetings from Paul</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> in Christ.</p><p class="reg">May God our Father give you grace and peace.</p><p class="hdg">Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>who purchased our freedom<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">d</span></a> and forgave our sins.</p><p class="hdg">Christ Is Supreme</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.</p><p class="line2">He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">e</span></a></p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>for through him God created everything</p><p class="line2">in the heavenly realms and on earth.</p><p class="line1">He made the things we can see</p><p class="line2">and the things we can’t see—</p><p class="line1">such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.</p><p class="line2">Everything was created through him and for him.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>He existed before anything else,</p><p class="line2">and he holds all creation together.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Christ is also the head of the church,</p><p class="line2">which is his body.</p><p class="line1">He is the beginning,</p><p class="line2">supreme over all who rise from the dead.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">f</span></a></p><p class="line2">So he is first in everything.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>For God in all his fullness</p><p class="line2">was pleased to live in Christ,</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>and through him God reconciled</p><p class="line2">everything to himself.</p><p class="line1">He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth</p><p class="line2">by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.</p><p class="b"/><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.</p><p class="hdg">Paul’s Work for the Church</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">g</span></a> in their relationship to Christ. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/1-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">1:2 </span><span class="ft">Greek </span><span class="it">faithful brothers.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">1:7 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">he is ministering on your behalf;</span><span class="ft"> some manuscripts read </span><span class="it">he is ministering on our behalf.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">1:11 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">all the patience and endurance you need with joy.</span><br><span class="fn">d</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">1:14 </span><span class="ft">Some manuscripts add </span><span class="it">with his blood.</span><br><span class="fn">e</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">1:15 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">He is the firstborn of all creation.</span><br><span class="fn">f</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">1:18 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">the firstborn from the dead.</span><br><span class="fn">g</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">1:28 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">mature.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 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