Col 1
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Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by [the] will of God, and Timothy our brother,
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To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for
you,
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when we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love which is towards all the
saints;
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because of the hope being laid up for you in [the] heavens, in which you heard before
in the word of the truth of the gospel,
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which has come to you, just as also in all the world, and is bearing fruit and growing,
just as also among you, from the day which you heard and fully knew the grace of God
in truth;
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just as also you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful
minister of Christ for you,
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who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
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On account of this we also, since the day 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;
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that you should walk worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit
and increasing in the full knowledge of God;
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being strengthened with all power, according to the might of His glory, for all endurance
and longsuffering with joy;
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giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the
saints in the light.
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He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom
of the Son of His love,
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in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
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He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,
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because by Him all things were created, those in the heavens and those on earth, visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things have
been created through Him and for Him.
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And He is before all things, and in Him all things are held together.
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And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, so that in all things He may have the preeminence;
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for it pleased [the Father that] in Him all the fullness should dwell,
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and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on the
earth or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
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And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
He has reconciled
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in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above
reproach before Him-
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if indeed you continue in the faith, having been founded and firm and not drifting
away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was proclaimed to all creation
under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
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I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in
the afflictions of Christ, for His body, which is the church,
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of which I became a minister according to the stewardship of God which was given to
me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
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the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from generations, but now was
revealed to His saints.
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To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory;
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whom we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we
may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;
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for which I also labor, striving according to His working which is working in me with
power.