Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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1 From Paul, who by God's will is
an apostle of Christ Jesus, and
from our brother Timothy—
2 To God's people in Colossae,
who are our faithful brothers in
union with Christ:
2 May God our Father give you
grace and peace.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
3 We always give thanks to God,
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
when we pray for you.
4 For we have
heard of your faith in Christ Jesus
and of your love for all God's people.
5 When the true message, the Good
News, first came to you, you heard
about the hope it offers. So your
faith and love are based on what you
hope for, which is kept safe for you
in heaven.
6 The gospel keeps bringing
blessings and is spreading
throughout the world, just as it has
among you ever since the day you
first heard about the grace of God
and came to know it as it really is.
7 You learned of God's grace from
Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,
who is Christ's faithful worker on
-- --
our note behalf. note
8 He has told us of the
love that the Spirit has given you.
9 For this reason we have always
prayed for you, ever since we heard
about you. We ask God to fill you
with the knowledge of his will, with
all the wisdom and understanding
that his Spirit gives.
10 Then you will
be able to live as the Lord wants and
will always do what pleases him.
Your lives will produce all kinds of
good deeds, and you will grow in
your knowledge of God.
11
12 May
you be made strong with all the
strength which comes from his glorious
power, so that you may be able
to endure everything with patience.
And with joy give thanks to note the Father,
who has made you fit to have
your share of what God has reserved
for his people in the kingdom of
light.
13 He rescued us from the
power of darkness and brought us
safe into the kingdom of his dear
Son,
14 by whom we are set free, that
is, our sins are forgiven. note
The Person and Work of Christ
15 Christ is the visible likeness of
the invisible God. He is the first-born
Son, superior to all created things. note
16 For through him God created
everything in heaven and on earth,
the seen and the unseen things, including
spiritual powers, lords, rulers,
and authorities. God created the
whole universe through him and for
him.
17 Christ existed before all
things, and in union with him all
things have their proper place.
18 He
is the head of his body, the church;
he is the source of the body's life. He
is the first-born Son, who was raised
from death, in order that he alone
might have the first place in all
things. note
19 For it was by God's own
decision that the Son has in himself
the full nature of God.
20 Through the
Son, then, God decided to bring the
whole universe back to himself. God
made peace through his Son's sacrificial
death on the cross and so
brought back to himself all things,
both on earth and in heaven. note
21 At one time you were far away
from God and were his enemies because
of the evil things you did and
thought.
22 But now, by means of the
physical death of his Son, God has
made you his friends, in order to
bring you, holy, pure, and faultless,
into his presence.
23 You must, of
course, continue faithful on a firm
and sure foundation, and must not
allow yourselves to be shaken from
the hope you gained when you heard
the gospel. It is of this gospel that I,
Paul, became a servant—this gospel
which has been preached to everybody
in the world.
Paul's Work as a Servant of the Church
24 And now I am happy about my
sufferings for you, for by means of
my physical sufferings I am helping
to complete what still remains of
Christ's sufferings on behalf of his
body, the church.
25 And I have been
made a servant of the church by
God, who gave me this task to perform
for your good. It is the task of
fully proclaiming his message,
26 which is the secret he hid through
all past ages from all mankind but
has now revealed to his people.
27 God's plan is to make known his
secret to his people, this rich and
glorious secret which he has for all
peoples. And the secret is that Christ
is in you, which means that you will
share in the glory of God.
28 So we
preach Christ to everyone. With all
possible wisdom we warn and teach
them in order to bring each one into
God's presence as a mature individual
in union with Christ.
29 To get
this done I toil and struggle, using
the mighty strength which Christ
supplies and which is at work in me.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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