1   Pavl an Apostle of Iesvs Christ by the vvil of God, and brother Timothee:

2   to them that are at Colossa sainctes and faithful brethren in Christ Iesvs.

3   Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Iesvs Christ.

3   Vve giue thankes to God and the Father of our Lord Iesvs Christ alvvaies for you, praying:

4   hearing your faith in Christ Iesvs, and the loue vvhich you haue tovvard al the saincts,

5   for the hope that is laid vp for you in heauen, vvhich you haue heard in the vvord of the truth of the Gospel,

6   that is come to you, as also ^note in the vvhole vvorld it is, and fructifieth, and grovveth, euen as in you, since that day that you heard & knevv the grace of God in truth,

7   as you learned of Epaphras our deerest fellovv-seruant, vvho is a faithful minister of Iesvs Christ for you,

8   vvho also hath manifested to vs your loue in spirit.

9   Therfore ^note vve also from the day that vve heard it, cease not praying for you and desiring, that you may be filled vvith the knovvledge of his vvil, in al vvisedom, and spiritual vnderstanding:

10   that you may vvalke ^{note note} vvorthie of God, in al things pleasing: Fructifying

in ^note al good vvorke, & increasing in the knovvledge of God:

11   in al povver strengthened according to the might of his glorie, in al patience and longanimitie vvith ioy

12   giuing thankes to God and the Father, vvho hath made vs ^note vvorthy vnto the part of the lot of the sainctes in the light:

13   vvho hath deliuered vs from the povver of darkenes, and hath translated vs into the kingdom of the sonne of his loue,

14   in vvhom vve haue redemption, the remission of sinnes: &cross4;

15   vvho is the ^note image of the inuisible God, the first-borne of al creature:

16   because ^note in him vvere created al things in heauen, and in earth, visible, and inuisible, vvhether Thrones, or Dominations, or Principalities, or Potestates: al by him, & in him vvere created:

17   and he is before al, and al consist in him.

18   And he is the head of the body, the Chvrch, vvho is the beginning, first-borne of the dead: that he may be in al things holding the primacie:

19   because in him it hath vvel pleased, al fulnes to inhabite:

20   and by him to reconcile al things vnto him self, pacifying by the bloud of his crosse, vvhether the things in earth, or the things that are in heauen.

21   And you, vvhereas you vvere sometime alienated and enemies in sense, in euil vvorkes:

22   yet novv he hath reconciled in the body of his flesh by death, to present you holy & immaculate, and blameles before him:

23   if yet ye c&obar;tinue in the faith, grounded and stable, and vnmoueable from the hope of the Gospel vvhich you haue heard, vvhich is preached among al creatures that are vnder heauen, vvhereof I Paul am made a minister.

24   Vvho novv reioyce in suffering for you, and09Q1244 do accomplish those things that vvant of the passions of Christ, in my flesh for his body, vvhich is the Chvrch:

25   vvhereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, vvhich is giuen me tovvard you, that I may fulfil the vvord of God,

26   the mysterie that hath been hidden from vvorldes and generations, but novv is manifested to his sainctes,

27   to vvh&obar; God vvould make knowen the riches of the glorie of this sacrament in the Gentiles, vvhich is Christ, in you the hope of glorie,

28   vvhom vve preache, admonishing euery man, and teaching euery man in al vvisedom, that vve may present euery man perfect in Christ Iesvs.

29   Vvherein also I labour striuing according to his operation vvhich he vvorketh in me in povver.

Previous section

Next section