A "Grain Of Wheat" Ministries publication

Translated by David W. Dyer

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The Letter of Paul to the Colossians

COLOSSIANS CHAPTER 1

1:1Paul, a sent one of the Anointed One, Jesus, through the will of God along with Timothy our brother, 1:2to those set apart for God, even the faithful brethren in the Anointed One who are at Colossae: May you have grace and peace from God our Father. 1:3We always give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One when we pray for you, 1:4because we have heard of your faith in the Anointed One, Jesus, and of the love which you have toward all those set apart for God.

1:5This is a result of the hope which is stored up for you in the heavens, about which you already heard through the word of the truth of the good news message. 1:6This message which came to you is the same one which has gone out to all the world, bearing fruit and increasing as it also has been doing in you, ever since you heard and knew about the grace of God in truth.

1:7This is the message which you learned from Epaphras our beloved fellow-servant who is a faithful servant of the Anointed One on your behalf. 1:8It was he who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

1:9For this reason, since the day we heard about it, we also have not stopped praying and asking God for you that you would be filled with the complete knowledge of his purpose through having all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

1:10We pray that you would live in a way which is worthy of the Lord, pleasing him in everything, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. 1:11We pray that you would be strengthened with all power according to his glorious strength, resulting in a life of patience and endurance, 1:12as you are joyfully giving thanks to the Father. It is he who is qualifying you to have a share of the inheritance in the realms of light together with all those set apart for God.

1:13It is also he who is delivering us out from under the power of the darkness and is transferring us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 1:14It is through him that we have the release – the liberation from our sins – by the full payment of the ransom price: the shedding of his blood.

1:15He, the Son, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 1:16For through him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth – the things which are visible and those things which are invisible – whether thrones, or dominions, or lordships, or rulers, all things have been created through him and for him.

1:17He existed before all things and by him all things hold together. 1:18And he is the head of the body, the gathering of the called-out ones. He is the beginning of everything and also the firstborn from the dead, so that he might have the preeminence in all things.

1:19For the Father was very pleased for all his fulness to reside in him 1:20and that through him he would restore all things to their former state of harmony with himself – including things in the heavens and things on the earth – having made peace through the blood of his cross.

1:21But in the past you were alienated from God and were his enemies; your corrupt thoughts produced your evil works. 1:22Yet now he is reconciling you to himself in his physical body through death in order to present you before himself: holy, without blemish, and above reproach.

1:23This will be the result if you continue in the faith, being established, continuing steadfastly without being moved away from the hope of the good news which you heard. This is the message which is being proclaimed in all creation under heaven of which I Paul was made a servant.

1:24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. I fill up on my part, in my body, that which is lacking of the afflictions of the Anointed One for his body’s sake which is the entire group of called-out ones. 1:25It is for them that I have become a servant according to the commission which God has given me to proclaim to you the word of God in its fulness. 1:26This is the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations but now has been revealed to those he set apart for himself.

1:27These are those from among the Gentiles to whom God was pleased to reveal the overflowing abundance of the glory contained in this mystery which is this: the Anointed One being in you, giving you the hope of being glorified.

1:28It is him we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present each one perfected in the Anointed One. 1:29This is the result for which I also strenuously labor, striving according to his power which works through me mightily.

COLOSSIANS CHAPTER 2

2:1For I want you to know how much of an inner struggle I have for you, for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in person. 2:2I yearn that their hearts would be comforted and be knitted together in love. Also, I desire that they would have the “wealth” of complete confidence in God, which comes through a full understanding of the mystery of God – even the Father revealing himself – which is the Anointed One.*

*This truth is further revealed in chapter 1, verse 5.

2:3It is in him that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. 2:4I say this so that no one will mislead you with persuasive talk. 2:5For though I am absent in person, yet I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your godly character and the firmness of your faith in the Anointed One.

2:6In the same way that you received the Anointed One, Jesus the Lord, walk in him, 2:7thus being rooted and built up in him and being established in your faith just as you were taught, overflowing with thanksgiving.

2:8Be careful so that no one leads you away as plunder for themselves** using philosophy and empty, deceptive ideas, which is the way men often operate, following the worldly pattern which is not the way of the Anointed One.
**They do this by persuading you to listen to and trust in them.

2:9Understand this: all the fulness of the divine nature dwells in him bodily. 2:10And you are being filled with him who is the head of all principality and power! 2:11It is also in him that you are being circumcised with a circumcision, not done with human hands, but instead through the stripping off of the entirety of the sins of the flesh by the spiritual circumcision which occurs in the Anointed One.

2:12Since you are being buried together with him through the death which baptism symbolizes, you are also being co-resurrected with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 2:13And you – being “dead” because of your sins, which is the “uncircumcised” condition of your flesh – to you, I say, he gives God’s life together with himself, graciously rescuing us from all of our sins.

2:14He blots out the array of written ordinances which were against us and even opposed to us. He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. 2:15He also strips off from us the domination of the principalities and the powers, clearly exposing how they operate, he himself triumphing over them.

2:16Therefore, since the written ordinances have been “blotted out,” let no one judge you with respect to religious ordinances such as what kind of meat you eat, what you drink, or concerning a religious feast day, or observing a new moon, or a Sabbath day. 2:17This is because these things are just a shadow of the spiritual things which were to come, but the fulfillment of them is now in the Anointed One.

2:18Don’t let anyone cheat you out of your reward by insisting on voluntary submission to men and giving reverence to human messengers. Such men emphasize things which they claim to have “seen” without any genuine basis whatsoever and have an overinflated, fleshly idea of their own importance. 2:19When you reverence and submit to them, you are not holding securely to the Head, from whom the whole body, being supplied and knit together through the “joints and ligaments,” increases with the increase of God.

2:20Since you are dying together with the Anointed One to the essence of this world, why, as though still a part of the world, do you subject yourselves to earthly, religious ordinances 2:21such as: don’t touch this, don’t eat that, or don’t handle some other thing? 2:22These are just regulations concerning perishable things, all of which are consumed by using them. These are just human precepts and doctrines!

2:23These are things which have an appearance of wisdom in “worship” which humans invent, self-humiliation, and severity to the body but are of no value with regard to truly dealing with the appetites of the flesh.

COLOSSIANS CHAPTER 3

3:1Since then you are being raised together with the Anointed One, earnestly seek that which is on high, where the Anointed One is seated in the place of supreme honor and authority of God. 3:2Fix your thoughts on the things which are heavenly and not on the things that are just earthly types and shadows. 3:3For you died {and are dying} together with the Anointed One, yet God’s life within you is kept hidden for now in God, together with the Anointed One. 3:4But, when the Anointed One who is that life in you is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glorious splendor.

3:5Be putting to death, therefore, that which is part of your earthly nature: i.e. sex outside of the marriage bond, unclean sexual acts, lustfulness, longing for what is prohibited, and seeking wealth which is really worshipping money as an idol. 3:6It is because of these things that the punishment of God is coming on the children of disobedience.

3:7You once behaved like this when you lived practicing these things, 3:8but now you must put them all away: i.e. strong natural impulses, fits of temper, holding grudges, slandering others, and using filthy language. 3:9Don’t take advantage of others, since you are putting off the old man with his fallen behavior 3:10and are putting on the new man who has a renewed kind of understanding of how to behave, corresponding to the image of the One who created him.

3:11In the Anointed One there is no place for Greek and Jew, those who are circumcised and those who are uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free man, but the Anointed One is the “all” and is in all believers. 3:12Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering; 3:13bearing with each other and forgiving each other. If any one has a complaint against someone else, just as the Lord forgave you, you do the same.

3:14And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of spiritual perfection. 3:15Let the peace of the Anointed One be what directs your hearts. It is this peace to which you also were called in one body. Always be thankful.

3:16Let the word of the Anointed One live richly inside of you in all wisdom, as you teach and admonish each other with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.

3:17And whatever you do, whether speaking or doing, do everything in the name of {in the reality of} the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

3:18Wives, yield yourselves completely to your own husbands, as is appropriate in the Lord. 3:19Husbands, love your wives unconditionally and don’t be bitter towards them. 3:20Children, obey your parents in all respects for this is very pleasing to the Lord. 3:21Fathers, don’t provoke your children so that they don’t become discouraged.

3:22Servants [or employees], obey those who are your human masters in everything, not just when someone is watching or as simply pleasing men, but do it with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord.

3:23Whatever you do, do with your whole heart as if doing it for the Lord and not for men, 3:24knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of the inheritance.*

* Inheriting all that God has, all that He is, and all that He will newly create.

This is because you are actually serving the Lord, the Anointed One. 3:25But he who does wrong to others will receive the just “reward” for the wrong that he has done, for there is no favoritism with God.**

**This truth includes believers, who will receive their “reward” before the judgment seat of the Anointed One, which will be a great surprise for many.

COLOSSIANS CHAPTER 4

4:1Masters, give to your servants [and employees] that which is fair and just, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. 4:2Continue persistently in prayer, being spiritual ly awake and thankful. 4:3And pray for us, too, that God would open to us a door for the word, enabling us to speak the mystery of the Anointed One (for which I am also in chains) 4:4so that I may proclaim it in the best possible way.

4:5Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside of the Anointed One, wisely using the available time. 4:6Let your speech always be with grace, “seasoned with salt,” so that you may know how you can best answer each one.

4:7Tychicus will tell you about all my business. He is a beloved brother, faithful servant, and fellow slave in the Lord 4:8whom (together with Onesimus the faithful and much loved brother who is one of you) I have sent to you for this very purpose so that you may know our situation and so that he may comfort your hearts. 4:9They will let you know everything which is going on here.

4:10Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you along with Mark the cousin of Bar-Nabas (about whom you received instructions to receive if he comes to you), 4:11and Jesus, called Justus, who are of the “circumcision.” These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are Jews, men who have been a comfort to me.

4:12Epaphras, a servant of the Anointed One, Jesus, who is one of you, greets you. He is always praying earnestly for you so that you may stand perfected and be in complete conformity with all the will of God. 4:13For I testify about him that he has a deep concern for you, for those in Laodicea, and for those in Hierapolis.

4:14Luke the beloved physician and Demas send greetings to you. 4:15Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea along with Nympha and the gathering of the called-out ones that is in her house.

4:16When this letter has been read among you, cause it to be read also in the gathering of the called-out ones of the Laodiceans. You should read the letter “from” Laodicea* too.

*The Greek word here is “from” which indicates the origin of this letter. Yet it is unlikely that the Laodiceans wrote a letter to the Colossians. Instead, this letter was probably written by Paul to the Laodiceans but would be sent “from” them to the Colossians.

4:17Say to Archippus, “Pay careful attention to the ministry which you have received from the Lord and fulfill it.” 4:18This is a greeting from me, Paul, written with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

Words in this translation found in italics are words which are implied by the Greek text but do not represent actual words in the Greek text. This practice is common in almost all modern translations. Occasionally, this translator has added words to the translation which represent his own ideas and opinions which, although they are based on his own biblical understanding, are not part of the actual Greek text. Such words are enclosed in brackets, like this [ ]. The reader should understand these words as being the opinion of the translator. In contrast to this, the words in these braces { } indicate legitimate, alternative translations or explanations. Words within parentheses () are part of the original Greek text. Such parentheses are often used in other New Testament translations also.

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