Colossians 1:13-27

¹³who delivered us out of the dominion of the darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

¹⁴in whom we have the redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins.

¹⁵He is the visible representation of the invisible God, ‘Firstborn’ over all creation,

¹⁶because by Him all things were created—those in the heavens and those on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

¹⁷Yes, He is before all, and in Him all things subsist.

¹⁸Also, He is the Head of the body, the Church. He is Beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that He may be preeminent in everything,

¹⁹because in Him all the Fullness was pleased to dwell

²⁰and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross—through Him, whether things on the earth or things on the heavens.

²¹So now He has reconciled you as well (you who once were alienated and hostile in your mind because of your wicked works),

²²by His physical body through His death, so as to present you before Him holy and blameless and above reproach—

²³if, that is, you continue in the Faith established and firm, not drifting away from the hope of the Gospel, that you heard and that was proclaimed in all the creation under the heaven, of which I, Paul, became a servant.

²⁴Now I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf and supplement in my flesh the things lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the Church,

²⁵of which I became a servant according to the stewardship from God that was given to me towards you, to complete the Word of God,

²⁶the secret that has been hidden from past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His saints;

²⁷to whom God resolved to make known who is the wealth of the glory of this secret among the nations, namely Christ in you, the hope of glory;