<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><base href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%201&version=NIV"><style id="print"></style><title>Colossians 1 NIV - Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the - Bible Gateway</title><div class="original-url">Happy Sunday, Ohio Communities Of Faith, family and friends. Many many blessings.<br><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%201&version=NIV">https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%201&version=NIV</a><br><br></div><div id="article" role="article" style="-webkit-locale: "en"; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="system exported">
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<div class="page" style="text-align: start; overflow-wrap: break-word; max-width: 100%;"><h1 class="title" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.95552em; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: start; hyphens: manual; display: block; max-width: 100%;">Colossians 1
New International Version</h1> <p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">1 </span>Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,</span></p> <p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">2 </sup>To God\u2019s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters<sup data-fn="#fen-NIV-29468a" data-link="[<a href="#fen-NIV-29468a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]" style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">[<span class="converted-anchor" style="max-width: 100%;">a</span>]</sup> in Christ:</span></p><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Grace and peace to you from God our Father.<sup data-fn="#fen-NIV-29468b" data-link="[<a href="#fen-NIV-29468b" title="See footnote b">b</a>]" style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">[<span class="converted-anchor" style="max-width: 100%;">b</span>]</sup></span></p> <h3 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Thanksgiving and Prayer</span></h3><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">3 </sup>We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">4 </sup>because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God\u2019s people\u2014</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">5 </sup>the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">6 </sup>that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world\u2014just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God\u2019s grace.</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">7 </sup>You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant,<sup data-fn="#fen-NIV-29473c" data-link="[<a href="#fen-NIV-29473c" title="See footnote c">c</a>]" style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">[<span class="converted-anchor" style="max-width: 100%;">c</span>]</sup> who is a faithful minister of Christ on our<sup data-fn="#fen-NIV-29473d" data-link="[<a href="#fen-NIV-29473d" title="See footnote d">d</a>]" style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">[<span class="converted-anchor" style="max-width: 100%;">d</span>]</sup> behalf,</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">8 </sup>and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.</span></p> <p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">9 </sup>For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,<sup data-fn="#fen-NIV-29475e" data-link="[<a href="#fen-NIV-29475e" title="See footnote e">e</a>]" style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">[<span class="converted-anchor" style="max-width: 100%;">e</span>]</sup></span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">10 </sup>so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">11 </sup>being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">12 </sup>and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you<sup data-fn="#fen-NIV-29478f" data-link="[<a href="#fen-NIV-29478f" title="See footnote f">f</a>]" style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">[<span class="converted-anchor" style="max-width: 100%;">f</span>]</sup> to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">13 </sup>For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">14 </sup>in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.</span></p> <h3 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">The Supremacy of the Son of God</span></h3><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">15 </sup>The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">16 </sup>For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">17 </sup>He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">18 </sup>And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">19 </sup>For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">20 </sup>and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.</span></p> <p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">21 </sup>Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of<sup data-fn="#fen-NIV-29487g" data-link="[<a href="#fen-NIV-29487g" title="See footnote g">g</a>]" style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">[<span class="converted-anchor" style="max-width: 100%;">g</span>]</sup> your evil behavior.</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">22 </sup>But now he has reconciled you by Christ\u2019s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation\u2014</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">23 </sup>if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.</span></p> <h3 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Paul\u2019s Labor for the Church</span></h3><p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">24 </sup>Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ\u2019s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">25 </sup>I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness\u2014</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">26 </sup>the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord\u2019s people.</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">27 </sup>To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.</span></p> <p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">28 </sup>He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.</span> <span style="max-width: 100%;"><sup style="max-width: 100%; line-height: 1; font-size: 0.75em;">29 </sup>To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.</span></p> </div></div></div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">rev. Dr. Carolyn Peters, Ohio National Federation Of The Blind, board member. Ohio Communities Of Faith division, President. Miami Valley Chapter, President. 937-657-5134<div></div><div>Dr.carolyn.peters@gmail.com</div><div><br></div><div>\U0001f469\u200d\U0001f9af</div></div></body></html>