BWE - Colossians

Chapter 1

1:1  I am Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. God wanted me to be an apostle.

1:2  Timothy our brother, and I are writing this letter to God’s people, the Christian brothers in the city of Colossae. May the kindness of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.

1:3  We give thanks to God. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we ask God to bless you, we always thank him for you.

1:4  We have heard that you believe in Christ Jesus and love all of God’s people.

1:5  And also, you are looking ahead to what you will have in heaven. You have heard about it already when the good news was told to you.

1:6  That message has reached you. It is doing good and it is spreading everywhere in the world. It is doing the same among you. It began the day you heard and understood God’s blessing, which came to you in a clear way.

1:7  Epaphras taught you the truth. He is Christ’s servant, as we are also, and we love him. He is a good worker to help you.

1:8  Also, it is he who told us of your love in the Spirit.

1:9  That is why we keep on talking to God about you since the day we heard about you. We ask him that you may know everything he wants you to do. We ask him that you may be very wise and that the Spirit will help you to understand.

1:10  We ask him that you will live the way the Lord wants you to live, so that you will please him in everything you do. We ask that you will do everything that is good. We ask that you will see the fruit from what you do. We ask that you will know more and more about God.

1:11  God has wonderful power. And we ask him to give you all the strength you need to go through all your troubles, to be very patient in them, and to be happy.

1:12  Thank the Father who has made us ready to be with the people of God who live in his light.

1:13  He has set us free from the kingdom where it is dark. And he has put us into the kingdom where his dear Son rules.

1:14  Because of his Son, we are set free and the wrong things we have done are forgiven.

1:15  The Son is like God who cannot be seen. He was his Son before anything was made.

1:16  He made everything in the sky and on the earth. He made the things which can be seen and the things which cannot be seen. That means angels, kings, great powers, and rulers. They were all made by him and for him.

1:17  He himself was before all things. And he holds all things together.

1:18  He is also the head of the body which is the church. He is the beginning, the first one to rise from death, so that he would be the first one in everything.

1:19  God wanted Christ to have everything in himself.

1:20  And God chose him to be the one who would bring all things back to himself. God made peace by the blood which Christ gave on his cross. He would bring back all things on earth and in heaven.

1:21  At one time you were far away from God. You hated him in your hearts and you did wrong things.

1:22  But now Christ himself has died on a cross, and he has brought you back to God. Christ will bring you before God holy, clean, and good.

1:23  But you must keep on believing and stand strong and true. Let nothing shake the hope which the good news brought you. You heard the same good news as is told to everyone in the whole world. I, Paul, was given the work of telling that same good news.

1:24  And now, even though I suffer for you, I am happy. There are still some things for Christ to suffer in his body, which is the church. So I am glad to take my share of his suffering in my body.

1:25  God gave me work to do for the church people so that you might know all of God’s message.

1:26  This message is about the secret plan of God. People who lived in all the past times of the world did not know about this plan. But now it has been told to God’s people.

1:27  He wanted them to know that his plan is very great and wonderful for those who are not Jews. And this plan is that Christ is in you! He is your hope for all the wonderful things that are to come.

1:28  We tell about him. We tell everyone to be careful to live in the right way. We teach everyone all he needs to know. We do this so that we can bring everyone before God and he will be grown up in the things of Christ.

1:29  And I am working for this with all the strength that God gives me.

Chapter 2

2:1  I want you to know how much I care for you and those in the city of Laodicea, and even all those who have never seen me.

2:2  I want them to be strong and to love one another. I want them to understand everything. I want them to know in a more perfect way about God’s plan, which is Christ.

2:3  All the wonderful things there are to know about the plan are found in Christ.

2:4  I say this so that no one may lead you the wrong way by their fine words.

2:5  Even though I am not with you in body, I am with you in spirit. I am happy to see that you stand together well and that you keep on believing in Christ.

2:6  You received Christ Jesus the Lord. So live in him.

2:7  Let your heart be planted in him. Grow up in him. Believe with all your heart what you were taught. And be very thankful to God.

2:8  Do not let anyone fool you by his wise words. They are not true. They are what men say. They are the teachings of this world and not what Christ says.

2:9  Christ has everything that God has.

2:10  And you, too, have everything when you are in him. He rules over every power and ruler.

2:11  In Christ you were not circumcised by men’s hands. But you were circumcised in Christ’s way when all the wrong things you did in your bodies were taken away.

2:12  You were buried with Christ when you were baptised. You were also raised with him to a new life when you were baptised. You were raised because you believed in the power of God who raised Christ from death.

2:13  You were dead because of the wrong things you had done, and because your lives had not been made clean. But God gave you life with Christ. He forgave you for all the wrong things you did.

2:14  He wiped out all the things that were written against us in the laws. He took the writing away and nailed it to a cross.

2:15  He won the victory over powers and rulers. He showed that they had no power at all. He showed the world his victory through the cross.

2:16  So do not let anyone say you are wrong about what you eat or drink, or about a feast, or a special holy day or a Sabbath day.

2:17  They are like a shadow of what is to come. But Christ is the body that makes the shadow.

2:18  Do not let anyone tell you that you are wrong and that to be humble you must worship angels. He talks about things he has not seen. He is very proud, but he has nothing to be proud of, because his thoughts come from his own mind.

2:19  He is not joined to the real head which is Christ. It is from him that the whole body receives strength and is held together by its joints and muscles. It is from him that the body grows as God makes it grow.

2:20  Did you die with Christ? Then you left the teachings of this world. So why do you obey laws as if you were still living in this world?

2:21  I mean laws like this: “Do not touch that. Do not eat this. Do not put your hand on that.”

2:22  All such things are gone as soon as they are used. These are laws made and taught by men.

2:23  These laws look as if they are good laws. They make a show of doing things for God. They make people humble themselves in some way. They make people control their bodies in certain ways. But they have no power to keep people from doing all the wrong things they want to do.

Chapter 3

3:1  Were you raised from death with Christ? Then look for the things which are in heaven. There Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.

3:2  Think about the things that are in heaven, not about things that are on earth.

3:3  Your old life died with Christ and your new life is kept with Christ in God.

3:4  Christ is our life. When he comes again and is seen, then you will also be seen with him. And you will be great.

3:5  So then, put to death those things of this world which are in you. I mean these things: wrong sex, things that are not clean, a heart that is burning to do wrong things, wanting what is wrong, and wanting to have what other people have. This last one is like worshipping an idol.

3:6  They are things that make God angry.

3:7  You used to do these things when you lived that way.

3:8  But now you must stop all these: being angry, hating people, wrong feelings toward others, saying wrong things about people, and dirty talking.

3:9  Do not tell lies to one another. You have stopped being the person you used to be who did wrong things.

3:10  And now you have become a new person. That new person is always learning more and more until he becomes like God who made him.

3:11  In this new person, there is no difference between a Greek and a Jew. There is no difference between a man who is circumcised with the mark of the Jew and a man who is not circumcised. There is no difference between a person from a friendly country or someone from a country which is not friendly. There is no difference between a slave and a person who is free. Christ is everything and is in all of them.

3:12  You are chosen by God. He loves you and has made you holy. So then, care for one another. Be kind. Do not be proud. Be humble. Be patient.

3:13  Be patient with one another. If any one has a complaint against another, forgive that one. Christ forgave you. So you should forgive each other.

3:14  Beside all these, you must have love. This joins everything together as it should be.

3:15  Hold on to the peace of God which is in your hearts. You were called to have peace because you are all like one body. Be thankful.

3:16  Let your hearts be filled with the word of Christ. Be very wise when you teach people and help them to understand what is right and wrong. Sing with music. Sing praises and Christian songs. Sing to the Lord with praise in your hearts.

3:17  Whatever you say, or whatever you do, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through Jesus.

3:18  Wives, obey your husbands. This is the right way to live when you belong to the Lord.

3:19  Husbands, love your wives and do not be unkind to them.

3:20  Children, obey your parents in everything. This pleases the Lord.

3:21  Fathers, do not make your children angry. They might stop trying to do right.

3:22  Servants, obey your boss in everything. Obey always, not only when he is looking at you as if you were pleasing a man. Do it with all your heart because you respect the Lord.

3:23  Whatever your work is, do it gladly. Do it as you would do it unto the Lord and not for people.

3:24  You know you will get pay from the Lord, for you are the servants of the Lord Christ.

3:25  The person who does wrong will be punished for the wrong he has done. God does not love one person more than another.

Chapter 4

4:1  You who are a boss, do what is right to your servants. You know that you also have a Master in heaven.

4:2  Always take time to talk to God. Put your mind on what you are saying. And thank God for what he has done.

4:3  Talk to God about us too. Ask him to open a way for us to tell people his message. We want to tell God’s plan about Christ. That is why I am in prison because of that plan.

4:4  I want to be free to talk about it as I should do.

4:5  Act the right way to people who are not Christians. Make good use of your time.

4:6  Always say good things when you talk. Talk in a way that will make people listen. Then you will know how to answer people.

4:7  Tychicus will tell you all about me. He is a brother whom I love. He is a very good helper and works with me in the Lord’s work.

4:8  I am sending him to you so that you will know about us and so that he may comfort your hearts.

4:9  I am sending Onesimus with him. He is also a good brother whom I love. He is one of you. They will tell you all about everything here.

4:10  Here are the people who send you greetings: Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, and Mark, a cousin of Barnabas. I have already told you to welcome him if he comes to you.

4:11  Jesus, whose other name is Justus, also sends greetings. These men are the only Jews who are doing God’s work with me. And they have comforted me much.

4:12  Epaphras sends you greetings. He is one of you and is a servant of Christ Jesus. He always talks to God about you with all his heart. He asks God to help you to be strong so that you will become grown-up Christians and know all that God wants you to do.

4:13  I myself have seen how hard he has worked for you and for the people in the cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis.

4:14  Luke, the doctor whom I love, and Demas also greet you.

4:15  Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and also to Nympha and the church people who meet in her house.

4:16  When you have read this letter, then be sure that it is also read to the church people in Laodicea. And be sure that you read the letter which will be sent to you from Laodicea.

4:17  Tell Archippus, ‘See that you do all the work which the Lord has given you to do.’

4:18  I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember that I am in prison. God bless you.