Colossians 1

The Favor of God paraphrase

Introduction and Thanksgiving

¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

² to God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—⁵ the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven, which you have already heard about in the true message of the gospel ⁶ that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. ⁷ You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, ⁸ and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Prayer for Spiritual Growth

⁹ 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, ¹⁰ 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, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Supremacy of Christ

¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

¹⁸ 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.

¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,

²⁰ 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.

Reconciled Through Christ

²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. ²² But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation—²³ 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.

Paul’s Labor for the Church

²⁴ 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’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church. ²⁵ I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—²⁶ the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. ²⁷ 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.

²⁸ He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. ²⁹ To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

Footnotes:

1.“Image of the invisible God” (verse 15) refers to Christ as the perfect representation of God’s nature. The Greek word eikon suggests both representation and manifestation, showing that Jesus makes the unseen God visible.

2.“Firstborn over all creation” (verse 15) does not mean Christ was created but that He holds a position of preeminence and authority over all creation. The term prototokos emphasizes rank and status, not origin.

3.“Thrones or powers” (verse 16) refers to spiritual beings and authorities in both the visible and invisible realms. Paul emphasizes that all of them were created by Christ and are subject to His authority.

4.“Fullness dwell in Him” (verse 19) conveys that all of God’s essence and power reside in Christ. This counters any belief that Jesus was merely a great teacher or angel; He is fully divine.

5.“Reconciled through His blood” (verse 20) uses the imagery of atonement, highlighting that Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross restores peace between humanity and God. The Greek term apokatallasso emphasizes complete and total reconciliation.

6.“Present you holy” (verse 22) describes the transformation believers experience through Christ’s work. Paul explains that through His death, believers are made holy—set apart for God, without any blemish of sin or accusation.

7.“The mystery…now disclosed” (verse 26) refers to God’s long-hidden plan to extend salvation to the Gentiles through Christ. This was a revolutionary message in the early church, breaking down cultural and religious barriers.