✝
← Bible
ARCBLIVREKJVVBL

Colossians 1

KJV · Chapter 1/4

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

2To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

4Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,

5For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

6Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:

7As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;

8Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.

9For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

10That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

11Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

12Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

13Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

14In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

15Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

20And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

21And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

23If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

24Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

25Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

26Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

28Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

29Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Paul thanks God for the Colossians' faith and love, and prays that they would grow in spiritual knowledge. He then declares the supremacy of Christ over all creation, affirming that all things were created in him and that he is the head of the church.

Explanation

The church at Colossae, a minor city in the region of Asia Minor, faced the influence of teachings that diminished Christ's position, perhaps blending elements of Greek philosophy and Jewish practices with ideas about intermediary spiritual beings. Paul responds with one of the most exalted statements about Christ in the entire Bible (vv. 15-20), declaring that he is the "image of the invisible God," that "by him all things were created," visible and invisible, and that he reconciles all things to himself through the cross. This passage, known as the "Christ hymn" of Colossians, establishes Christ not merely as a personal savior but as the cosmic center of all creation and reconciliation. The practical application today is understanding that no philosophy, tradition, or spiritual power can compete with Christ's absolute supremacy over all that exists.

Fun facts

  • Colossae was a city that had already lost much of its economic importance by the first century, overshadowed by larger neighboring cities like Laodicea and Hierapolis, making it notable that Paul devoted so much theological attention to a relatively small community.
  • Epaphras, mentioned as the founder of the church at Colossae (v. 7), likely brought the gospel there after being reached by Paul's own ministry in Ephesus, showing how the gospel spread through networks of disciples, not only through the apostles' direct preaching.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Colossians 1:1Paul writes this letter to a church he probably never visited in person, founded by Epaphras, to counter a local philosophy that reduced Christ to just one more among several spiritual powers; he signs it together with Timothy, his co-worker in several letters.
  2. Colossians 1:2The greeting of grace and peace, Paul’s standard salutation, is addressed to the “saints and faithful brethren” in Colosse, a small city in Asia Minor where this church met.
  3. Colossians 1:3Paul opens with constant gratitude to God, a pattern common in his letters, before detailing exactly what makes him thankful regarding the Colossians.
  4. Colossians 1:4Paul explains the reason for his gratitude: he had heard, probably through Epaphras, of the Colossians’ genuine faith in Christ and the practical love they had for all Christians.
  5. Colossians 1:5Paul ties faith and love to a third thing, the hope laid up in heaven, something they had already known since they first heard the true message of the gospel.
  6. Colossians 1:6Paul stresses that this gospel is not exclusive to the Colossians: it is spreading and bearing fruit throughout the whole world, just as it had among them since they came to know the grace of God.
  7. Colossians 1:7Paul credits the arrival of this gospel in Colosse to Epaphras, called a “fellowservant” and “faithful minister,” probably the founder of this particular church.
  8. Colossians 1:8Paul mentions that it was Epaphras who told him about the Colossians’ love produced by the Spirit, the source of information behind much of the letter.
  9. Colossians 1:9Paul says that ever since he heard this news, he has not stopped praying that the Colossians would be filled with spiritual knowledge and “wisdom,” a direct answer to the false “wisdom” that threatened them.
  10. Colossians 1:10Paul details the purpose of this knowledge: to live in a way that pleases God, bearing good works and continually growing in the knowledge of Him.
  11. Colossians 1:11Paul also asks for strengthening that comes from God’s own glorious power, resulting in patience and endurance lived out with joy, not with bitter resignation.
  12. Colossians 1:12Paul asks that they give thanks to the Father, who made them fit to share in the inheritance reserved for the saints, described here as being “in light.”
  13. Colossians 1:13Paul describes this inheritance as a rescue from a domain of darkness into a new kingdom, ruled by God’s own beloved Son.
  14. Colossians 1:14Paul explains what this rescue concretely involves: redemption through the blood of Christ, which results in the forgiveness of sins.
  15. Colossians 1:15“Firstborn” here does not mean that Christ was created first — in the ancient world, this title also indicated the position of principal heir and highest authority over everything that came after, not necessarily birth order. Paul is affirming that Christ holds this position of preeminence over all creation, while also being the visible image of a God no one can see.
  16. Colossians 1:16Colosse faced a mixture of ideas that included reverence, even a kind of worship, toward categories of spiritual beings, such as angels organized in hierarchies of power — these are the names that appear here: “thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.” Paul lists these categories only to say that all of them, whatever they are, were created by Christ and stand beneath Him, cutting off at the root any reason to worship them.
  17. Colossians 1:17Paul affirms Christ’s supremacy over everything that exists: He is before all things, and it is He who holds everything together and keeps it functioning.
  18. Colossians 1:18Paul shifts the focus to the church: Christ is the head of this body, and also the first to rise from the dead, ensuring that He holds first place in everything.
  19. Colossians 1:19Paul explains why Christ holds this supreme position: it pleased the Father Himself that the entire fullness of God should dwell in Him completely.
  20. Colossians 1:20Paul describes the reach of this fullness: through the cross, Christ reconciled absolutely everything to God, both on earth and in heaven, bringing universal peace.
  21. Colossians 1:21Paul applies this to his readers: they were once strangers to God, hostile because of their own evil deeds, but now they have been reconciled through Christ.
  22. Colossians 1:22Paul explains how this reconciliation happened in practice: through Christ’s physical death, with the goal of presenting the Colossians before God holy and without blame.
  23. Colossians 1:23Paul makes this promise conditional on continuity: remaining firm in the faith, without drifting from the hope of the gospel, the same gospel that had already spread everywhere.
  24. Colossians 1:24This does not mean that Christ’s suffering on the cross was lacking anything — Paul is talking about the suffering that still continues happening to the church in the world, as if the body of Christ, the community, were still going through what the head already went through. He sees his own persecutions as part of that continuation, not as an addition to what Christ did on the cross.
  25. Colossians 1:25Paul describes his role as a minister as a specific task given by God: to complete the proclamation of the word of God among the Gentiles.
  26. Colossians 1:26“Mystery” in Paul’s language is not something strange or incomprehensible — it is a plan that had been kept secret and is only now being revealed, somewhat like a plan only the owner knew and decided to announce. Here the mystery revealed is that non-Jews, the Gentiles, have the same access to God that the people of Israel always had.
  27. Colossians 1:27Paul sums up the content of this newly revealed mystery in a short phrase: Christ present in the life of the Gentiles themselves, with no need to first pass through Jewish law. It is this idea — that anyone, from any people, can have this same access — that underlies practically the whole discussion in the letter against the false teachers of Colosse.
  28. Colossians 1:28Paul sums up the goal of his work: proclaiming Christ, warning and teaching everyone with wisdom, in order to present each person mature and complete in Christ.
  29. Colossians 1:29Paul ends the chapter describing this work as an arduous struggle, but sustained by Christ’s own strength working powerfully within him.

Chapters

1234

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

App StoreGoogle Play

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.

App StoreGoogle Play