1በእግዚአብሔር ፈቃድ የክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ ሐዋርያ ከሆነው ከጳውሎስና ከወንድማችን ከጢሞቴዎስ፤
2በቈላስይስ ለሚኖሩ፣ በክርስቶስ ለሆኑ ቅዱሳንና ታማኝ1፥2 ወይም የሚያምኑ ወንድሞች፤
ከእግዚአብሔር ከአባታችን1፥2 አንዳንድ የጥንት ቅጆች ከአባትና ከጌታ ከኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ጸጋና ሰላም ለእናንተ ይሁን።
ምስጋናና ጸሎት
3ስለ እናንተ በምንጸልይበት ጊዜ የጌታችንን የኢየሱስ ክርስቶስን አባት እግዚአብሔርን ሁልጊዜ እናመሰግናለን፤ 4ምክንያቱም በክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ ስላላችሁ እምነትና ለቅዱሳን ሁሉ ስላላችሁ ፍቅር ሰምተናል፤ 5ይህም የሆነው በሰማይ ተዘጋጅቶ ከተቀመጠላችሁ ተስፋ የተነሣ ነው፤ ስለዚህ ተስፋ በወንጌል የእውነት ቃል አስቀድማችሁ ሰማችሁ፤ 6ይህም ወደ እናንተ ደርሷል። ይህንም ወንጌል ከሰማችሁበትና የእግዚአብሔርን ጸጋ በእውነት ከተረዳችሁበት ቀን ጀምሮ በዓለም ዙሪያ እየሠራ እንዳለ ሁሉ በእናንተም ዘንድ ፍሬ እያፈራና እያደገ ነው። 7ይህንም ስለ እኛ1፥7 አንዳንድ የጥንት ቅጆች እናንተ ይላሉ። የክርስቶስ ታማኝ አገልጋይ የሆነው፣ አብሮንም በአገልግሎት የተጠመደው ተወዳጁ ኤጳፍራ አስተማራችሁ፤ 8ደግሞም በመንፈስ ስላላችሁ ፍቅር ነገረን።
9ከዚህ የተነሣ እኛ ደግሞ ይህን ከሰማንበት ቀን ጀምሮ እግዚአብሔር የፈቃዱን ዕውቀት በመንፈሳዊ ጥበብና መረዳት ሁሉ ይሞላችሁ ዘንድ ስለ እናንተ መጸለይና መለመን አላቋረጥንም፤ 10የምንጸልየውም ለጌታ እንደሚገባ እንድትኖሩና በሁሉም ደስ እንድታሰኙት ነው፤ ይኸውም በመልካም ሥራ ሁሉ ፍሬ እያፈራችሁ እግዚአብሔርን በማወቅ እያደጋችሁ፣ 11ታላቅ ጽናትና ትዕግሥት ይኖራችሁ ዘንድ፣ እንደ ክቡር ጕልበቱ መጠን በኀይል ሁሉ እየበረታችሁ፣ ደስ እየተሰኛችሁ፣ 12በቅዱሳን ርስት በብርሃን ተካፋዮች ለመሆን ያበቃንን1፥12 ወይም ያበቃችሁን አብን እንድታመሰግኑ ነው። 13እርሱ ከጨለማ አገዛዝ ታደገን፤ ወደሚወድደው ልጁ መንግሥትም አሻገረን፤ 14በእርሱም መዋጀትን በደሙ1፥14 አንዳንድ ቅጆች በደሙ የሚለው ቃል የላቸውም። አግኝተናል፤ ይህም የኀጢአት ይቅርታ ነው።
ክርስቶስ ከሁሉ በላይ
15እርሱ የማይታየው አምላክ አምሳል ነው፤ ከፍጥረት ሁሉ በፊት1፥15 ወይም በላይ በኵር ነው፤ 16ሁሉ ነገር በእርሱ ተፈጥሯል፤ በሰማይና በምድር ያሉ፣ የሚታዩና የማይታዩ፣ ዙፋናት ቢሆኑ ወይም ኀይላት፣ ገዦች ቢሆኑ ወይም ባለሥልጣናት፣ ሁሉም ነገር በእርሱና ለእርሱ ተፈጥሯል። 17እርሱ ከሁሉ በፊት ነው፤ ሁሉም ነገር በአንድ ላይ ተያይዞ የጸናው በእርሱ ነው። 18እርሱ አካሉ የሆነችው የቤተ ክርስቲያን ራስ ነው፤ በሁሉ ነገር የበላይነት ይኖረው ዘንድ እርሱ የመጀመሪያ፣ ከሙታን መካከልም በኵር ነው። 19እግዚአብሔርም ሙላቱ ሁሉ በእርሱ ይሆን ዘንድ ወድዷልና፤ 20በመስቀሉ ላይ በፈሰሰው ደሙ ሰላምን በማድረግ በምድርም ሆነ በሰማይ ያለውን ነገር ሁሉ በእርሱ በኩል ከራሱ ጋር አስታረቀ።
21ከክፉ ባሕርያችሁ የተነሣ1፥21 ወይም በክፉ ባሕርያችሁ እንደሚታየው ቀድሞ ከእግዚአብሔር የተለያችሁ በዐሳባችሁም ጠላቶች ነበራችሁ። 22አሁን ግን ነውርና ነቀፋ የሌለባችሁ ቅዱሳን አድርጎ በእርሱ ፊት ሊያቀርባችሁ፣ በክርስቶስ ሥጋ በሞቱ በኩል አስታረቃችሁ፤ 23ይህም የሚሆነው በእምነታችሁ ተመሥርታችሁና ተደላድላችሁ በመቆም ከሰማችሁት የወንጌል ተስፋ ሳትናወጡ ጸንታችሁ ብትኖሩ ነው። እናንተ የሰማችሁትና ከሰማይ በታች ላለ ፍጥረት ሁሉ የተሰበከውም ወንጌል ይኸው ነው፤ እኔም ጳውሎስ ለዚህ ወንጌል አገልጋይ ሆንሁ።
ጳውሎስ ስለ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ያሳየው ትጋት
24ስለ እናንተ በተቀበልሁት መከራ አሁንም ደስ ይለኛል፤ ክርስቶስ ስለ አካሉ ስለ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ከተቀበለው መከራ የጐደለውን በሥጋዬ አሟላለሁ። 25የእግዚአብሔርን ቃል በሙላት እንዳቀርብላችሁ ከእግዚአብሔር በተሰጠኝ ዐደራ የቤተ ክርስቲያን አገልጋይ ሆኛለሁ፤ 26ይህም ቃል ከዘመናትና ከትውልዶች ተሰውሮ ምስጢር ሆኖ ቈይቶ ነበር፤ አሁን ግን ለቅዱሳኑ ተገልጧል። 27ለእነርሱም እግዚአብሔር የዚህ ምስጢር ክብር ባለጠግነት በአሕዛብ መካከል ምን ያህል እንደ ሆነ ለማሳወቅ መረጠ፤ እርሱም የክብር ተስፋ የሆነው በእናንተ ውስጥ ያለው ክርስቶስ ነው።
28እኛም እያንዳንዱን ሰው በክርስቶስ ፍጹም አድርገን ማቅረብ እንችል ዘንድ፣ ሰውን ሁሉ በጥበብ ሁሉ እየመከርንና እያስተማርን እርሱን እንሰብካለን። 29እኔም በብርታት በውስጤ በሚሠራው በእርሱ ኀይል ሁሉ እየታገልሁ ለዚህ ዐላማ እጥራለሁ።
1I, Paul, am writing this letter. I am an apostle of Christ Jesus just as God planned. Our brother Timothy joins me in writing.
2We are sending this letter to you, our brothers and sisters in Colossae. You belong to Christ. You are holy and faithful.
May God our Father give you grace and peace.
Paul Prays and Gives Thanks
3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. 4We thank him because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus. We have also heard that you love all God’s people. 5Your faith and love are based on the hope you have. What you hope for is stored up for you in heaven. You have already heard about it. You were told about it when the true message was given to you. I’m talking about the good news 6that has come to you. In the same way, the good news is bearing fruit. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world. It has been doing that among you since the day you heard it. That is when you really understood God’s grace. 7You learned the good news from Epaphras. He is dear to us. He serves Christ together with us. He faithfully works for Christ and for us among you. 8He also told us about your love that comes from the Holy Spirit.
9That’s why we have not stopped praying for you. We have been praying for you since the day we heard about you. We keep asking God to fill you with the knowledge of what he wants. We pray he will give you the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. 10Then you will be able to lead a life that is worthy of the Lord. We pray that you will please him in every way. So we want you to bear fruit in every good thing you do. We pray that you will grow to know God better. 11We want you to be very strong, in keeping with his glorious power. We want you to be patient. We pray that you will never give up. 12We want you to give thanks with joy to the Father. He has made you fit to have what he will give to all his holy people. You will all receive a share in the kingdom of light. 13He has saved us from the kingdom of darkness. He has brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14Because of what the Son has done, we have been set free. Because of him, all our sins have been forgiven.
The Son of God Is Better Than Everything Else
15The Son is the exact likeness of God, who can’t be seen. The Son is first, and he is over all creation. 16All things were created in him. He created everything in heaven and on earth. He created everything that can be seen and everything that can’t be seen. He created kings, powers, rulers and authorities. All things have been created by him and for him. 17Before anything was created, he was already there. He holds everything together. 18And he is the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning. He is the first to be raised from the dead. That happened so that he would be far above everything. 19God was pleased to have his whole nature living in Christ. 20God was pleased to bring all things back to himself. That’s because of what Christ has done. These things include everything on earth and in heaven. God made peace through Christ’s blood, by his death on the cross.
21At one time you were separated from God. You were enemies in your minds because of your evil ways. 22But because Christ died, God has brought you back to himself. Christ’s death has made you holy in God’s sight. So now you don’t have any flaw. You are free from blame. 23But you must keep your faith steady and firm. You must not move away from the hope the good news holds out to you. This is the good news that you heard. It has been preached to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, now serve the good news.
Paul’s Work for the Church
24I am happy because of what I am suffering for you. My suffering joins with and continues the sufferings of Christ. I suffer for his body, which is the church. 25I serve the church. God appointed me to bring the complete word of God to you. 26That word contains the mystery that has been hidden for many ages. But now it has been made known to the Lord’s people. 27God has chosen to make known to them the glorious riches of that mystery. He has made it known among the Gentiles. And here is what it is. Christ is in you. He is your hope of glory.
28Christ is the one we preach about. With all the wisdom we have, we warn and teach everyone. When we bring them to God, we want them to be like Christ. We want them to be grown up as people who belong to Christ. 29That’s what I’m working for. I work hard with all the strength of Christ. His strength works powerfully in me.
