HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1449
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He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from
the dead.*
So he is first in everything.
For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven
and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
21 This includes you who were once far away
from God. You were his enemies, separated from
him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet
now he has reconciled you to himself through
the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence,
and you are holy and blameless as you stand
before him without a single fault.
23 But you must continue to believe this truth
and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the
assurance you received when you heard the
Good News. The Good News has been preached
all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.
Paul’s Work for the Church
24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body,
for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ
that continue for his body, the church. 25 God
has given me the responsibility of serving his
church by proclaiming his entire message to
you. 26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been
revealed to God’s people. 27 For God wanted
them to know that the riches and glory of Christ
are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret:
Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of
sharing his glory.
28 So we tell others about Christ, warning
everyone and teaching everyone with all the
wisdom God has given us. We want to present
them to God, perfect* in their relationship to
Christ. 29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard,
depending on Christ’s mighty power that works
within me.
2
I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have
never met me personally. 2 I want them to be
encouraged and knit together by strong ties of
love. I want them to have complete confidence
1:18 Or the firstborn from the dead. 1:28 Or mature. 2:8 Or
the spiritual principles; also in 2:20. 2:9 Or in him dwells
all the completeness of the Godhead bodily. 2:11 Greek the
cutting away of the body of the flesh.
COL OSSIANS 2
that they understand God’s mysterious plan,
which is Christ himself. 3 In him lie hidden all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 I am telling you this so no one will deceive
you with well-crafted arguments. 5 For though I
am far away from you, my heart is with you. And
I rejoice that you are living as you should and
that your faith in Christ is strong.
Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ
6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as
your Lord, you must continue to follow him.
7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let
your lives be built on him. Then your faith will
grow strong in the truth you were taught, and
you will overflow with thankfulness.
8 Don’t let anyone capture you with empty
philosophies and high-sounding nonsense
that come from human thinking and from the
spiritual powers* of this world, rather than from
Christ. 9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God
in a human body.* 10 So you also are complete
through your union with Christ, who is the head
over every ruler and authority.
11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure.
Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the
cutting away of your sinful nature.* 12 For you
were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life
because you trusted the mighty power of God,
who raised Christ from the dead.
13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.
Then God made you alive with Christ, for he
• Forgiveness
C OLOS S I A N S 1:21-23
How can I be sure of my relationship
with God? The young Colossian
Christians may have been asking this
same question. They had come to faith
in Christ when they heard the Good
News of his death and resurrection, but
then perhaps became confused as false
teachers said they also needed “special
knowledge” in order to be truly spiritual.
Paul is very clear: A right relationship
with God is established only on the basis
of what Jesus did on the cross. When
we believe that Jesus really died for our
sins, absorbing the punishment that we
deserved, our sins are really forgiven,
restoring us to an intimate and personal
relationship with God. Whenever we feel
insecure, Paul says, we are to remember
what Jesus did for us.