Produced by Martin Ward Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, Colossians Third Edition 1913 R. F. Weymouth Book 51 Colossians 001:001 Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God-- and Timothy our brother: 001:002 To the people of God and the believing brethren at Colossae who are in Christ. May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father. 001:003 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, constantly praying for you as we do, 001:004 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you cherish towards all God's people, 001:005 on account of the hope treasured up for you in Heaven. Of this hope you have already heard in the Message of the truth of the Good News. 001:006 For it has reached you, and remains with you, just as it has also spread through the whole world, yielding fruit there and increasing, as it has done among you from the day when first you heard it and came really to know the grace of God, 001:007 as you learned it from Epaphras our dearly-loved fellow servant. He is to you a faithful minister of Christ in our stead, 001:008 and moreover he has informed us of your love, which is inspired by the Spirit. 001:009 For this reason we also, from the day we first received these tidings, have never ceased to pray for you and to entreat that you may be filled with a clear knowledge of His will accompanied by thorough wisdom and discernment in spiritual things; 001:010 so that your lives may be worthy of the Lord and perfectly pleasing to Him, while you exhibit the results of right action of every sort and grow into a fuller knowledge of God. 001:011 Since His power is so glorious, may you be strengthened with strength of every kind, and be prepared for cheerfully enduring all things with patience and long-suffering; 001:012 and give thanks to the Father who has made us fit to receive our share of the inheritance of God's people in Light. 001:013 It is God who has delivered us out of the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us into the Kingdom of His dearly-loved Son, 001:014 in whom we have our redemption--the forgiveness of our sins. 001:015 Christ is the visible representation of the invisible God, the Firstborn and Lord of all creation. 001:016 For in Him was created the universe of things in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, thrones, dominions, princedoms, powers--all were created, and exist through and for Him. 001:017 And HE IS before all things and in and through Him the universe is a harmonious whole. 001:018 Moreover He is the Head of His Body, the Church. He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, in order that He Himself may in all things occupy the foremost place.