Journey Through God's Word

¹¹Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord [and understand the importance of obedience and worship], we persuade people [to be reconciled to Him]. But we are plainly known to God [He knows everything about us]; and I hope that we are plainly known also in your consciences [your God-given discernment].

¹²We are not commending ourselves to you again, but are giving you an occasion to be [rightfully] proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in [outward] appearances [the virtues they pretend to have] rather than what is [actually] in heart.

¹³If we are out of our mind [just unstable fanatics as some critics say], it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for your benefit.

¹⁴For the love of Christ controls and compels us, because we have concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died;

¹⁵and He died for all, so that all those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised for their sake.

¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a human point of view [according to worldly standards and values]. Though we have known Christ from a human point of view, now we no longer know Him in this way.

¹⁷Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].

¹⁸But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him],

¹⁹that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people's sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favor with God].

²⁰So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we [as Christ's representatives] plead with you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God.

²¹He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness].

¹⁵He is the exact living image [the essential manifestation] of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible], the firstborn [the preeminent one, the sovereign, and the originator] of all creation.

¹⁶For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, [things] visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [that is, by His activity] and for Him.

¹⁷And He Himself existed and is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [His is the controlling, cohesive force of the universe.]

¹⁸He is also the head [the life-source and leader] of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will occupy the first place [He will stand supreme and be preeminent] in everything.

¹⁹For it pleased the Father for all the fullness [of deity—the sum total of His essence, all His perfection, powers, and attributes] to dwell [permanently] in Him (the Son),

²⁰and through [the intervention of] the Son to reconcile all things to Himself, making peace [with believers] through the blood of His cross; through Him, [I say,] whether things on earth or things in heaven.

²¹And although you were at one time estranged and alienated and hostile-minded [toward Him], participating in evil things,

²²yet Christ has now reconciled you [to God] in His physical body through death, in order to present you before the Father holy and blameless and beyond reproach—

²³[and He will do this] if you continue in the faith, well-grounded and steadfast, and not shifting away from the [confident] hope [that is a result] of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which [gospel] I, Paul, was made a minister.

²⁴Now I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf. And with my own body I supplement whatever is lacking [on our part] of Christ's afflictions, on behalf of His body, which is the church.

²⁵In this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship which God entrusted to me for your sake, so that I might make the word of God fully known [among you]—

²⁶that is, the mystery which was hidden [from angels and mankind] for ages and generations, but has now been revealed to His saints (God's people).

²⁷God [in His eternal plan] chose to make known to them how great for the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in and among you, the hope and guarantee of [realizing the] glory.

²⁸We proclaim Him, warning and instructing everyone in all wisdom [that is, with comprehensive insight into the word and purposes of God], so that we may present every person complete in Christ [mature, fully trained, and perfect in Him—the Anointed].

²⁹For this I labor [often to the point of exhaustion], striving with His power and energy, which so greatly works within me.

¹Paul, a prisoner [for the sake] of Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed), and our brother Timothy, To Philemon our dearly beloved friend and fellow worker,

²and to [your wife] Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier [in ministry], and to the church that meets in your house:

³Grace to you and peace [inner calm and spiritual well-being] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,

⁵because I hear of your love and of your faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints (God's people).

⁶I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective and powerful because of your accurate knowledge of every good thing which is ours in Christ.

⁷For I have had great joy and comfort and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints (God's people) have been refreshed through you, my brother.

⁸Therefore [on the basis of these facts], though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is appropriate,

⁹yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you—since I am such a person as Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner [for the sake] of Christ Jesus—

¹⁰I appeal to you for my [own spiritual] child Onesimus, whom I have fathered [in the faith] while a captive in these chains.

¹¹Once he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you as well as to me.

¹²I have sent him back to you in person, that is, like sending my very heart.

¹³I would have chosen to keep him with me, so that he might minister to me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel;

¹⁴but I did not want to do anything without first getting your consent, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will.

¹⁵Perhaps it was for this reason that he was separated from you for a while, so that you would have him back forever,

¹⁶no longer as a slave, but [as someone] more than a slave, as a brother [in Christ], especially dear to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh [as a servant] and in the Lord [as a fellow believer].

¹⁷So if you consider me a partner, welcome and accept him as you would me.

¹⁸But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account;

¹⁹I, Paul, write this with my own hand, I will repay it in full (not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self as well).

²⁰Yes, brother, let me have some benefit and joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.

²¹I write to you [perfectly] confident of your obedient compliance, since I know that you will do even more than I ask.

²²At the same time also prepare a guest room for me [in expectation of a visit], for I hope that through your prayers I will be [granted the gracious privilege of] coming to you [at Colossae].

²³Greetings to you from Epaphras, my fellow prisoner here in [the cause of] Christ Jesus,

²⁴and from Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

²⁵The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.