Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth,

giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ¹  in the saints’ ²  inheritance in the light.

that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints.

Your faith and love have arisen ¹  from the hope laid up ²  for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel ³ 

God wanted to make known to them the glorious ¹  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ¹ 

I, Paul, write this greeting by my own hand. ¹  Remember my chains. ²  Grace be with you. ³ 

in whom we have redemption, ¹  the forgiveness of sins.

these are only ¹  the shadow of the things to come, but the reality ²  is Christ! ³ 

for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹ 

I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship ¹  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ²  the word of God,

My goal is that ¹  their hearts, having been knit together ²  in love, may be encouraged, and that ³  they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ⁴ 

In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ¹  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ²  of the fleshly body, ³  that is, ⁴  through the circumcision done by Christ.

Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ¹  faith in the power ²  of God who raised him from the dead.

and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ¹  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, ¹  whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, ¹  without shifting ²  from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you ¹  through an empty, deceitful philosophy ²  that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits ³  of the world, and not according to Christ.