Colossians
Chapter 1
1 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
因天主的旨意作基督耶稣宗徒的保禄与弟茂德弟兄，
2 to the holy ones and faithful brothers in Christ in Colossae: grace to you and peace from God our Father.
致书给在哥罗森的圣徒及在基督内忠信的弟兄。愿恩宠与平安由天主我们的父赐与你们！
3 2 We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
我们在祈祷时，常为你们感谢我们的主耶稣基督的天主和父，
4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the holy ones
因为我们听说：你们在基督耶稣内的信德，和你们对众圣徒所有的爱德：
5 because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. Of this you have already heard through the word of truth, the gospel,
这是为了那在天上给你们所存留的希望，对这希望你们由福音真理的宣讲中早已听过了。
6 that has come to you. Just as in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing, so also among you, from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth,
这福音一传到你们那里，就如在全世界上，不断结果，不断发展；在你们那里，自从你们听到了福音，并在真理内认识了天主的恩宠那天以来，也是一样；
7 as you learned it from Epaphras 3 our beloved fellow slave, who is a trustworthy minister of Christ on your behalf
这福音也就是你们由我们亲爱的同仆厄帕夫辣所学得的，他为你们实在是基督的忠信仆役，
8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
也就是他给我们报告了圣神所赐与你们的爱。
9 4 Therefore, from the day we heard this, we do not cease praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding
为此，自从我们得到了报告那天起，就不断为你们祈祷，恳求天主使你们对衪的旨意有充分的认识，充满各样属神的智慧和见识，
10 to live in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God,
好使你们的行动相称于主，事事叫衪喜悦，在一切善功上结出果实，在认识天主上获得进展，
11 strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy
全力加强自己，赖他光荣的德能，含忍容受一切，欣然
12 5 giving thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.
感谢那使我们有资格，在光明中分享圣徒福分的天父，
13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
因为是衪由黑暗的权势下救出了我们，并将我们移置在衪爱子的国内，
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
我们且在他内得到了救赎，获得了罪赦。
15 6 He is the image 7 of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
他是不可见的天主的肖像，是一切受造物的首生者，
16 For in him 8 were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him.
因为在天上和在地上的一切，可见的与不可见的，或是上座者，或是宰制者，或是率领者，或是掌权者，都是在他内受造的：一切都是借着他，并且是为了他而受造的。
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
他在万有之先就有，万有都赖他而存在；
18 He is the head of the body, the church. 9 He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
他又是身体──教会的头：他是元始，是死者中的首生者，为使他在万有之上独占首位，
19 For in him all the fullness 10 was pleased to dwell,
因为天主乐意叫整个的圆满居在他内，
20 and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross 11 (through him), whether those on earth or those in heaven.
并借着他使万有，无论是地上的，是天上的，都与自己重归于好，因着他十字架的血立定了和平。
21 12 And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds
连你们从前也与天主隔绝，并因邪恶的行为在心意上与他为敌；
22 he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through his death, to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him,
可是现今天主却以他血肉的身体，借着死亡使你们与自己和好了，把你们呈献在他跟前，成为圣洁，无瑕和无可指摘的，
23 provided that you persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, am a minister.
只要你们在信德上站稳，坚定不移，不偏离你们由听福音所得的希望，这福音已传与天下一切受造物，我保禄就是这福音的仆役。
24 13 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking 14 in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church,
如今我在为你们受苦，反觉高兴，因为这样我可在我的肉身上，为基督的身体──教会，补充基督的苦难所欠缺的；
25 of which I am a minister in accordance with God's stewardship given to me to bring to completion for you the word of God,
我依照天主为你们所授与我的职责，作了这教会的仆役，好把天主的道理充分地宣扬出去，
26 the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past. But now it has been manifested to his holy ones,
这道理就是从世世代代以来所隐藏，而如今却显示给他的圣徒的奥秘。
27 to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.
天主愿意他们知道，这奥秘为外邦人是有如何丰盛的光荣，这奥秘就是基督在你们中，作了你们得光荣的希望。
28 It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
我们所传扬的，就是这位基督，因而我们以各种智慧，劝告一切人，教训一切人，好把一切人，呈献于天主前，成为在基督内的成全人；
29 For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me.
我就是为这事而劳苦，按他以大能在我身上所发动的力量，尽力奋斗。
Footnotes(注解)
1 [1-2] For the epistolary form used by Paul at the beginning of his letters, see the note on Romans 1:1-7. On holy ones or "God's people," see the note on Romans 1:7. Awareness of their calling helps this group to be faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, i.e., dedicated to the tasks implied in their calling.
2 [3-8] On thanksgiving at the start of a letter, see the note on Romans 1:8. The apostle, recalling his own prayers for them and the good report about them he has received (Col 1:3-4), congratulates the Colossians upon their acceptance of Christ and their faithful efforts to live the gospel (Col 3:6-8). To encourage them he mentions the success of the gospel elsewhere (Col 1:6) and assures them that his knowledge of their community is accurate, since he has been in personal contact with Epaphras (Col 1:7-8), who likely had evangelized Colossae and other cities in the Lycus Valley of Asia Minor (cf Col 4:12, 13; Philippians 1:23). On faith, love, and hope (Col 1:4, 5, 8), see the note on 1 Cor 13:13; cf 1 Thes 1:3; 5:8.
3 [7] Epaphras: now with Paul but a Colossian, founder of the church there.
4 [9-14] Moved by Epaphras' account, the apostle has prayed and continues to pray fervently for the Colossians that, in their response to the gospel, they may be filled with the knowledge of God's will (Col 1:9; cf Col 3:10). Paul expects a mutual interaction between their life according to the gospel and this knowledge (Col 1:10), yielding results (fruit, Col 1:10; cf Col 1:6) in every good work: growth, strength, endurance, patience, with joy (Col 1:11), and the further giving of thanks (Col 1:12).
5 [12-14] A summary about redemption by the Father precedes the statement in Col 1:15-20 about the beloved Son who is God's love in person (Col 1:13). Christians share the inheritance . . . in light with the holy ones, here probably the angels (Col 1:12). The imagery reflects the Exodus (delivered . . . transferred) and Jesus' theme of the kingdom. Redemption is explained as forgiveness of sins (cf Acts 2:38; Romans 3:24-25; Eph 1:7).
6 [15-20] As the poetic arrangement indicates, these lines are probably an early Christian hymn, known to the Colossians and taken up into the letter from liturgical use (cf Philippians 2:6-11; 1 Tim 3:16). They present Christ as the mediator of creation (Col 1:15-18a) and of redemption (Col 1:18b-20). There is a parallelism between firstborn of all creation (Col 1:15) and firstborn from the dead (Col 1:18). While many of the phrases were at home in Greek philosophical use and even in gnosticism, the basic ideas also reflect Old Testament themes about Wisdom found in Proverb 8:22-31; Wisdom 7:22-8:1; and Sirach 1:4. See also the notes on what is possibly a hymn in John 1:1-18.
7 [15] Image: cf Genesis 1:27. Whereas the man and the woman were originally created in the image and likeness of God (see also Genesis 1:26), Christ as image (2 Cor 4:4) of the invisible God (John 1:18) now shares this new nature in baptism with those redeemed (cf Col 3:10-11).
8 [16-17] Christ (though not mentioned by name) is preeminent and supreme as God's agent in the creation of all things (cf John 1:3), as prior to all things (Col 1:17; cf Hebrews 1:3).
9 [18] Church: such a reference seemingly belongs under "redemption" in the following lines, not under the "creation" section of the hymn. Stoic thought sometimes referred to the world as "the body of Zeus." Pauline usage is to speak of the church as the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12-27; Romans 12:4-5). Some think that the author of Colossians has inserted the reference to the church here so as to define "head of the body" in Paul's customary way. See Col 1:24. Preeminent: when Christ was raised by God as firstborn from the dead (cf Acts 26:23; Rev 1:5), he was placed over the community, the church, that he had brought into being, but he is also indicated as crown of the whole new creation, over all things. His further role is to reconcile all things (Col 1:20) for God or possibly "to himself."
10 [19] Fullness: in gnostic usage this term referred to a spiritual world of beings above, between God and the world; many later interpreters take it to refer to the fullness of the deity (Col 2:9); the reference could also be to the fullness of grace (cf John 1:16).
11 [20] The blood of his cross: the most specific reference in the hymn to redemption through Christ's death, a central theme in Paul; cf Col 2:14-15; 1 Cor 1:17, 18, 23. [Through him]: the phrase, lacking in some manuscripts, seems superfluous but parallels the reference to reconciliation through Christ earlier in the verse.
12 [21-23] Paul, in applying this hymn to the Colossians, reminds them that they have experienced the reconciling effect of Christ's death. He sees the effects of the cross in the redemption of human beings, not of cosmic powers such as those referred to in Col 1:16, 20 (all things). Paul also urges adherence to Christ in faith and begins to point to his own role as minister (Col 1:23), sufferer (Col 1:24), and proclaimer (Col 1:27-28) of this gospel.
13 [1:24-2:3] As the community at Colossae was not personally known to Paul (see Introduction), he here invests his teaching with greater authority by presenting a brief sketch of his apostolic ministry and sufferings as they reflect those of Christ on behalf of the church (24). The preaching of God's word (Col 1:25) carries out the divine plan (the mystery, Col 1:26) to make Christ known to the Gentiles (Col 1:27). It teaches the God-given wisdom about Christ (Col 1:28), whose power works mightily in the apostle (Col 1:29). Even in those communities that do not know him personally (Col 2:1), he can increase the perception of God in Christ, unite the faithful more firmly in love, and so bring encouragement to them (Col 2:2). He hopes that his apostolic authority will make the Colossians perceive more readily the defects in the teaching of others who have sought to delude them, the next concern in the letter.
14 [24] What is lacking: although variously interpreted, this phrase does not imply that Christ's atoning death on the cross was defective. It may refer to the apocalyptic concept of a quota of "messianic woes" to be endured before the end comes; cf Mark 13:8, 19-20, 24 and the note on Matthew 23:29-32. Others suggest that Paul's mystical unity with Christ allowed him to call his own sufferings the afflictions of Christ.