September 9, 2013, Reading

Colossians 1:24–2:3

²⁴ It makes me happy to be suffering for you now, and in my own body to make up all the hardships that still have to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church,

²⁵ of which I was made a servant with the responsibility towards you that God gave to me, that of completing God’s message,

²⁶ the message which was a mystery hidden for generations and centuries and has now been revealed to his holy people.

²⁷ It was God’s purpose to reveal to them how rich is the glory of this mystery among the gentiles; it is Christ among you, your hope of glory:

²⁸ this is the Christ we are proclaiming, admonishing and instructing everyone in all wisdom, to make everyone perfect in Christ.

²⁹ And it is for this reason that I labour, striving with his energy which works in me mightily.

¹ I want you to know, then, what a struggle I am having on your behalf and on behalf of those in Laodicea, and on behalf of so many others who have never seen me face to face.

² It is all to bind them together in love and to encourage their resolution until they are rich in the assurance of their complete understanding and have knowledge of the mystery of God

³ in which all the jewels of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.