1 Paul, aan apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints aand faithful brethren in Christ whoare in Colosse: bGrace to you and peace from God our Father1 and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Their Faith in Christ
3aWe give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
4asince we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of byour love for all the saints;
5 because of the hope awhich is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,
6 which has come to you, aas ithas also in all the world, and bis bringing forth fruit, as itis also among you since the day you heard and knew cthe grace of God in truth;
7 as you also learned from aEpaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is ba faithful minister of Christ on your behalf,
8 who also declared to us your alove in the Spirit.
Preeminence of Christ
9aFor this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask bthat you may be filled with cthe knowledge of His will din all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10athat you may walk worthy of the Lord, bfully pleasing Him,cbeing fruitful in every good work and increasing in the dknowledge of God;
11astrengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, bfor all patience and longsuffering cwith joy;
12agiving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of bthe inheritance of the saints in the light.
13 He has delivered us from athe power of darkness band conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14ain whom we have redemption1 through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is athe image of the invisible God, bthe firstborn over all creation.
By verse 5, he is already talking about the truth. He gives its source to be sure that nobody misunderstands. There is truth about many things—it could about an automobile or any other kind of product, and there can be truth about any kind of a human circumstance or event. Paul, however, is writing about a specific truth, which deals with what is contained within the gospel. The gospel is a certain message of good news. Thus, Paul begins to establish the source of this specific truth: It came from whomever brought the good news to them, the one whom God used to establish their congregation.
