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Colossians 1:23-25
Amplified Bible
Colossians 1:23-25
Amplified Bible
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 [a]in all creation under heaven, and of which [gospel] I, Paul, was made a minister.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf. And with my own body I [b]supplement whatever is lacking [on our part] of Christ’s afflictions, on behalf of His body, which is the church. 25 In 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]—
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Colossians 1:23 Paul may be referring to the fact that the created world displays proof of the existence of an omnipotent, benevolent God (cf Rom 1:20), without whom there would be no possibility of salvation. Such a God is the foundation of the “good news.”
- Colossians 1:24 I.e. since the church is Christ’s body, figuratively speaking, whatever the church suffers can be considered additional sufferings by Christ Himself, and all such suffering was ordained and destined by God; what is left to suffer in God’s plan is what is “lacking of Christ’s afflictions.” Paul, as a member of the church, was destined to suffer through persecution etc., thereby taking his share of the church body’s divinely-ordained suffering.
Colossians 1:23-25
New International Version
Colossians 1:23-25
New International Version
23 if you continue(A) in your faith, established(B) and firm, and do not move from the hope(C) held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven,(D) and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.(E)
Paul’s Labor for the Church
24 Now I rejoice(F) in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions,(G) for the sake of his body, which is the church.(H) 25 I have become its servant(I) by the commission God gave me(J) to present to you the word of God(K) in its fullness—
Amplified Bible (AMP) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.