Kolossense 1-3 nuut vertaal!!

*CHAPTER 1*

1:1 My name is Paul, my colleague Timothy and I are together in this unique mission by the initiative of God, representing the ministry of Jesus Christ.

1:2 We greet you with the blessing of His favour and friendship, and honour you who are in Colossae as saints and brothers included in Christ. God is our Father and Jesus Christ our Master.

1:3 Every time we pray for you we thank God for you. Together with our Lord Jesus Christ we enjoy a common origin in the Father.

1:4 The reports of your belief in Christ Jesus and your love for every devote follower inspires us.

1:5 Heaven (the sphere of spiritual realities) is the limitless reservoir of your expectation. The announcement of the goodness of God is not far fetched or too good to be true. The word you heard is absolutely true!

1:6 This word has become your property and is also present and prevailing in the whole world. Its harvest is evident everywhere and gaining ground; as also witnessed in your own experience from the moment you heard and understood the implication and the relevance of His favour.

1:7 Your experience is consistent with the teaching you received from our dear co-worker Epafras. He is just like a waiter in a Restaurant, ready to serve you faithfully on behalf of Jesus Christ.

1:8 He reported your love and spirit union to us;

1:9 and so we have become inseparably linked to you. Our constant desire for you is that you might be overwhelmed with the knowledge of His dream for your lives. We pray that the pattern of God's wisdom and thoughts will fall into place for you.

1:10 Go on a walkabout tour to explore the extent of the land His Lordship has attained for you. Now you can conduct yourselves appropriately towards Him; pleasing Him in every harvest of good works that you bear. Meanwhile you continue to increase in your intimate acquaintance with God; this results in the most attractive and fulfilled life possible.

1:11 You are empowered in the dynamic of God's strength; His mind is made up about you! (doxa from dokeo) He enables you to be strong in endurance and steadfastness with joy.

1:12 We are grateful to the Father who equipped and qualified us to join in the allotted portion of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

1:13 He rescued us from the claim of darkness and ignorance and transferred us into the kingdom where the love of His son rules.

1:14 In Him we have redemption though His blood; our sins (that which caused us to fail to possess our allotted portion) were done away with.

1:15 In Him the invisible God is made visible again; in order that everything may recognise their true origin in Him, He is the firstborn of every creature. (In Him we clearly see the mirror reflection of our original image and likeness.)

1:16 Everything that is begins in Him; whether in the heavenly realm or upon the earth, visible or invisible; every order of justice and every level of authority, be it kingdoms or governments, principalities or jurisdictions; all things were created by Him and for Him.

1:17 He is the initiator of all things therefore everything finds its relevance and its true pattern only in Him.

1:18 The ecclesia (church) is the visible expression (body) of which Jesus is the head. He is the principle rank of authority who leads the triumphant procession of our new birth out of the region of the dead. His preeminent rank is beyond threat.

1:19 The full measure of everything God has in mind for man indwells Him.

1:20 He initiated the reconciliation of all things to Himself. Through the blood of the cross God restored the original harmony. His reign of peace now extends to every visible thing upon the earth as well as those invisible things which are in the heavenly realm.

1:21 Your indifferent mindset alienated you from God into a lifestyle of annoyances, hardships and labours. Yet He has now fully reconciled and restored you to your original design.

1:22 He accomplished this in dying our death in a human body; He fully represented us in order to fully present us in blameless innocence face to face with God again, with no sense of guilt, suspicion, regret or accusation; all charges against us are officially cancelled.

1:23 Remain under the influence of what your faith knows to be true about you; firmly consolidated in the foundation of your belief, so that nothing can distract you from the expectation of the Gospel. A hope that is consistent with what you have heard, just as I, Paul am in the ministry to proclaim this gospel in all of creation under heaven. (The dimension of the invisible realm of Spirit influence.)

1:24 This is why no form of suffering can interfere with my joy. Every suffering on your behalf is just another opportunity to reinforce that which might still be lacking (in your understanding) of the affliction of Christ on behalf of His body which is the church.

1:25 God entrusted me with the revelation of this mystery as a responsible administrator of His household, so that in my ministry to you I will make the word known in its full consequence.

1:26 This mystery was concealed for ages and generations but is now fully realised in our restored innocence before Him.

1:27 (God knows the mineral wealth that He deposited in the earth on man's behalf) in the same way He now eagerly anticipates the unveiling of the riches of the ultimate treasure in all the nations; which is Christ in you! The revelation of His indwelling fulfills His dream for you.

1:28 This is the essence and focus of our message; we awaken every man's mind instructing every individual, bringing them into full enlightenment in order that we may exhibit the whole of mankind as perfect (without shortcoming and fully efficient) in Christ.

1:29 To accomplish this, I am laboring beyond the point of exhaustion striving with intense resolve with all the energy that He mightily inspires within me.

*CHAPTER 2*

2:1 Picture this: The stage is set; The game is on! And you are more than a mere spectator. We are standing opposite each other like two athletes of exactly the same stature: the contest is to display Christ in you to the extent that all of you as well as those in Laodicea may witness what I know face to face and not just by hear-say! (I want you to see this live and not just on TV.)

2:2 The point of the contest is for everyone's heart to be awakened to their own true identity; stepping into the pace that love (value) sets. This will launch you into a life of knowing the wealth of every conclusion and joint witness hidden within the mystery of God, He fathered us and revealed us again in Christ.

2:3 The whole of the original logic of your life is preserved in Him. He is the authentic and intelligent source of every treasure that wisdom and knowledge holds.

2:4 I want to say it in such a way that no one will be able to lead you to an inferior conclusion (that distracts again from the revelation of the mystery of Christ in you) by bending your mind with clever words.

2:5 My physical absence does not distance me from you spiritually. I rejoice to witness that your disciplined and practical lifestyle does not distract from the simplicity of your faith confidence in Christ.

2:6 Your daily walk is no different from that initial embrace when you first understood your Divine association in Him.

2:7 Just like the roots of a tree draw your sustenance and strength from Him; now you are displayed like a building rising up out of its foundation in His full stature, firm in your faith posture, standing tall in His shoes. The language of gratitude that overflows from your lips reflects the exact impression of what you were taught.

2:8 Make sure that you become no one's victim through philosophical intellectualism and meaningless speculations ; moulded in traditions and repetitions according to man's cosmic codes and superstitions and not consistent with Christ.

2:9 Beyond the boundaries of all these philosophies, God finds consistent and undiluted expression of Himself in Christ in human form.

2:10 He remains the exclusive measure of your own completeness. He heads up the authentic authority of the legality of your identity.

2:11 You are in Christ which means that His death represents your true circumcision. Sin's authority associated with every carnal sin in the human body was stripped off you (like filthy garments) in His death.

2:12 In the same parallel (as circumcision) your co-burial and joint-resurrection is now demonstrated in baptism; your co-inclusion in Christ is what God's faith knew when He powerfully raised Him from the dead.

2:13 You were once spiritually dead, as demonstrated in your constant failure and being bound to a lifestyle ruled by the corrupt desires of the flesh, but now God has made you alive together with Him, having forgiven you all your failures.

2:14 His body nailed to the cross hung there as the documented receipt testifying as proof that He deleted the detailed record of mankind's guilt.

2:15 Suddenly satanic powers and principalities lost all ground to continue to blackmail the human race. His brilliant victory made a public spectacle of them. (The horror of the cross is now the eternal trophy of His triumph!)

2:16 Do not let anyone therefore bring any restriction to your freedom again by reviving religious rules and regulations pertaining to eating and drinking; all Jewish festivals, new moons and sabbaths have come to an end in Christ!

2:17 These things were only prophetic shadows; Christ is the substance.

2:18 A religious mentality of voluntary humility and obsession with devout observances of angels will bring you no further reward. So do not let anyone who tries to act as an umpire of your devotion insist on his own opinion confined to a mind inflated out of proportion by the sensational and spooky, his so called visions are just a puff of hot air.

2:19 Such religious jargon is completely out of rhythm with the head. You are directly connected to Christ who like a choir conductor draws out the music in everyone like a tapestry of art that intertwines in harmony to reveal the full stature of divine inspiration (which is Christ in you.)

2:20 If it is true that you were included in Christ's death, then the religious systems of this world with its rules and regulations no longer applies to you. What further relevance would there be for you to continue to live under the influence of man's doctrines and ideas?

2:21 Things like: "Do not associate with this one!" or "Do not taste that!" or "Do not even touch this with your finger!"

2:22 These instructions are of no permanent value in any case since they refer to things that perish after it is consumed, thus they leave no lasting impact in the life of the individual. (Note: Jesus said it is not what goes into the mouth that matters, but what comes out of the heart!). So do not let man's menus cause you to major on minors.

2:23 Religious tradition appears to be very devout and its followers seem to be so humble and holy in their strict observance of rules that seek to control the behavior of the body. The only problem with this is that the flesh is never permanently satisfied.

*Chapter 3*
3:1 Pursue with diligence the consequence of your co-inclusion in Christ. Relocate yourself mentally! His resurrection co-raised you to the same position of authority, seated in the strength of God's right hand.

3:2 Becoming affectionately acquainted with Throne Room thoughts will keep you from being distracted again by the earthly (soul-ruled) realm.

3:3 Your union with His death broke the association with that world; the secret of your life now is the fact that you are wrapped up with Christ in God.

3:4 Every time Christ is revealed as our life, we are being co-revealed in the same glory (likeness and image of God) being united together with Him.

3:5 Consider the members of your body as dead and buried towards everything related to the porn industry, sensual uncleanness, longing for forbidden things, lust and greed which are just another form of idol worship.

3:6 It was because of these things that the anger of God fell upon His son.

3:7 Because of our unbelief we were all once swept along into a lifestyle of lust.

3:8 But now you can permanently rid yourselves of violent outbursts of rage, depression, all manner of wickedness, slander (any attempt to belittle someone else and to cause someone to fall into disrepute or to receive a bad reputation, which is blasphemy) and every form of irregular conversation.

3:9 We are no longer obliged to live under the rule of a sinful nature, neither are we cheating anyone through false pretensions,

3:10 but we stand fully identified in the new creation renewed in knowledge according to the pattern of the exact image of our Creator.

3:11 The revelation of Christ in everyone gives definition to the individual beyond anything they could ever be as a Greek or a Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, foreigners, savage, slave or free.

3:12 You are the product of God's love, He restored you to His original thought to belong to Him exclusively. It is like changing garments; now that you have gotten rid of the old, clothe yourselves with inner compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

3:13 Upholding one another in positive expectation. If anyone finds fault with another, restore that person to favor in the same forgiveness that the Lord released us with.

3:14 Wear love like a uniform; this is what completes the picture of our oneness.
3:15 Appoint the peace of Christ as umpire in your hearts; we are all identified in the same person, there is only one body. You exist to transmit favor.

3:16 Christ is the language of God's logic. Let His message sink into you copiously with unlimited vocabulary, taking wisdom to its most complete conclusion. This makes your fellowship an environment of instruction in an atmosphere of music. Every lesson is a reminder, echoing in every song you sing, whether it be a Psalm (raving about God in praise accompanied by musical instruments) or a hymn (a testimony song) or a song in the spirit (a new spontaneous prophetic song). **Grace fuels your heart with inspired music to the Lord.