不认识圣经，就是不认识基督，不认识基督，就是不认识基督所建立的天主教会。
新约·哥罗森书
共4章:
第一章(29)
致候辞
1:1 因天主的旨意作基督耶稣宗徒的保禄与弟茂德弟兄，
1:2 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！
感谢与代祷
1:3 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，
1:4 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：
1:5 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。
1:6 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；
1:7 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，
1:8 也就是他给我们报告了圣神所赐与你们的爱。
1:9 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，
1:10 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，
1:11 全力加强自己，赖他光荣的德能，含忍容受一切，欣然
1:12 感谢那使我们有资格，在光明中分享圣徒福分的天父，
1:13 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，
1:14 我们且在他内得到了救赎，获得了罪赦。
基督为万有的根源与终向
基督的品位
1:15 他是不可见的天主的肖像，是一切受造物的首生者，
1:16 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。
1:17 他在万有之先就有，万有都赖他而存在；
1:18 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，
1:19 因为天主乐意叫整个的圆满居在他内，
1:20 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。
1:21 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；
1:22 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，
1:23 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。
宗徒的任务
1:24 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；
1:25 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，
1:26 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。
1:27 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。
1:28 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；
1:29 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。
基督为万有的根源与终向
第二章(23)
2:1 我实愿意你们知道：我为你们和那些在劳狄克雅以及所有未曾亲眼看见过我的人，作如何的奋斗，
2:2 为使他们的心受到鼓励，使他们在爱内互相连结，充分的得到真知灼见，能认识天主的奥秘──基督，
2:3 因为在衪内蕴藏着智慧和知识的一切宝藏。
2:4 我说这话，免得有人以巧言花语欺骗你们。
2:5 我肉身虽然不在你们那里，但心灵却与你们同在，高兴见到你们生活的秩序，和你们对基督的坚定信仰。
惟在基督内方可得救
2:6 你们既然接受了基督耶稣为主，就该在他内行动生活，
2:7 在他内生根修建，坚定于你们所学得的信德，满怀感恩之情。
2:8 你们要小心，免得有人以哲学，以虚伪的妄言，按照人的传授，依据世俗的原理，而不是依据基督，把你们勾引了去。
2:9 因为是在基督内，真实地住有整个圆满的天主性，你们也是在他内得到丰满。
2:10 他是一切率领者和掌权者的元首，
2:11 你们也是在他内受了割损，但不是人手所行的割损，而是基督的割损，在乎脱去肉欲之身。
2:12 你们既因圣洗与他一同埋葬了，也就因圣洗，借着信德，即信使衪由死者中复活的天主的能力，与衪一同复活了。
2:13 你们从前因了你们的过犯和未受割损的肉身，原是死的；但天主却使你们与基督一同生活，赦免了我们的一切过犯：
2:14 涂抹了那相反我们，告发我们对诫命负债的债卷，把它从中除去，将它钉在十字架上；
2:15 解除了率领者和掌权者的武装，把他们公然示众，仗赖十字架，带着他们举行凯旋的仪式。
2:16 为此，不要让任何人在饮食上，或在节期或月朔或安息日等事上，对你们有所规定。
2:17 这一切原是未来事物的阴影，至于实体乃是基督。
2:18 不可让那甘愿自卑而敬拜天使的人，夺去你们的奖品，这种人只探究所见的幻象，因自己的血肉之见，妄自尊大，
2:19 而不与头相连接；其实由于头，全身才能赖关节和脉络获得滋养而互相连结，借天主所赐的生长力而生长。
2:20 既然你们与基督已同死于世俗的原理，为什么还如生活在世俗中一样，受人指点：
2:21 「不可拿，不可尝，不可摸，」
2:22 拘泥于人的规定和教训呢？──其实这一切，一经使用，便败坏了。
2:23 这些教规既基于随从私意的敬礼、谦卑和苦身克己，徒有智慧之名，并没有什么价值，只为满足肉欲而已。
相称于基督的生活
第三章(25)
信友生活的理想与实践
3:1 你们既然与基督一同复活了，就该追求天上的事，在那里有基督坐在天主的右边。
3:2 你们该思念天上的事，不该思念地上的事，
3:3 因为你们已经死了，你们的生命已与基督一同藏在天主内了；
3:4 当基督，我们的生命显现时，那时，你们也要与衪一同出现在光荣之中。
3:5 为此，你们要致死属于地上的肢体，致死淫乱、不洁、邪情、恶欲和无异于偶像崇拜的贪婪，
3:6 为了这一切，天主的义怒才降在悖逆之子身上；
3:7 当你们生活在其中时，你们也曾一度在其中行动过，
3:8 但是现在你们却该戒绝这一切：忿怒、暴戾、恶意、诟骂和出于你们口中的秽言。
3:9 不要彼此说谎；你们原已脱去了旧人和他的作为，
3:10 且穿上了新人，这新人既是照创造他者的肖像而更新，为获得知识的；
3:11 在这一点上，已没有希腊人或犹太人，受割损的或未受割损的，野蛮人、叔提雅人、奴隶、自由人的分别，而只有是一切并在一切内的基督。
3:12 为此，你们该如天主所拣选的，所爱的圣者，穿上怜悯的心肠、仁慈、谦卑、良善和含忍；
3:13 如有人对某人有什么怨恨的事，要彼此担待，互相宽恕；就如主怎样宽恕了你们，你们也要怎样宽恕人。
3:14 在这一切以上，尤该有爱德，因为爱德是全德的联系。
3:15 还要叫基督的平安，在你们心中作主；你们所以蒙召存于一个身体内，也是为此，所以你们该有感恩之心。
3:16 要让基督的话充分地存在你们内，以各种智慧彼此教导规劝，以圣咏、诗词和属神的歌曲在你们心内，怀着感恩之情，歌颂天主。
3:17 你们无论作什么，在言语上或在行为上，一切都该因主耶稣的名而作，借着他感谢天主圣父。
家庭的职责
3:18 作妻子的，应该服从丈夫，如在主内所当行的。
3:19 作丈夫的，应该爱妻子，不要苦待她们。
3:20 作子女的，应该事事听从父母，因为这是主所喜悦的。
3:21 作父母的，不要激怒你们的子女，免得他们灰心丧志。
3:22 作奴隶的，应该事事听从肉身的主人，且不要只当着眼前服事，像是取悦于人，而是要以诚心，出于敬畏主。
3:23 你们无论作什么，都要从心里去作，如同是为主，而不是为人，
3:24 因为你们该知道，你们要由主领取产业作为报酬；你们服事主基督罢！
3:25 因为凡行不义的，必要得他所行不义的报应；天主决不看情面。
第四章(17)
4:1 作主人的，要以正义公平对待奴仆，因为该知道，你们在天上也有一位主子。
祈祷与为人
4:2 你们要恒心祈祷，在祈祷中要醒寤，要谢恩；
4:3 同时，也要为我们祈祷，求天主给我们大开传道之门，好叫我能以宣讲基督的奥秘──我就是为此带上了锁链──
4:4 好叫我能照我该说的，把这奥秘传扬出去。
4:5 与外人来往要有智慧，要把握时机。
4:6 你们的言谈常要温和，像调和上了盐；要知道应如何答复每个人。
结 论
介绍送信人
4:7 关于我的一切，有我们亲爱的弟兄，忠信的服务者及在主内的同仆提希苛，告诉你们。
4:8 我打发他到你们那里去，就是为把我们的事报告给你们，并为安慰你们的心。
4:9 和他同去的．还有忠信亲爱的弟兄敖乃息摩，他原是你们的同乡；他们会把这里的一切事报告给你们。
问安与祝福
4:10 我的囚伴阿黎斯塔苛问候你们，巴尔纳伯的表弟马尔谷也问候你们──关于他，你们已获得了指示；如果他到了你们那里，你们要接待他──
4:11 还有号称犹斯托的耶稣，也问候你们；受割损的人中，只有这些人对天主的国是合作的人，他们这样的人才是我的安慰。
4:12 你们的同乡，基督耶稣的奴仆厄帕夫辣问候你们，他在祈祷中常为你们苦求，为使你们能坚定不移，在天主所愿意的一切事上，作成全兼诚服的人。
4:13 我实在能给他作证：他为你们和在劳狄刻雅及耶辣颇里的人受了许多辛苦。
4:14 亲爱的医生路加和德玛斯问候你们。
4:15 请你们问候劳狄刻雅的弟兄，也问候宁法和她的家里的教会。
4:16 几时你们宣读了这封信，务要使这封信也在劳狄刻雅人的教会内宣读；至于那由劳狄刻雅转来的信，你们也要宣读。
4:17 请你们告诉阿尔希颇：「要留心你在主内所接受的职分，务要善尽此职！」
4:18 我保禄亲笔问候；你们要念及我的锁链！愿恩宠与你们同在!
BOOK ENDS. Seraphim, April 2009.
JB COLOSSIANS
Chapter 1
THE LETTER OF PAUL
TO THE CHURCH AT COLOSSAE
PREFACE
Address
1:1 From Paul, appointed by
God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy
1:2 to the saints in Colossae,
our faithful brothers in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
Thanksgiving and
prayer
1:3 We
have never failed to remember you in our prayers and to give thanks for you to
God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1:4 ever since we heard about
your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you show towards all the saints
1:5 because of the
hope which is stored up for you in heaven. It is only recently that you
heard of this, when it was announced in the message of the truth. The Good News
1:6 which has reached you is
spreading all over the world and producing the same results as it has among you
ever since the day when you heard about God's grace and understood what this
really is.
1:7 Epaphras,
who taught you, is one of our closest fellow workers and a faithful deputy for
us as Christ's servant,
1:8 and it was he who told us
all about your love in the Spirit.
1:9 That will explain why,
ever since the day he told us, we have never failed to pray for you, and what
we ask God is that through perfect wisdom and spiritual understanding you
should reach the fullest knowledge of his will.
1:10 So you will be able to
lead the kind of life which the Lord expects of you, a life acceptable to him
in all its aspects; showing the results in all the good actions you do and
increasing your knowledge of God.
1:11 You
will have in you the strength, based on his own glorious power, never to give
in, but to bear anything joyfully,
1:12 thanking the Father who
has made it possible for you to join the saints and with them to inherit the
light.
1:13 Because
that is what he has done: he has taken us out of the power of darkness and
created a place for us in the kingdom of the Son that he loves,
1:14 and in him, we gain our
freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.
I. FORMAL
INSTRUCTION
Christ is the head
of all creation
1:15 He is the image of the
unseen God and the first-born of all creation,
1:16 for in him were created
all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible,
Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers - all
things were created through him and for him.
1:17 Before
anything was created, he existed, and he holds all things in unity. Now the
Church is his body, he is its head.
1:18 As
he is the Beginning, he was first to be born from the dead, so that he should
be first in every way;
1:19 because God wanted all
perfection to be found in him
1:20 and all things
to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything
on earth, when he made peace by his death on the cross.
The Colossians have their share in salvation
1:21 Not long ago, you were
foreigners and enemies, in the way that you used to think and the evil things
that you did;
1:22 but now he has reconciled
you, by his death and in that mortal body. Now you are able to appear before
him holy, pure and blameless -
1:23 as long as you persevere
and stand firm on the solid base of the faith, never letting yourselves drift
away from the hope promised by the Good News, which you have heard, which has
been preached to the whole human race, and of which I, Paul, have become the
servant.
Paul's labours in the service of the pagans
1:24 It
makes me happy to suffer for you, as I am suffering now, and in my own body to do
what I can to make up all that has still to be undergone by Christ for the sake
of his body, the Church.
1:25 I became the servant of
the Church when God made me responsible for delivering God's message to you,
1:26 the message which was a
mystery hidden for generations and centuries and has now been revealed to his
saints.
1:27 It
was God's purpose to reveal it to them and to show all the rich glory of this
mystery to pagans. The mystery is Christ among you, your hope of glory:
1:28 this is the Christ we
proclaim, this is the wisdom in which we thoroughly train everyone and instruct
everyone, to make them all perfect in Christ.
1:29 It
is for this I struggle wearily on, helped only by his power driving me
irresistibly.
JB COLOSSIANS
Chapter 2
Paul's concern for
the Colossians' faith
2:1 Yes, I want you to know
that I do have to struggle hard for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for so
many others who have never seen me face to face.
2:2 It is all to bind you
together in love and to stir your minds, so that your understanding may come to
full development, until you really know God's secret
2:3 in which all
the jewels of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
2:4 I say this to make sure
that no one deceives you with specious arguments.
2:5 I may be absent in body,
but in spirit I am there among you, delighted to find you all in harmony and to
see how firm your faith in Christ is.
II. A WARNING
AGAINST SOME ERRORS
Live according to
the true faith in Christ, not according to false teaching
2:6 You
must live your whole life according to the Christ you have received - Jesus the
Lord;
2:7 you must be rooted in him
and built on him and held firm by the faith you have been taught, and full of
thanksgiving.
2:8 Make
sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some secondhand,
empty, rational philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on
Christ.
Christ alone is the
true head of men and angels
2:9 In
his body lives the fullness of divinity, and in him you too find your own fulfilment,
2:10 in the one who is the
head of every Sovereignty and Power.[*a]
2:11 In
him you have been circumcised, with a circumcision not performed by human hand,
but by the complete stripping of your body of flesh. This is circumcision
according to Christ.
2:12 You
have been buried with him, when you were baptised;
and by baptism, too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in
the power of God who raised him from the dead.
2:13 You were dead, because
you were sinners and had not been circumcised: he[*b]
has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us all our sins.
2:14 He has overridden the
Law, and cancelled every record of the debt that we had to pay; he has done
away with it by nailing it to the cross;[*c]
2:15 and so he got rid of the
Sovereignties and the Powers, and paraded them in public, behind him in his
triumphal procession.[*d]
Against the false
asceticism based on 'the principles of this world'
2:16 From
now onwards, never let anyone else decide what you should eat or drink, or
whether you are to observe annual festivals, New Moons or sabbaths.
2:17 These
were only pale reflections of what was coming: the reality is Christ.
2:18 Do not be taken in by
people who like grovelling to angels and worshipping
them; people like that are always going on about some vision they have had,
inflating themselves to a false importance with their worldly outlook.
2:19 A
man of this sort is not united to the head, and it is the head that adds
strength and holds the whole body together, with all its joints and sinews -
and this is the only way in which it can reach its full growth in God.
2:20 If
you have really died with Christ to the principles of this world, why do you
still let rules dictate to you, as though you were still living in the world?
2:21 'It is forbidden to pick
up this, it is forbidden to taste that, it is forbidden to touch something
else';
2:22 all these prohibitions
are only concerned with things that perish by their very use - an example of
human doctrines and regulations![*e]
2:23 It
may be argued that true wisdom is to be found in these, with their self-imposed
devotions, their self-abasement, and their severe treatment of the body; but
once the flesh starts to protest, they are no use at all.
JB COLOSSIANS
Chapter 3
Life-giving union
with the glorified Christ
3:1 Since
you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the
things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God's right hand.
3:2 Let
your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth,
3:3 because you have died, and
now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God.
3:4 But when Christ is revealed
- and he is your life - you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.
III. EXHORTATION
General rules of
Christian behaviour
3:5 That
is why you must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life:
fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which
is the same thing as worshipping a false god;
3:6 all this is the sort of behaviour that makes God angry.
3:7 And
it is the way in which you used to live when you were surrounded by people
doing the same thing,
3:8 but now you, of all
people, must give all these things up: getting angry, being bad-tempered,
spitefulness, abusive language and dirty talk;
3:9 and never tell each other
lies. You have stripped off your old behaviour with
your old self,
3:10 and you have put on a new
self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the
image of its creator;
3:11 and in that image there
is no room for distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised or
the uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free man. There
is only Christ. he is everything and he is in
everything
3:12 You
are God's chosen race, his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed in
sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience.
3:13 Bear with one another;
forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now
you must do the same.
3:14 Over
all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love.
3:15 And
may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you
were called together as parts of one body. Always be thankful.
3:16 Let the message of
Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you. Teach each other, and advise
each other, in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and hymns
and inspired songs to God;
3:17 and never say or do
anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
through him.
The morals of the
home and household
3:18 Wives, give way to your
husbands, as you should in the Lord.
3:19 Husbands, love your wives
and treat them with gentleness.
3:20 Children, be obedient to
your parents always, because that is what will please the Lord.
3:21 Parents, never drive your
children to resentment or you will make them feel frustrated.
3:22 Slaves, be obedient to
the men who are called your masters in this world; not only when you are under
their eye, as if you had only to please men, but wholeheartedly, out of respect
for the Master.
3:23 Whatever
your work is, put your heart into it as if it were for the Lord and not for
men,
3:24 knowing that the Lord
will repay you by making you his heirs. It is Christ the Lord that you are
serving;
3:25 anyone who does wrong
will be repaid in kind and he does not favour one
person more than another.
JB COLOSSIANS
Chapter 4
4:1 Masters, make sure that
your slaves are given what is just and fair, knowing that you too have a Master
in heaven.
The apostolic
spirit
4:2 Be
persevering in your prayers and be thankful as you stay awake to pray.
4:3 Pray
for us especially, asking God to show us opportunities for announcing the
message and proclaiming the mystery of Christ, for the sake of which I am in
chains;
4:4 pray that I may proclaim
it as clearly as I ought.
4:5 Be
tactful with those who are not Christians and be sure you make the best use of
your time with them.
4:6 Talk to them agreeably and
with a flavour of wit, and try to fit your answers to
the needs of each one.
Personal news
4:7 Tychicus
will tell you all the news about me. He is a brother I love very much, and a
loyal helper and companion in the service of the Lord.
4:8 I am sending him to you
precisely for this purpose: to give you news about us and to reassure you.
4:9 With
him I am sending Onesimus, that dear and faithful
brother who is a fellow citizen of yours. They will tell you everything that is
happening here.
Greetings and final
wishes
4:10 Aristarchus, who is here
in prison with me, sends his greetings, and so does Mark, the cousin of
Barnabas - you were sent some instructions about him; if he comes to you give
him a warm welcome. -
4:11 and Jesus Justus adds his
greetings. Of all those who have come over from the Circumcision, these are the
only ones actually working with me for the kingdom of God. They have been a
great comfort to me.
4:12 Epaphras,
your fellow citizen, sends his greetings; this servant of Christ Jesus never
stops battling for you, praying that you will never lapse but always hold
perfectly and securely to the will of God.
4:13 I can testify for him
that he works hard for you, as well as for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.
4:14 Greetings from
my dear friend Luke, the doctor, and also from Demas.
4:15 Please
give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nympha
and the church which meets in her house.
4:16 After
this letter has been read among you, send it on to be read in the church of the
Laodiceans; and get the letter from Laodicea for you
to read yourselves.
4:17 Give Archippus
this message, 'Remember the service that the Lord wants you to do, and try to
carry it out'.
4:18 Here
is a greeting in my own handwriting - PAUL. Remember the chains I wear. Grace be with you.
END OF JB
COLOSSIANS [4 Chapters].