Wakolosai 1

1 Mimi Paulo, mtume wa Kristo Yesu kwa mapenzi ya Mungu, na ndugu Timotheo, 2 tunawaandikia nyinyi watu wa Mungu huko Kolosai, ndugu zetu waaminifu katika kuungana na Kristo. Tunawatakieni neema na amani kutoka kwa Mungu Baba yetu.

Sala ya shukrani

3 Daima tunamshukuru Mungu, Baba wa Bwana wetu Yesu Kristo, wakati tunapowaombea. 4 Maana tumesikia juu ya imani yenu kwa Kristo Yesu na juu ya mapendo yenu kwa watu wote wa Mungu. 5 Imani yenu na mapendo yenu vina msingi katika tumaini mlilowekewa mbinguni. Mlipata kusikia juu ya hilo tumaini mara ya kwanza wakati mlipohubiriwa ule ujumbe wa ukweli wa Habari Njema. 6 Injili inazidi kuzaa matunda na kuenea ulimwenguni kote kama vile ilivyofanya kwenu nyinyi tangu siku ile mliposikia juu ya neema ya Mungu na kuitambua ilivyo kweli. 7 Mlijifunza juu ya neema ya Mungu kutoka kwa Epafra, mtumishi mwenzetu, ambaye ni mfanyakazi mwaminifu wa Kristo kwa niaba yetu. 8 Yeye alitupa habari za upendo wenu mliojaliwa na Roho. 9 Kwa sababu hiyo tumekuwa tukiwaombeeni daima tangu wakati tulipopata habari zenu. Tunamwomba Mungu awajazeni ujuzi kamili wa matakwa yake, pamoja na hekima yote na ujuzi wa kiroho. 10 Hapo mtaweza kuishi kama anavyotaka Bwana na kutenda daima yanayompendeza. Maisha yenu yatakuwa yenye matunda ya kila namna ya matendo mema na mtazidi kukua katika kumjua Mungu. 11 Mungu awajalieni nguvu kwa uwezo wake mtukufu ili muweze kustahimili kila kitu kwa uvumilivu. 12 Na kwa furaha mshukuruni Baba, aliyewawezesha nyinyi kuwa na sehemu yenu katika mambo yale aliyowawekea watu wake katika ufalme wa mwanga. 13 Yeye alituokoa katika nguvu ya giza, akatuleta salama katika ufalme wa Mwanae mpenzi. 14 Kwake yeye tunakombolewa, yaani dhambi zetu zinaondolewa.

Kristo na kazi yake

15 Kristo ni mfano wa Mungu asiyeonekana; ni mzaliwa wa kwanza wa viumbe vyote.

16 Maana kwake vitu vyote viliumbwa kila kitu duniani na mbinguni, vitu vinavyoonekana na visivyoonekana: Wenye enzi, watawala, wakuu na wenye nguvu. Vyote viliumbwa kwake na kwa ajili yake.

17 Yeye alikuwako kabla ya vitu vyote; vyote huendelea kuwako kwa uwezo wake.

18 Yeye ni kichwa cha mwili wake, yaani kanisa; yeye ni chanzo cha uhai wa huo mwili. Yeye ndiye mwanzo, mzaliwa wa kwanza aliyefufuliwa kutoka kwa wafu, ili awe na nafasi ya kwanza katika vitu vyote.

19 Maana Mungu alipenda utimilifu wake wote uwe ndani yake. 20 Kwake vitu vyote vilipatanishwa na Mungu: Na kwa damu yake msalabani akafanya amani na vitu vyote duniani na mbinguni.

21 Hapo kwanza nyinyi pia mlikuwa mbali na Mungu na mlikuwa maadui zake kwa sababu ya fikira zenu na matendo yenu maovu. 22 Lakini sasa, kwa kifo cha Mwanae aliyeishi hapa duniani, Mungu amewapatanisha naye, kusudi awaweke mbele yake mkiwa watakatifu, safi na bila lawama. 23 Mnapaswa, lakini kuendelea na msingi imara katika imani, wala msikubali kutikiswa kutoka katika tumaini lile mlilopata wakati mlipoisikia Injili. Mimi Paulo nimekuwa mtumishi wa hiyo Injili ambayo imekwisha hubiriwa kila mtu duniani.

Huduma ya Paulo katika makanisa

24 Na sasa nafurahi kuteseka kwa ajili yenu, maana kwa mateso yangu hapa duniani, nasaidia kukamilisha kile kilichopungua bado katika mateso ya Kristo kwa ajili ya mwili wake, yaani kanisa. 25 Nami nimefanywa kuwa mtumishi wa kanisa kufuatana na mpango wake Mungu ambao alinikabidhi kwa faida yenu. Mpango wenyewe ni kuutangaza kwa ukamilifu ujumbe wake, 26 ambao ni siri aliyowaficha binadamu wote tangu milele, lakini sasa amewajulisha watu wake. 27 Mungu ametaka kuwajulisha hao jinsi siri hiyo ilivyo kuu na tukufu ambayo imeenea kwa watu wa mataifa, nayo ndiyo hii: Kristo yuko ndani yenu, na jambo hilo lamaanisha kwamba nyinyi mtaushiriki utukufu wa Mungu. 28 Kwa sababu hiyo tunamhubiri Kristo kwa watu wote; tunawaonya na kuwafundisha wote kwa hekima yote, ili tuweze kumleta kila mmoja mbele ya Mungu akiwa amekomaa katika kuungana na Kristo. 29 Kwa madhumuni hayo mimi nafanya kazi na kujitahidi nikiitumia nguvu kuu ya Kristo ifanyayo kazi ndani yangu.

Colossians 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother,2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ that are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.3 We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,4 having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have toward all the saints,5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,6 which is come unto you; even as it is also in all the world bearing fruit and increasing, as it doth in you also, since the day ye heard and knew the grace of God in truth;7 even as ye learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,8 who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,10 to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy;12 giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;13 who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love;14 in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins:15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;16 for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him;17 and he is before all things, and in him all things consist.18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.19 For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell;20 and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens.21 And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works,22 yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him:23 if so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister.24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church;25 whereof I was made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which was given me to you-ward, to fulfil the word of God,26 even the mystery which hath been hid for ages and generations: but now hath it been manifested to his saints,27 to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:28 whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ;29 whereunto I labor also, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.