₁₅Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the firstborn Son, superior to all created things. ₁₆For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him. ₁₇Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place. ₁₈He is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body's life. He is the firstborn Son, who was raised from death, in order that he alone might have the first place in all things. ₁₉For it was by God's own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God. ₂₀Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son's blood on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.

₂₁At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. ₂₂But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence. ₂₃You must, of course, continue faithful on a firm and sure foundation, and must not allow yourselves to be shaken from the hope you gained when you heard the gospel. It is of this gospel that I, Paul, became a servant — this gospel which has been preached to everybody in the world.

₂₄And now I am happy about my sufferings for you, for by means of my physical sufferings I am helping to complete what still remains of Christ's sufferings on behalf of his body, the church. ₂₅And I have been made a servant of the church by God, who gave me this task to perform for your good. It is the task of fully proclaiming his message, ₂₆which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all the human race but has now revealed to his people. ₂₇God's plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. ₂₈So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ.