Colossians 4:12 Cross References - Twentieth_Century

¹² Epaphras, who is one of yourselves, sends you his greeting. He is a servant of Christ Jesus, and is always most earnest in your behalf in his prayers, praying that you may stand firm, with a matured faith and with a sure conviction of all that is in accordance with God's will.

⁴⁸ You, then, must become perfect--as your heavenly Father is perfect.

⁴⁴ And, as his anguish became intense, he prayed still more earnestly, while his sweat was like great drops of blood falling on the ground.]

²⁶ If a man is ready to serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there my servant shall be also. If a man is ready to serve me, my Father will honor him.

¹⁴ I am persuaded, my Brothers--yes, I Paul, with regard to you- that you are yourselves full of kindness, furnished with all Christian learning, and well able to give advice to one another.

³⁰ I beg you, then, Brothers, by Jesus Christ, our Lord, and by the love inspired by the Spirit, to join me in earnest prayer to God on my behalf.

⁶ Yet there is a philosophy that we teach to those whose faith is matured, but it is not the philosophy of to-day, nor that of the leaders of to-day-men whose downfall is at hand.

²⁰ Brothers, do not show yourselves children in understanding. In wickedness be infants, but in understanding show yourselves men.

¹¹ And now, brothers, good-bye. Aim at perfection; take courage; agree together; live in peace. And then God, the source of all love and peace, will be with you.

¹⁰ Is this, I ask, trying to conciliate men, or God? Am I seeking to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I should not be a servant of Christ.

¹⁹ You for whom I am again enduring a mother's pains, till a likeness to Christ shall have been formed in you.

¹² Not that I have already laid hold of it, or that I am already made perfect. But I press on, in the hope of actually laying hold of that for which indeed I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³ For I, Brothers, do not regard myself as having yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do--forgetting what lies behind, and straining every nerve for that which lies in front, ¹⁴ I press on to the goal, to gain the prize of that heavenward Call which God gave me through Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let all of us, then, whose faith is mature, think thus. Then, if on any matter you think otherwise, God will make that also plain to you.

⁷ It is just what you learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow- servant, who, as a minister of the Christ, faithfully represents us,

⁹ And therefore we, from the very day that we heard this, have never ceased praying for you, or asking that you may possess that deeper knowledge of the will of God, which comes through all true spiritual wisdom and insight.

²² But now he has reconciled you to himself by the sacrifice of Christ's earthly body in death--it has pleased God that you should stand in his presence holy, pure, and blameless,

²⁸ This is the Christ whom we proclaim, warning every one, and instructing every one, with all the wisdom that we possess, in the hope of bringing every one into God's presence perfected by union with Christ.

¹ I want you to know in how great a struggle I am engaged for you and for Christ's People at Laodicea, and for all who have not yet seen me; ² In the hope that they, being bound to one another by love, and keeping in view the full blessedness of a firm conviction, may be encouraged to strive for a perfect knowledge of God's hidden Truth, ³ Even Christ himself, in whom all treasures of wisdom and knowledge lie hidden. ⁴ I say this to prevent any one from deceiving you by plausible arguments. ⁵ It is true that I am not with you in person, but I am with you in spirit, and am glad to see the good order and the unbroken front resulting from your faith in Christ. ⁶ Since, therefore, you have received Jesus, the Christ, as your Lord, live your lives in union with him-- ⁷ Rooted in him, building up your characters through union with him, growing stronger through your faith, as you were taught, overflowing with faith and thanksgiving. ⁸ Take care there is not some one who will carry you away by his 'philosophy'--a hollow sham!--following, as it does, mere human traditions, and dealing with puerile questions of this world, and not with Christ. ⁹ For in Christ the Godhead in all its fulness dwells incarnate; ¹⁰ And, by your union with him, you also are filled with it. He is the Head of all Archangels and Powers of Heaven. ¹¹ By your union with him you received a circumcision that was not performed by human hands, when you threw off the tyranny of the earthly body, and received the circumcision of the Christ. ¹² For in baptism you were buried with Christ; and in baptism you were also raised to Life with him, through your faith in the omnipotence of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ And to you, who once were 'dead,' by reason of your sins and your uncircumcised nature--to you God gave Life in giving life to Christ! He pardoned all our sins! ¹⁴ He canceled the bond which stood against us--the bond that consisted of ordinances--and which was directly hostile to us! He has taken it out of our way by nailing it to the cross! ¹⁵ He rid himself of all the Powers of Evil, and held them up to open contempt, when he celebrated his triumph over them on the cross! ¹⁶ Do not, then, allow any one to take you to task on questions of eating or drinking, or in the matter of annual or monthly or weekly festivals. ¹⁷ These things are only the shadow of what is to come; the substance is in the Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let any one defraud you of the reality by affecting delight in so-called 'humility' and angel-worship. Such a man busies himself with his visions, and without reason is rendered conceited by his merely human intellect. ¹⁹ He fails to maintain union with the Head, to whom it is due that the whole body, nourished and knit together by the contact and Keynesian of every part, grows with a divine growth. ²⁰ Since, with Christ, you became dead to the puerile teaching of this world, why do you submit, as though your life were still that of the world, ²¹ To such ordinances as 'Do not handle, or taste, or touch'? ²² For all the things referred to in them cease to exist when used. You are following mere human directions and instructions. ²³ Such prohibitions appear reasonable where there is a desire for self-imposed service, and so-called 'humility,' and harsh treatment of the body, but are of no real value against the indulgence of our earthly nature.

¹ Masters, do what is right and fair by your slaves, for you know that you also have a Master--in Heaven. ² Devote yourselves to prayer. Give your whole mind to it, and also offer thanksgiving;

²³ May God himself, the giver of peace, make you altogether holy; and may your spirits, souls, and bodies be kept altogether faultless until the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²³ Epaphras, who is my fellow-prisoner for Christ Jesus, sends you his greeting;

⁷ Jesus, in the days of his earthly life, offered prayers and supplications, with earnest cries and with tears, to him who was able to save him from death; and he was heard because of his devout submission.

¹⁴ But 'solid food' is for Christians of mature faith--those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish right from wrong.

¹ James, a Servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, greets The Twelve Tribes that are living abroad.

¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be cured. Great is the power of a good man's fervent prayer.

¹ To those to whom, through the justice of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, there has been granted faith equally privileged with our own, from Simon Peter, a servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

²⁴ To him who is able to guard you from falling, and to bring you into his glorious presence, blameless and rejoicing-