Colossians 1:6 - An Understandable Version (2005 edition)6 came to you. This Gospel is [now] also producing fruit all over the world [i.e., throughout the Roman Empire] and growing [in its influence], just as it is doing among you people also, since the day you [first] heard and understood God’s unearned favor in [all its] truth. See the chapterMore versionsKing James Version (Oxford) 17696 which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth: See the chapterAmplified Bible - Classic Edition6 Which has come to you. Indeed, in the whole world [that Gospel] is bearing fruit and still is growing [by its own inherent power], even as it has done among yourselves ever since the day you first heard and came to know and understand the grace of God in truth. [You came to know the grace or undeserved favor of God in reality, deeply and clearly and thoroughly, becoming accurately and intimately acquainted with it.] See the chapterAmerican Standard Version (1901)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; See the chapterCommon English Bible6 which has come to you. This message has been bearing fruit and growing among you since the day you heard and truly understood God’s grace, in the same way that it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world. See the chapterCatholic Public Domain Version6 This has reached you, just as it is present in the whole world, where it grows and bears fruit, as it has also done in you, since the day when you first heard and knew the grace of God in truth, See the chapter |
So, when the apostles and the brothers from Judea heard these things, they stopped arguing [See verse 2] and gave honor to God, saying, “[This means] that God has permitted the Gentiles also [as well as the Jews] to repent [i.e., change their hearts and lives] so they, too, could have [the promise of never ending] life.”
in the power demonstrated by [miraculous] signs and wonders, [produced] by the power of the Holy Spirit. So, I have completed preaching the good news about Christ from Jerusalem, all the way around [the area] to Illyricum [Note: This country was located northwest of Greece and in present-day Croatia].
[This will happen] if you continue in the faith [Note: This means either “continue to observe God’s teaching” or, “continue to believe”], firmly grounded and established, and not moved away from the hope offered by the Gospel message, which you have heard and which was preached to people throughout the entire created world under heaven. I, Paul, was made a minister of this Gospel.
But we ought to thank God for you always, brothers [who are] dearly loved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning [Note: Some manuscripts use the Greek word for “first fruits” instead of “beginning” here, but it is difficult to know in what sense the Thessalonian Christians were “first”], in order to be saved through being set apart by the Holy Spirit and through belief of the truth [of the Gospel].