yet there is [only] one God to us, [and He is] the Father, from whom all things have come, and for whom we live. And [there is only] one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things have come, and through whom we live.
“Our Lord and our God, you deserve to receive the glory and the honor and the power for you created everything, and they exist because you wanted them to, so they were created.”
[I was given the responsibility] to enlighten all people regarding the working out of God’s secret plan, which has been kept hidden for ages in [the heart of] God, who created everything.
By [having] faith, we understand that the universe was formed by God’s word [See Gen. 1:1-27], so that what is seen has not been made out of what is visible.
Every person who believes that Jesus is the Christ [i.e., God’s specially chosen one] has been [spiritually] conceived [and eventually born] by God. And everyone who [continually] loves God, who did the conceiving, also [must continually] love the person whom God has [spiritually] conceived.
“Write [this] to the angel of the church at Laodicia: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the source [or, ruler] of God’s creation [See John 1:3; Heb. 1:1-2]: