Colossians 1:17

Plain English Version

He was there at first, before anything else, and now he holds everything together, everything everywhere, and he keeps it all working properly.

Cross References

John 17:5

And now, Father, when I come back to you, show people that I am great and powerful, just like I was when I was with you, before we made the world together.

John 8:58

Jesus said, “Listen to this, it’s true. I was alive before Abraham was born. You see, I am always alive.”

Acts 17:28

That old story is true that says, ‘He is with us all the time. He is the one that makes us alive, so that we can walk about and do things.’ And even one of your own Athens people wrote something about him. He wrote, ‘We are his kids.’

1 Corinthians 8:6

But we Christians know that those statues are nothing at all. We know there is only one God. He is our father. He made everything, and we want to do whatever he wants, as long as we live. And there is only one true boss. He is Jesus Christ. He worked with God, and together they made everything. And Jesus gives us Christians real life.

Colossians 1:15

Nobody can see God. But God’s son, Jesus, is just like God, and he showed people what God is like. You see, Jesus was there with God a long time ago, and he worked with God to make everything. They made all the things in heaven, and all the things on the earth. They made the things we can see, and the things we can’t see. They made all the spirits, even the spirit bosses that we can’t see. God worked with his son to make everything, so that now everything has to respect God’s son. Jesus is God’s son, and he is the boss over everything.