to whom God willed to make known what the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles is, the mystery that is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Parallel translations
- WEB to whom God was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory;
- KJV To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
- BSB To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
- NKJV To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
- NLT For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The mystery is 'Christ in you, the hope of glory,' made known even among the Gentiles. Christ indwelling believers is the ground of their hope.
Overview
God chose to reveal the riches of this mystery 'among the Gentiles,' showing the gospel reaches all nations. The heart of the mystery is 'Christ in you, the hope of glory'—the indwelling Christ who guarantees future glory. This stunning truth elevates Christ as everything the Colossians need, against teachers offering supposed secret knowledge.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 37
- John 14:20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
- Rom 8:10If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
- Eph 3:16–17that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;
- 1 Jn 4:4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
- Gal 2:20I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
- 1 Cor 3:16Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
- Rev 3:20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.
- John 14:17the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you.
- Eph 1:17–18that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;
- Gal 4:19My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you —
- 2 Cor 4:6seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- 1 Tim 1:1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ our hope;
- John 14:23Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.
- Col 2:3in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
- John 17:26I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
- 2 Cor 6:16What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
- John 15:2–5Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
- Col 3:11where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.
- Eph 2:22in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
- John 17:22–23The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one;
- 1 Pet 1:3–4Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
- John 6:56He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him.
- Rom 9:23and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory,
- Eph 1:7in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
- Phil 4:19My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
- Ps 16:9–11Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices. My body shall also dwell in safety.
- Rom 5:2through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
- Rom 8:18–19For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.
- Col 1:5because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News,
- Luke 17:21neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, God’s Kingdom is within you.”
- 2 Cor 4:17For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;
- Gal 1:15–16But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me through his grace,
- Eph 3:8–10To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
- Matt 13:11He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.
- 2 Cor 2:14Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.
- 1 Cor 2:12–14But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God.
- Rom 11:33Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
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Christ at the center
The image of the invisible God, firstborn over creation, in whom all things hold together and all the fullness of God dwells bodily — supreme over every power.
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Original language
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