17 and he himself is before all things, and in him all things are held together,
18 and he himself is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in everything,
19 because he was well pleased for all the fullness to dwell in him,
20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by making peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
21 And although you were formerly alienated and enemies in attitude, because of your evil deeds,
22 but now you have been reconciled by his physical body through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and steadfast and not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.