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18 The church is like Christ's body and he is its head.[a] He is where it all begins. As God's special Son, he was the first person who became alive again after death.[b] As a result, Christ is first and most important in all things.

19 God chose to put his nature in Christ completely. 20 He decided that Christ would die on the cross as a sacrifice. In that way, God would bring all things back to himself. Then everything could live in peace with God. That includes everything on the earth and everything in heaven.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:18 Christ gives his Spirit to those people who belong to him. He lives in his people because his Spirit is in them. They are united to him. They are like his body on earth.
  2. 1:18 Other people had become alive again after they died, but Jesus never died again. He became alive again to show us that we also will become alive again after death, if we believe in him. So he was the first and believers will follow him.

18 And he is the head(A) of the body, the church;(B) he is the beginning and the firstborn(C) from among the dead,(D) so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased(E) to have all his fullness(F) dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile(G) to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven,(H) by making peace(I) through his blood,(J) shed on the cross.

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