FUNCTIONAL FAITH
The Wording
The Pioneer Translation Rendering

Colossians 1:17

And he himself is before all things, and all things hold together in him.

The verb *συνέστηκεν* (synestēken) is the perfect tense of *synistēmi*, meaning to hold together, cohere, or stand firm — translated here as "hold together" to capture its active, sustaining force. The phrase *πρὸ πάντων* (pro pantōn) means "before all things" in terms of priority, whether temporal or positional; the text is translated at face value without importing a preexistence theology beyond what the words themselves say. *Αὐτός* is emphatic — "he himself" — preserving the stress of the original.

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The same verse across the licensed translations and the Greek

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Berean Standard Bible

Goodspeed New Testament

17

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

He existed before all things and he sustains and embraces them all.

Functional Faith Reading

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Sources

SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)License

The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition

Copyright 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software.

Licensed CC BY 4.0.

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