Colossians 2
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have about you, and those at Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in flesh.
I want you to know in how great a struggle I am engaged for you and for Christ’s people at Laodicea, and for all who have not yet seen me;
2 So that their hearts may be encouraged, having been united together in love, and for all wealth of the full assurance of understanding, to knowledge of the mystery of the God and Father of the Christ.
in the hope that they, being bound to one another by love, and keeping in view the full blessedness of a firm conviction, may be encouraged to strive for a perfect knowledge of God’s hidden truth,
3 In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
even Christ himself, in whom all treasures of wisdom and knowledge lie hidden.
4 And I say this so that not any man may delude you with persuasive speech.
I say this to prevent anyone from deceiving you by plausible arguments.
5 For even though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your orderliness, and the steadfastness of your faith for Christ.
It is true that I am not with you in person, but I am with you in spirit, and am glad to see the good order and the unbroken front resulting from your faith in Christ.
6 As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him,
Since, therefore, you have received Jesus, the Christ, as your Lord, live your lives in union with him –
7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as ye were taught, abounding in it with thankfulness.
rooted in him, building up your characters through union with him, growing stronger through your faith, as you were taught, overflowing with faith and thanksgiving.
8 Take heed lest there will be any man taking you captive through the love of wisdom and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the rudiments of the world, and not according to Christ.
Take care that there is not someone who will carry you away by his ‘philosophy’ – a hollow sham! – following, as it does, mere human traditions, and dealing with puerile questions of this world, and not with Christ.
9 Because in him all the fullness of the divinity dwells bodily.
For in Christ the Godhead in all its fulness dwells incarnate;
10 And ye are men who have been made full in him, who is the head of every principal office and position of authority.
and, by your union with him, you also are filled with it. He is the head of all archangels and powers of heaven.
11 In whom also ye were circumcised a circumcision not made with hands, in the removal of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of the Christ.
By your union with him you received a circumcision that was not performed by human hands, when you threw off the tyranny of the earthly body, and received the circumcision of the Christ.
12 Having been buried with him in immersion, in which also ye were raised together through faith of the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
For in baptism you were buried with Christ; and in baptism you were also raised to life with him, through your faith in the omnipotence of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you he made alive together with him, having forgiven us all the transgressions,
And to you, who once were dead, by reason of your sins and your uncircumcised nature – to you God gave life in giving life to Christ! He pardoned all our sins!
14 having erased the handwriting against us in the regulations that were hostile to us, and he has taken it up from the midst, having nailed it to the cross.
He canceled the bond which stood against us – the bond that consisted of ordinances – and which was directly hostile to us! He has taken it out of our way by nailing it to the cross!
15 Having stripped the principal offices and the positions of authority, he exposed them openly, having triumphed over them by it.
He rid himself of all the powers of evil, and held them up to open contempt, when he celebrated his triumph over them on the cross!
16 Let not any man therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,
Do not, then, allow anyone to take you to task on questions of eating or drinking, or in the matter of annual or monthly or weekly festivals.
17 which are a shadow of the things coming, but the body is Christ's.
These things are only the shadow of what is to come; the substance is in the Christ.
18 Let no man umpire against you insisting on self-mortification, and worship of the agents, intruding in things that he has not seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh,
Do not let anyone defraud you of the reality by affecting delight in so-called ‘humility’ and angel-worship. Such a person busies themselves with their visions, and without reason are rendered conceited by their merely human intellect.
19 and not holding to the head, from whom all the body, being supplied and held together through the connections and bonds, develops its growth from God.
They fail to maintain union with the head, to whom it is due that the whole body, nourished and knit together by the contact and connexion of every part, grows with a divine growth.
20 If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why do ye submit to rules, as though living in the world?
Since, with Christ, you became dead to the puerile teaching of this world, why do you submit, as if you still belonged to the world,
21 Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch
to such ordinances as ‘Do not handle, or taste, or touch’?
22 (which are all things for consumption by use), according to the commandments and teachings of men?
For all the things referred to in them cease to exist when used. You are following mere human directions and instructions.
23 Which having, are indeed a matter of wisdom in will-worship, and self-mortification, and austerity of the body-not in any value against indulgence of the flesh.
Such prohibitions appear reasonable where there is a desire for self-imposed service, and so-called ‘humility,’ and harsh treatment of the body, but are of no real value against the indulgence of our earthly nature.
