< Colossians 2 >
1 For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face,
For I would have you know, what manner of care I have for you and for them that are at Laodicea, and whosoever have not seen my face in the flesh:
2 that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ,
That their hearts may be comforted, being instructed in charity, and unto all riches of fulness of understanding, unto the knowledge of the mystery of God the Father and of Christ Jesus:
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric.
Now this I say, that no man may deceive you by loftiness of words.
5 For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ.
For though I be absent in body, yet in spirit I am with you; rejoicing, and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith which is in Christ.
6 Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him,
As therefore you have received Jesus Christ the Lord, walk ye in him;
7 rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Rooted and built up in him, and confirmed in the faith, as also you have learned, abounding in him in thanksgiving.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.
Beware lest any man cheat you by philosophy, and vain deceit; according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ:
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporeally;
10 And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
And you are filled in him, who is the head of all principality and power:
11 In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands.
In whom also you are circumcised with circumcision not made by hand, in despoiling of the body of the flesh, but in the circumcision of Christ:
12 And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.
Buried with him in baptism, in whom also you are risen again by the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him up from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses,
And you, when you were dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh; he hath quickened together with him, forgiving you all offences:
14 having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!
Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he hath taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross:
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
And despoiling the principalities and powers, he hath exposed them confidently in open shew, triumphing over them in himself.
16 Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a festival day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths,
17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.
Which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.
18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.
Let no man seduce you, willing in humility, and religion of angels, walking in the things which he hath not seen, in vain puffed up by the sense of his flesh,
19 He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow.
And not holding the head, from which the whole body, by joints and bands, being supplied with nourishment and compacted, groweth unto the increase of God.
20 If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:
If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you yet decree as though living in the world?
21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”?
Touch not, taste not, handle not:
22 These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
Which all are unto destruction by the very use, according to the precepts and doctrines of men.
23 Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in superstition and humility, and not sparing the body; not in any honour to the filling of the flesh.