Colossians 2

1 I want you to know how hard I'm working for you, and for those at Laodicea—in fact for all those who haven't met me personally—

For I want you to know the kind of solicitude that I have for you, and for those who are at Laodicea, as well as for those who have not seen my face in the flesh.

2 so that you may be encouraged. May you be bound together in love, experiencing the great benefit of being completely sure in your understanding, for this is what the true knowledge of God brings. May you know the revealed mystery of God, which is Christ!

May their hearts be consoled and instructed in charity, with all the riches of a plenitude of understanding, with knowledge of the mystery of God the Father and of Christ Jesus.

3 In him you can discover all the rich wisdom and knowledge of God.

For in him are hidden all treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4 I'm telling you this so that no one will fool you by spinning you a tale.

Now I say this, so that no one may deceive you with grandiose words.

5 Even though I'm not physically there with you, I'm with you in spirit. I'm so happy to see the way you stick together and how firm you are in your trust in Christ.

For though I may be absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit. And I rejoice as I gaze upon your order and its foundation, which is in Christ, your faith.

6 Just as you accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, go on following him,

Therefore, just as you have received the Lord Jesus Christ, walk in him.

7 grounded in him and built up by him. May your trust in him continue to grow strong, following what you were taught, full of gratitude to God.

Be rooted and continually built up in Christ. And be confirmed in the faith, just as you have also learned it, increasing in him with acts of thanksgiving.

8 Watch out that nobody enslaves you through their philosophy and worthless delusions, following human traditions and concepts of this world, and not following Christ.

See to it that no one deceives you through philosophy and empty falsehoods, as found in the traditions of men, in accord with the influences of the world, and not in accord with Christ.

9 For the fullness of God's divine nature lives in Christ in bodily form,

For in him, all the fullness of the Divine Nature dwells bodily.

10 and you have been made full in him. He is supreme over every ruler and authority.

And in him, you have been filled; for he is the head of all principality and power.

11 You were “circumcised” in him but not by human hands. You have been set free from sinful human nature by the “circumcision” Christ performed.

In him also, you have been circumcised with a circumcision not made by hand, not by the despoiling of the body of flesh, but by the circumcision of Christ.

12 You were buried with him in baptism, and you were raised with him through your trust in what God did by raising him from the dead.

You have been buried with him in baptism. In him also, you have risen again through faith, by the work of God, who raised him up from the dead.

13 And even though you were dead because of your sins and being physically “uncircumcised,” he brought you to life together with him. He has forgiven us all our sins.

And when you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he enlivened you, together with him, forgiving you of all transgressions,

14 He wiped out the record of our debts according to the Law that was written down against us; he took away this barrier by nailing it to the cross.

and wiping away the handwriting of the decree which was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken this away from your midst, affixing it to the Cross.

15 He stripped away the power of spiritual rulers and authorities, and having publicly revealed what they were truly like, he led them captive behind him in victory.

And so, despoiling principalities and powers, he has led them away confidently and openly, triumphing over them in himself.

16 So don't let anyone criticize you for what you eat or what you drink, or regarding which religious festival, new moon ritual, or ceremonial sabbaths you choose to observe.

Therefore, let no one judge you as concerns food or drink, or a particular feast day, or feast days of new moons, or of Sabbaths.

17 These are just a shadow of what was to come, for the physical reality is Christ.

For these are a shadow of the future, but the body is of Christ.

18 Don't let anyone cheat you out of your prize by insisting you have to beat yourself, or worship angels. They think they are better than anyone else because of visions they say they've had, and become ridiculously conceited in their sinful minds.

Let no one seduce you, preferring base things and a religion of Angels, walking according to what he has not seen, being vainly inflated by the sensations of his flesh,

19 Such people are not connected to the head that directs the body, nourished and joined together through the body's sinews and muscles. As the body is united together it grows the way God wants it to grow.

and not holding up the head, with which the whole body, by its underlying joints and ligaments, is joined together and grows with an increase that is of God.

20 If you died with Christ to the religious demands that this world insists upon, why would you make yourself subject to such demands as if you were still part of this world?

So then, if you have died with Christ to the influences of this world, why do you still make decisions as if you were living in the world?

21 Things like: don't handle that, don't taste that, don't touch that!

Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle these things,

22 These commands refer to things that don't last since they're used up, and they're based on man-made requirements and teachings.

which all lead to destruction by their very use, in accord with the precepts and doctrines of men.

23 Such rules may make some kind of sense to those who practice self-centered piety, who are so proud of being humble, and who “mortify the body;” but in reality they don't help at all in dealing with sinful desires.

Such ideas have at least an intention to attain to wisdom, but through superstition and debasement, not sparing the body, and they are without any honor in satiating the flesh.