Colossians 2
1 For I wish you to know how great a conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in the 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 that their hearts may be comforted, being united in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of the understanding, to the full knowledge of the secret of the God and Father, and 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 all the treasures of the wisdom and the knowledge hid,
even Christ himself, in whom all treasures of wisdom and knowledge lie hidden.
4 and this I say, that no one may deceive you with enticing words,
I say this to prevent anyone from deceiving you by plausible arguments.
5 for if even in the flesh I am absent—yet in the spirit I am with you, rejoicing and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in regard to 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, then, you 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 being rooted and built up in Him, and confirmed in the faith, as you were taught—abounding in it in thanksgiving.
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 See that no one will be carrying you away as spoil through philosophy and vain 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 dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
For in Christ the Godhead in all its fulness dwells incarnate;
10 and you are made full in Him, who is the head of all principality and 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 you also were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of 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 being buried with Him in the immersion, in which you also rose with [Him] through the faith of the working of God, who raised Him out of 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 the trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh—He made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all the trespasses,
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 blotted out the handwriting in the ordinances that is against us, that was contrary to us, and He has taken it out of the way, 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 principalities and the authorities, He made a show of 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 no one, then, judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a celebration, or of a new moon, or of 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 coming things, but the body [is] of the Christ;
These things are only the shadow of what is to come; the substance is in the Christ.
18 let no one deceive you of your prize, delighting in humble-mindedness and [in] worship of the messengers, intruding into the things he has not seen, being 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 the Head, from which all the body—gathering supply through the joints and bands, and being knit together—may increase with the increase of 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, then, you died with the Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as living in the world, are you subject to ordinances—
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 you may not touch, nor taste, nor handle—
to such ordinances as ‘Do not handle, or taste, or touch’?
22 which are all for destruction with the using, after the commands 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 are, indeed, having a matter of wisdom in self-willed religion, and humble-mindedness, and neglecting of body—not of any value to satisfying 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.
