Colossians 2
1 For I would have you know how greatly I strive for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
For I would have you know in how severe a struggle I am engaged on behalf of you and the brethren in Laodicea and of all who have not known me personally,
2 that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, [even] Christ,
in order that their hearts may be cheered, they themselves being welded together in love and enjoying all the advantages of a reasonable certainty, till at last they attain the full knowledge of God's truth, which is Christ Himself.
3 in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
In Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are stored up, hidden from view.
4 This I say, that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech.
I say this to prevent your being misled by any one's plausible sophistry.
5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
For although, as you say, I am absent from you in body, yet in spirit I am present with you and am delighted to witness your good discipline and the solid front presented by your faith in Christ.
6 As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk in him,
As therefore you have received the Christ, even Jesus our Lord, live and act in vital union with Him;
7 rooted and builded up in him, and stablished in your faith, even as ye were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
having the roots of your being firmly planted in Him, and continually building yourselves up in Him, and always being increasingly confirmed in the faith as you were taught it, and abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ:
Take care lest there be some one who leads you away as prisoners by means of his philosophy and idle fancies, following human traditions and the world's crude notions instead of following Christ.
9 for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,
For it is in Christ that the fulness of God's nature dwells embodied, and in Him you are made complete,
10 and in him ye are made full, who is the head of all principality and power:
and He is the Lord of all princes and rulers.
11 in whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;
In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not performed by hand, when you threw off your sinful nature in true Christian circumcision;
12 having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
having been buried with Him in your baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith produced within you by God who raised Him from among the dead.
13 And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, [I say], did he quicken together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses;
And to you--dead as you once were in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your natural state--He has nevertheless given Life with Himself, having forgiven us all our transgressions.
14 having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;
The bond, with its requirements, which was in force against us and was hostile to us, He cancelled, and cleared it out of the way, nailing it to His Cross.
15 having put off from himself the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
And the hostile princes and rulers He shook off from Himself, and boldly displayed them as His conquests, when by the Cross He triumphed over them.
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day:
Therefore suffer no one to sit in judgement on you as to eating or drinking or with regard to a festival, a new moon or a sabbath.
17 which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.
These were a shadow of things that were soon to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
18 Let no man rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he hath seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Let no one defraud you of your prize, priding himself on his humility and on his worship of the angels, and taking his stand on the visions he has seen, and idly puffed up with his unspiritual thoughts.
19 and not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God.
Such a one does not keep his hold upon Christ, the Head, from whom the Body, in all its parts nourished and strengthened by its points of contact and its connections, grows with a divine growth.
20 If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances,
If you have died with Christ and have escaped from the world's rudimentary notions, why, as though your life still belonged to the world, do you submit to such precepts as
21 Handle not, nor taste, nor touch
"Do not handle this;" "Do not taste that;" "Do not touch that other thing" --
22 (all which things are to perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men?
referring to things which are all intended to be used up and perish--in obedience to mere human injunctions and teachings?
23 Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and severity to the body; [but are] not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.
These rules have indeed an appearance of wisdom where self-imposed worship exists, and an affectation of humility and an ascetic severity. But not one of them is of any value in combating the indulgence of our lower natures.
