< Colossians 2 >
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have had for you, for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.
For I would have you know what a great conflict I have for you, and for those in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen me in person:
2 I work so that their hearts may be encouraged by being brought together in love and into all the riches of full assurance of understanding, into the knowledge of the secret truth of God, that is, Christ.
that their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love, and to all the riches of a full assurance of understanding in these things, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of our God and Father, and of Christ:
3 In him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 I say this so that no one may trick you with persuasive speech.
And this I say, least any one should deceive you with fine speeches.
5 Although I am not with you in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit. I rejoice to see your good order and the strength of your faith in Christ.
For though I be absent in body, yet am I with you in spirit, rejoicing and beholding your regularity, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 As you received Christ the Lord, walk in him.
Therefore as ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him;
7 Be rooted in him, be built on him, be established in faith just as you were taught, and abound in thanksgiving.
rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught it, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
8 See that no one captures you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, conforming to the elements of the world, and not conforming to Christ.
Take heed least any one make a prey of you by philosophy and vain deceit, according to the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ:
9 For in him all the fullness of God lives in bodily form.
for all the fulness of the deity dwelleth personally in Him.
10 You have been filled in him, who is the head over every power and authority.
And ye are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not done by humans in the removal of the body of flesh, but in the circumcision of Christ.
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision not performed by hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision which is of Christ:
12 You were buried with him in baptism, and in him you were raised up through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
being buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are raised together with Him, through faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him and forgave us all of our trespasses.
And when ye were dead in trespasses, and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14 He canceled the written record of debts that stood against us with its regulations. He took it away by nailing it to the cross.
and cancelled the obligation we were under by ritual decrees, which was grievous to us, and hath taken it quite away, even nailing it to his cross.
15 He disarmed the powers and authorities and made a public spectacle of them, by being victorious over them by the cross.
And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made them an open spectacle, triumphing over them by it.
16 So then, let no one judge you in eating or in drinking, or about a feast day or a new moon, or about Sabbath days.
Let no one therefore judge you on account of meat, or drink, or in respect of a feast, or a new-moon, or sabbaths;
17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance is Christ.
which are a shadow of good things to come, but the body is of Christ.
18 Let no one who wants humility and the worship of angels judge you out of your prize. Such a person enters into the things he has seen and becomes puffed up by his fleshly thinking.
Let no one deprive you of your reward by an affected humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into what he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his carnal mind;
19 He does not hold on to the head. It is from the head that the whole body throughout its joints and ligaments is supplied and held together; it grows with the growth given by God.
and not adhering to the head, from which all the body, being supplied and held together as by joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God.
20 If you died together with Christ to the elements of the world, why do you live as obligated to the world:
If therefore ye be dead with Christ from the elements of the world; why, as if living in the world, are ye subject to ceremonial ordinances,
21 “Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch”?
(such as "touch not, taste not,
22 All these things will perish with use, according to the instructions and teachings of men.
handle not," which all tend to corruption in the using, ) according to the commandments and doctrines of men?
23 These rules have the wisdom of self-made religion and humility and severity of the body. But they have no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
which things indeed have a pretence to wisdom in voluntary worship, and humiliation, and bodily penance, as having no regard to the satisfying of the flesh.