Colossians 2
1 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,
For I desire you to know, how great a contest I am having—in behalf of you, and of those in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
2 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.
In order that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, even unto all the riches of the full assurance of their understanding, unto a personal knowledge of the sacred secret of God, —Christ:
3 In Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are stored up, hidden from view.
In whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden away.
4 I say this to prevent your being misled by any one's plausible sophistry.
This I say, in order that, no one, may be reasoning, you, aside with plausible discourse;
5 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.
For, though, indeed, in the flesh, I am absent, yet, in the spirit, with you, I am—rejoicing, and beholding your order and the solid firmness of your Christ-ward faith.
6 As therefore you have received the Christ, even Jesus our Lord, live and act in vital union with Him;
As therefore ye have accepted the Anointed Jesus as your Lord, in him, be walking, —
7 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.
Rooted, and being built up, in him, and making yourselves sure in your faith, even as ye have been taught, —surpassing therein with thanksgiving.
8 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.
Be taking heed, lest there shall be anyone leading, you, off as a spoil, through means of their philosophy, and an empty deceit, —according to the instruction of men, according to the first principles of the world, —and not according to Christ:
9 For it is in Christ that the fulness of God's nature dwells embodied, and in Him you are made complete,
Because, in him, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily,
10 and He is the Lord of all princes and rulers.
And ye are, in him, filled full, —Who, is the head of all principality and authority,
11 In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not performed by hand, when you threw off your sinful nature in true Christian circumcision;
In whom, ye have also been circumcised with a circumcision not done by hand, in the despoiling of the body of flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ, —
12 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.
Having been buried together with him in your immersion, wherein also ye have been raised together, through your faith in the energising of God—Who raised him from among the dead.
13 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.
And, as for you—who were, dead, by your offences and by the uncircumcision of your flesh, he hath brought you to life together with him, —having in favour forgiven us all our offences,
14 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.
Having blotted out the handwriting against us by the decrees, which was hostile to us, —and hath taken away, the same, out of the midst, nailing it up to the cross:
15 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.
Spoiling the principalities and the authorities, he made of them an open example, celebrating a triumph over them thereby.
16 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.
Let no one, therefore, be judging, you, —in eating and in drinking, or in respect of feast, or new moon, or sabbath, —
17 These were a shadow of things that were soon to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Which are a shadow of the things to come, whereas, the body, is of the Christ.
18 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.
Let, no one, against you, be arbitrating, however wishful, —in respect of lowliness of mind, and of a religious observance of the messengers: upon what things he hath seen, taking his stand, in vain, puffed up by his carnal mind, —
19 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.
And not holding fast the head: from which, all the body, through means of its joints and uniting bands, receiving supply, and connecting itself together, groweth with the growth of God.
20 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
If ye have died, together with Christ, from the first principles of the world, why, as though alive in the world, are ye submitting to decrees, —
21 "Do not handle this;" "Do not taste that;" "Do not touch that other thing" --
Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch; —
22 referring to things which are all intended to be used up and perish--in obedience to mere human injunctions and teachings?
Which things are all for decay in the using up; —according to the commandments and teachings of men?
23 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.
The which things, indeed, though they have, an appearance, of wisdom, in self-devised religious observance, and lowliness of mind, [and] ill-treatment of body, are, in no honourable way, unto a satisfying of the flesh.
