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,
In particular, I want you to realize that I am (exerting myself very greatly/working very hard) on your behalf, on behalf of those who are in Laodicea [city], and on behalf of all those others who have not seen me personally.
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.
I am doing this in order that they and you [SYN] might be strengthened [spiritually] as you are united in loving [one another]. And I am doing this in order that they and you might fully and thoroughly [DOU] understand the message that God has now revealed; that is, in order that they and you might truly know the message from God our Father and about Christ,
3 In Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are stored up, hidden from view.
who alone is able to cause them and you to understand thoroughly [DOU] [this very important message].
4 I say this to prevent your being misled by any one's plausible sophistry.
I am telling you this in order that no one may deceive you by persuasive arguments;
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.
because, even though I am absent from you physically, I am very concerned about you. At the same time, I am rejoicing because I know that you are united [with each other] and that you believe firmly in Christ.
6 As therefore you have received the Christ, even Jesus our Lord, live and act in vital union with Him;
In a way that is (consistent/in harmony) with [the message that] you received about Christ Jesus, who is our Lord, conduct yourselves as you should, since you have a close relationship with him.
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.
Specifically, continue believing and practicing [MET, DOU] what you were first taught about Christ. Continue to do this more and more; continue to fIrmly believe all the true teaching, just like [Epaphras] taught it to you. And continue thanking [God, our Father], very much [for all that he has done for you].
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.
Make sure that no one forces you [(pl)] to become his disciples [MET] by his teaching you a religious philosophy/doctrine that is worthless and false. Such a philosophy is false because it teaches what mere human beings think, because it teaches people elementary regulations/rules [that are concerned merely with what is external/physical], and because it teaches what is contrary to [the true teaching about] Christ.
9 For it is in Christ that the fulness of God's nature dwells embodied, and in Him you are made complete,
It is in Christ’s body that God lives completely.
10 and He is the Lord of all princes and rulers.
And you are spiritually complete because you have a close relationship with Christ, who rules over every other ruler.
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;
Specifically, because of your close relationship with Christ, it is as though [MET] you were circumcised {Christ circumcised you} [spiritually]. This does not mean that someone circumcised you physically [MTY], but it means that Christ completely removed your self-directed nature.
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.
And specifically, when you were baptized, [it was as though] [MET] you [had died and] were buried with Christ, and [it was as though] [MET] God caused you to live again with Christ as a result of your believing that God acted powerfully; specifically, by your believing that God caused Christ to become alive again.
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 specifically, you [who are non-Jews], because of your sins, you were [spiritually] dead [before you trusted in Christ]. You were uncircumcised [spiritually]; that is, your self-directed nature controlled you. Nevertheless, it was you whom God caused to become alive [spiritually because of their close relationship] [MET] with Christ. And specifically, God forgave us all our sins.
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.
[It is just] as [though] he canceled ([the charges] against us/the sins [that we had committed]) for which [God] will punish us. And [it was just] as [though] [MET] it was [the charges on] that document/paper that he canceled by nailing them to the cross [when they nailed Christ on 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.
And specifically, God defeated the [evil] spirit beings that rule, and he demonstrated/showed that publicly; that is, he triumphed over them as a result of what [Christ did].
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.
So disregard anyone who says that God will punish you because you eat [certain foods] and because you drink [certain drinks] or because [you do not celebrate] special [yearly] festivals or celebrate the time when the new moon [appears] or weekly (Sabbaths/Jewish days of rest).
17 These were a shadow of things that were soon to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
[Disregard such people] because those [regulations/rules about food and drink and festivals] are [only] like a shadow [MET] [that is cast by something that is approaching; that is, they merely represent] the real spiritual blessings that Christ [has given to you].
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.
Disregard those who say that God will punish you because [you do not worship God in the way that] they say [that you should]; that is, they insist that you should humiliate yourselves and that you should worship the angels. [Disregard such people] since they base their authority on things that they have never seen, and since they are proud without reason because their self-directed nature [controls] what they think,
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 since they do not teach the true teaching about Christ [MET]. [Christ is the one who causes all of his people to develop/grow spiritually as God plans that they should develop/grow, just like] [MET] a person’s head directs how his body grows, as it is held together by its joints and ligaments.
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
[It is as though] [MET] you died with Christ. So [you no longer have to obey] elementary regulations/rules [that are concerned merely with what is external/physical, just like a dead person no longer has to do anything]. So, do not submit to regulations/rules
21 "Do not handle this;" "Do not taste that;" "Do not touch that other thing" --
such as ‘Do not handle [certain things]’, ‘Do not taste [certain things]’, ‘Do not touch [certain things]’, as if you still had to obey such regulations/rules.
22 referring to things which are all intended to be used up and perish--in obedience to mere human injunctions and teachings?
All those things are intended to cease to exist when we use them. [And do not obey such regulations/rules], because they are what mere human teachers command and teach.
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.
[Do not obey such] regulations/rules; they only cause people to do what their self-directed nature wants to do. [Those regulations] seem to be wise because they [urge people to] worship as mere human teachers have decided. [They urge] that [people] should humiliate themselves, and that [people] should treat their bodies harshly. But those regulations/rules do not help [people] at all to not do the sinful things that their self-directed nature wants to do.
