2
1 For
I desire to
have you know
how greatly
I struggle for you
and for those
at Laodicea, and
for as many
as have not
seen my face
in the flesh;
2 that
their hearts may
be comforted, they
being knit
together in love,
and gaining all
riches of the
full assurance of
understanding, that
they may know
the mystery of
God, both of
the Father and of
Christ,
3 in
whom all the
treasures of
wisdom and
knowledge are hidden.
4 Now
I say this
that no one
may delude you
with persuasiveness of speech.
5 For
though I am absent
in the flesh,
yet I am
with you in
the spirit,
rejoicing and seeing
your order, and
the steadfastness of
your faith in
Christ.
6 As
therefore you
received Christ
Jesus the Lord,
walk in him,
7 rooted
and built up
in him
and established in
the faith, even
as you were
taught, abounding
in it in
thanksgiving.
8 Be careful
that you don’t
let anyone rob you
through his
philosophy and
vain deceit, after
the tradition of
men, after the
elemental spirits
of the world,
and not after
Christ.
9 For
in him all
the fullness of
the Deity dwells
bodily,
10 and
in him you
are made full,
who is the
head of
all principality and
power.
11 In
him you were
also circumcised
with a
circumcision not made
with hands, in the
putting off of the
body of the sins
of the flesh,
in the
circumcision of
Christ,
12 having
been buried with
him in baptism, in
which you were
also raised with
him through faith
in the working
of God, who
raised him from
the dead.
13 You
were dead through
your trespasses
and the uncircumcision
of your flesh.
He made you
alive together
with him, having
forgiven us all
our trespasses,
14 wiping out
the handwriting in
ordinances which
was against us.
He has taken it
out of the
way, nailing it
to the cross.
15 Having stripped the principalities
and the powers,
he made a show
of them openly,
triumphing over them
in it.
16 Let
no one therefore
judge you in
eating or drinking,
or with respect
to a feast
day or a
new moon or
a Sabbath day,
17 which
are a shadow
of the things
to come; but
the body is
Christ’s.
18 Let
no one rob you
of your prize
by self-abasement
and worshiping of
the angels, dwelling in
the things which
he has not
seen, vainly
puffed up by
his fleshly mind,
19 and
not holding firmly
to the Head,
from whom all
the body, being
supplied and knit
together through
the joints and
ligaments, grows with
God’s growth.
20 If
you died with
Christ from the
elemental spirits
of the world,
why, as though
living in the
world, do
you subject yourselves
to ordinances,
21 “Don’t
handle, nor taste,
nor touch”
22 (all
of which perish
with use),
according to the
precepts and
doctrines of men?
23 These
things indeed
appear like wisdom
in self-imposed worship,
humility, and severity
to the body,
but aren’t of
any value against
the indulgence of
the flesh.