Colossians 2
2
1I want you to know that I am trying very hard to help you. And I am trying to help those in Laodicea and others who have never seen me. 2I want them to be strengthened and joined together with love. I want them to be rich in the strong belief that comes from understanding. I mean I want you to know fully God’s secret truth. That truth is Christ himself. 3And in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are safely kept.
4I say this so that no one can fool you by arguments that seem good, but are false. 5I am not there with you, but my heart is with you. I am happy to see your good lives and your strong faith in Christ.
Continue to Live in Christ
6As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live in him. 7Keep your roots deep in him and have your lives built on him. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught. And always be thankful.
8Be sure that no one leads you away with false ideas and words that mean nothing. Those ideas come from men. They are the worthless ideas of this world. They are not from Christ. 9All of God lives fully in Christ (even when Christ was on earth). 10And in him you have a full and true life. He is ruler over all rulers and powers.
11In Christ you had a different kind of circumcision. That circumcision was not done by hands. I mean, you were made free from the power of your sinful self. That is the kind of circumcision Christ does. 12When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ and you were raised up with Christ because of your faith in God’s power. That power was shown when he raised Christ from death. 13You were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self. But God made you alive with Christ. And God forgave all our sins. 14We owed a debt because we broke God’s laws. That debt listed all the rules we failed to follow. But God forgave us that debt. He took away that debt and nailed it to the cross. 15God defeated the spiritual rulers and powers. With the cross God won the victory and defeated them. He showed the world that they were powerless.
Don’t Follow People’s Rules
16So do not let anyone make rules for you about eating and drinking or about a religious feast, a New Moon Festival, or a Sabbath day. 17In the past, these things were like a shadow of what was to come. But the new things that were coming are found in Christ. 18Some enjoy acting as if they were humble and love to worship angels. They are always talking about the visions they have seen. Do not let them tell you that you are wrong. They are full of foolish pride because of their human way of thinking. 19They do not keep themselves under the control of Christ, the head. The whole body depends on Christ. Because of him all the parts of the body care for each other and help each other. This strengthens the body and holds it together. And so the body grows in the way God wants.
20You died with Christ and were made free from the worthless rules of the world. So why do you act as if you still belong to this world? I mean, why do you follow rules like these: 21“Don’t handle this,” “Don’t taste that,” “Don’t touch that thing”? 22These rules are talking about earthly things that are gone as soon as they are used. They are only human commands and teachings. 23These rules seem to be wise. But they are only part of a human religion. They make people pretend not to be proud and make them punish their bodies. But they do not really control the evil desires of the sinful self.
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Colossians 2
2
Not Philosophy but Christ
1For I want you to know what a great #Phil. 1:30; Col. 1:29; 4:12; 1 Thess. 2:2conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, 2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3#1 Cor. 1:24, 30in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4Now this I say #Rom. 16:18; 2 Cor. 11:13; Eph. 4:14; 5:6lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. 5For #1 Thess. 2:17though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see #1 Cor. 14:40your good order and the #1 Pet. 5:9steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
6#1 Thess. 4:1As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7#Eph. 2:21rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to #Gal. 1:14the tradition of men, according to the #Gal. 4:3, 9, 10; Col. 2:20basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9For #(John 1:14); Col. 1:19in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10and you are complete in Him, who is the #(Eph. 1:20, 21; 1 Pet. 3:22)head of all principality and power.
Not Legalism but Christ
11In Him you were also #Deut. 10:16circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by #Rom. 6:6; 7:24; Gal. 5:24; Col. 3:5putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12#Rom. 6:4buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through #Eph. 1:19, 20faith in the working of God, #Acts 2:24who raised Him from the dead. 13And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14#(Eph. 2:15, 16); Col. 2:20having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15#(Is. 53:12; Heb. 2:14)Having disarmed #Eph. 6:12principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
16So let no one #Rom. 14:3judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17#Heb. 8:5; 10:1which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19and not holding fast to #Eph. 4:15the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, #Eph. 1:23; 4:16grows with the increase that is from God.
20Therefore, if you #Rom. 6:2–5died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, #Gal. 4:3, 9why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—21#1 Tim. 4:3“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22which all concern things which perish with the using—#Is. 29:13; Matt. 15:9; Titus 1:14according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23#Rom. 13:14; 1 Tim. 4:8These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.