Colossians 2
2
1I want you to know what a struggle I am going through for you, for God's people at Laodicea, and for all those followers who have never met me. 2I do it to encourage them. Then as their hearts are joined together in love, they will be wonderfully blessed with complete understanding. And they will truly know Christ. Not only is he the key to God's mystery, 3but all wisdom and knowledge are hidden away in him. 4I tell you these things to keep you from being fooled by fancy talk. 5Even though I am not with you, I keep thinking about you. I am glad to know that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.
Christ brings real life
6You have accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord. Now keep on following him. 7Plant your roots in Christ and let him be the foundation for your life. Be strong in your faith, just as you were taught. And be grateful.
8Don't let anyone fool you by using senseless arguments. These arguments may sound wise, but they are only human teachings. They come from the powers of this world#2.8 powers of this world: Spirits and unseen forces were thought to control human lives and were believed to be connected with the movements of the stars. and not from Christ.
9God lives fully in Christ. 10And you are fully grown because you belong to Christ, who is over every power and authority. 11Christ has also taken away your selfish desires, just as circumcision removes flesh from the body. 12And when you were baptized, it was the same as being buried with Christ. Then you were raised to life because you had faith in the power of God, who raised Christ from death.#Ro 6.4. 13You were dead, because you were sinful and were not God's people. But God let Christ make you#2.13 you: See the note at 1.7. alive, when he forgave all our sins.#Eph 2.1-5.
14God wiped out the charges that were against us for disobeying the Law of Moses. He took them away and nailed them to the cross.#Eph 2.15. 15There Christ defeated all powers and forces. He let the whole world see them being led away as prisoners when he celebrated his victory.
16Don't let anyone tell you what you must eat or drink. Don't let them say that you must celebrate the New Moon festival, the Sabbath, or any other festival.#Ro 14.1-6. 17These things are only a shadow of what was to come. But Christ is real!
18Don't be cheated by people who make a show of acting humble and who worship angels.#2.18 worship angels: Or “worship with angels (in visions of heaven)”. They boast about seeing visions. But it is all nonsense, because their minds are filled with selfish desires. 19They are no longer part of Christ, who is the head of the whole body. Christ gives the body its strength, and he uses its joints and muscles to hold it together, as it grows by the power of God.#Eph 4.16.
New life with Christ
20You died with Christ. Now the forces of the universe#2.20 forces of the universe: See the note at 2.8. don't have any power over you. Why do you live as if you had to obey such rules as, 21“Don't handle this. Don't taste that. Don't touch this.”? 22After these things are used, they are no longer good for anything. So why be bothered with the rules that humans have made up? 23Obeying these rules may seem to be the clever thing to do. They appear to make you love God more and to be very humble and to have control over your body. But they don't really have any power over our desires.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
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.