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 of 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 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. 12#Ro 6.4. And 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. 13#Eph 2.1-5. You 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.
14 #
Eph 2.15. God wiped out the charges that were against us for disobeying the Law of Moses. He took them away and nailed them to the cross. 15There Christ defeated all powers and forces. He let the whole world see them being led away as prisoners when he celebrated his victory.
16 #
Ro 14.1-6. Don't let anyone tell you what you must eat or drink. Don't let them say you must celebrate the New Moon festival, the Sabbath, or any other festival. 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 brag about seeing visions. But it is all nonsense, because their minds are filled with selfish desires. 19#Eph 4.16. They 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.
Christ Brings New Life
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 smart 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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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Colossians 2
2
1For I want you to have da'as of how great a ma'avak (struggle) I have for you and the ones in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen me panim el panim (directly, in person),
2That their levavot may be given chozek (strength), having been made an aguda of ahavah and all osher (wealth) of the full assurance of binah, resulting in the da'as of the raz of Hashem, namely Moshiach,
3In whom is nistar (hidden) all the otzarot (treasures) of chochmah and da'as.#2:3 Isa 11:2; Jer 23:5
4This I say so that no one may delude you with the sleight of hand of the ba'al melitzot (rhetorician).
5For, though absent in basar, but present with you in the Ruach Hakodesh, with lev same'ach (glad heart) I am seeing your order and the firmness of your#2:5 Orthodox Jewish emunah in Moshiach.
6Therefore, as you became mekabel Moshiach and received Moshiach Adoneinu Yehoshua, so let your halichah be in Him,
7Having been rooted and built up in Moshiach and being firmly founded in the emunah as you were given Messianic#2:7 orthodox lernen (study), abounding in hodayah.
8Beware lest there be anyone of you taken captive through philosophical tevunah (wisdom) and empty deceit according to the kabbalah (oral tradition) of mere Bnei Adam, according to the ikkarim (basic principles) of the Olam Hazeh and not according to Moshiach;
9Because in Moshiach kol melo Elohim (all the plentitude of G-d) finds its bodily maon laShechinah (dwelling place for the Shechinah, mitgashem).
10And you have been granted melo (plentitude) in Moshiach, who is the Rosh of all rule and authority.
11In Moshiach also you were circumcised with a Bris Milah not made with human hands, a Bris Milah of the surgically removing of the body of the basar (old fallen and unregenerate nature) in the Bris Milah of Moshiach,
12Having been buried in the Ohel of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiachʼs tevilah with him, with whom also you were made to stand up spiritually in the Techiyah together through your emunah and bitachon in the ma'aseh of Hashem who made Moshiach stand up from the Mesim.
13And you being dead in your peysha'im#2:13 Isa 53:8 and your orlat basar (uncircumcision of flesh) he made alive together, you together with Moshiach, having granted you selicha for all your peysha'im;
14Having erased the hand-signed sefer of guilt choiv (debt), the heavenly indictment against us in the maleh chukat haTorah (full statute requirement of the Torah), which was against us. Moshiach has done away with this opposing record, having nailed it to Moshiachʼs Etz.
15Having disarmed the rulers and the authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, having triumphed over them by Moshiachʼs Etz.
16Therefore, let no one judge you [Goyim] in eating and in drinking or in respect to a yom tov (yontev) or a rosh chodesh or Shabbos;
17Which are a shadow of the things to come in the Olam HaBah; but the reality, the substance, is Moshiach.
18Let no one deprive you of the prize by delighting in his mystical asceticism and his veneration of malachim and delving into his chazonot (visions) and being vainly puffed up by the machshavot (thoughts) of his basar (old nature unrenewed and unregenerated by the Ruach Hakodesh),
19And not holding on to the Rosh, out of whom all the Moshiachʼs Guf, being fully supplied and being be'ichud (united) together through the joints and ligaments, grows with the growth of Hashem.
20Als (Since) you died with Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach to the ikkarim (basic principles) of the Olam Hazeh, why, as though you still belonged to the keyam (existence) of the Olam Hazeh, do you (Goyim) chain yourself to chumra legalisms?
21“Do not touch; do not taste; do not handle.”
22The things referred to are all destined to deterioration with use, according to the humanly contrived mitzvot and the humanly contrived chukim (laws) of mere Bnei Adam,#2:22 i.e., non-Biblical teachings and humanly contrived religious tradition — Isa 29:13
23Which things have a superficial appearance of chochmah in self-imposed religion and mystical asceticism and severe physical mortification, but are of no value against the indulgence of the yetzer (the so-called basar unrenewed and unregenerated by the Ruach Hakodesh).
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THE ORTHODOX JEWISH BIBLE
FOURTH EDITION © Artists For Israel Intl Inc., 2002-2011, 2021.