Colossians 2
2
1I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those in Laodicea, as well as for those who have still not seen me face to face.
2My purpose is that their hearts, joined together in love, may be encouraged. May they have all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, leading to a true knowledge of the mystery of God—that is, Messiah.
3In Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
4I am telling you this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive-sounding arguments.
5For even though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit—rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your trust in Messiah.
Living Out the Mystery
6Therefore as you received Messiah Yeshua as Lord, so continue to walk in Him—
7rooted and built up in Him and established in your faith just as you were taught, overflowing with thankfulness.
8See that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men and the basic principles of the world rather than Messiah.
9For all the fullness of Deity lives bodily in Him,
10and in Him you have been filled to fullness. He is the head over every ruler and authority.
11In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision done not by hand, in the stripping away of the body of the flesh through the circumcision of Messiah.
12You were buried along with Him in immersion, through which you also were raised with Him by trusting in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13When you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with Him when He pardoned us all our transgressions.
14He wiped out the handwritten record of debts with the decrees against us, which was hostile to us. He took it away by nailing it to the cross.
15After disarming the principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross.
The Danger of False Wisdom
16Therefore, do not let anyone pass judgment on you in matters of food or drink, or in respect to a festival or new moon or Shabbat.
17These are a foreshadowing of things to come, but the reality is Messiah.
18Let no one disqualify you by insisting on false humility and worship of angels—going into detail about what he has seen, puffed up without cause by his fleshly mind.
19He is not holding fast to the Head. It is from Him that the whole body, nourished and held together by its joints and tendons, grows with a godly increase.
20If you died with Messiah to the basic principles of the world, why—as though living in the world—do you subject yourselves to their rules?
21“Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”
22These all lead to decay with use, based as they are on man-made commands and teachings.
23Indeed, these are matters that have an appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and humility and self-denial of the body—yet none are of any value for stopping indulgence of the flesh.
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Copyright © 2014 - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
Colossians 2
2
1I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally. 2I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. 3In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. 5For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.
Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ
6And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 7Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
8Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers#2:8 Or the spiritual principles; also in 2:20. of this world, rather than from Christ. 9For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.#2:9 Or in him dwells all the completeness of the Godhead bodily. 10So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
11When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.#2:11 Greek the cutting away of the body of the flesh. 12For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
13You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15In this way, he disarmed#2:15 Or he stripped off. the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
16So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. 18Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels,#2:18 Or or worshiping with angels. saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, 19and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.
20You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, 21“Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? 22Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. 23These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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