Colossians 2
2
1I want you to know how much I struggle for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who haven’t known me personally. 2My goal is that their hearts would be encouraged and united together in love so that they might have all the riches of assurance that come with understanding, so that they might have the knowledge of the secret plan#2.2 Or mystery of God, namely Christ. 3All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him. 4I’m telling you this so that no one deceives you with convincing arguments, 5because even though I am absent physically, I’m with you in spirit. I’m happy to see the discipline and stability of your faith in Christ.
Error threatening the church
6So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. 7Be rooted and built up in him, be established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught. 8See to it that nobody enslaves you with philosophy and foolish deception, which conform to human traditions and the way the world thinks and acts rather than Christ. 9All the fullness of deity lives in Christ’s body. 10And you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by human hands. The circumcision of Christ is realized in the stripping away of the whole self dominated by sin. 12You were buried with him through baptism and raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13When you were dead because of the things you had done wrong and because your body wasn’t circumcised, God made you alive with Christ and forgave all the things you had done wrong. 14He destroyed the record of the debt we owed, with its requirements that worked against us. He canceled it by nailing it to the cross. 15When he disarmed the rulers and authorities, he exposed them to public disgrace by leading them in a triumphal parade.
16So don’t let anyone judge you about eating or drinking or about a festival, a new moon observance, or sabbaths. 17These religious practices are only a shadow of what was coming—the body that cast the shadow is Christ. 18Don’t let anyone who wants to practice harsh self-denial and worship angels rob you of the prize. They go into detail about what they have seen in visions and have become unjustifiably arrogant by their selfish way of thinking. 19They don’t stay connected to the head. The head nourishes and supports the whole body through the joints and ligaments, so the body grows with a growth that is from God.
20If you died with Christ to the way the world thinks and acts, why do you submit to rules and regulations as though you were living in the world? 21“Don’t handle!” “Don’t taste!” “Don’t touch!” 22All these things cease to exist when they are used. Such rules are human commandments and teachings. 23They look like they are wise with this self-made religion and their self-denial by the harsh treatment of the body, but they are no help against indulging in selfish immoral behavior.
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Colossians 2
2
1For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling#2Tm 4:7 for you, for those in Laodicea,#Col 4:13–16; Rv 1:11; 3:14 and for all who have not seen me in person. 2I want their hearts to be encouraged#Lk 16:25; Col 4:8 and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery#Php 3:8 — Christ.#2:2 Other mss read mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ; other ms variations exist on this v.#Col 1:27 3In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom#Pr 3:19; Is 11:2; 45:3; Jr 23:5; Ac 7:22; 1Co 1:21 and knowledge.#1Co 14:6
Christ versus the Colossian Heresy
4I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable. 5For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit,#Ps 51:12; 1Th 2:17 rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.
6So then, just as you have received#Jd 3 Christ Jesus as Lord,#Eph 3:11 continue to walk in him, 7being rooted and built up in him#Eph 2:20 and established in the faith, just as you were taught,#Eph 4:21; Heb 13:9 and overflowing with gratitude.
8Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition,#Mk 7:3 based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ.#1Tm 6:20 9For the entire fullness#Php 2:6; Col 1:19 of God’s nature dwells bodily#2:9 Or nature lives in a human body in Christ, 10and you have been filled by him, who is the head#1Co 11:3; Eph 1:22; 4:15; 5:23 over every ruler and authority. 11You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh,#Col 1:22; 3:9 in the circumcision of Christ,#Mt 1:17; Eph 5:2 12when you were buried with him#Rm 6:4 in baptism, in which you were also raised with him#Eph 2:6; Col 3:1 through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.#Mt 17:9; Jn 5:25; 20:9; 21:14; Ac 2:24 13And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. 14He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.#Lk 9:23; 23:26 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.#2:15 Or them through it#Lk 10:18; Jn 12:31; 16:11; Eph 6:12; Heb 2:14
16Therefore, don’t let anyone judge#Lk 6:37 you in regard to food and drink#Jn 6:55; Rm 14:3,17; 1Co 8:4; Heb 9:10 or in the matter of a festival or a new moon#Ps 81:3 or a Sabbath day.#2:16 Or or sabbaths 17These are a shadow#Heb 8:5; 10:1 of what was to come;#Rm 8:38 the substance is#2:17 Or substance belongs to Christ.#Gl 3:24; 5:2 18Let no one condemn#2:18 Or disqualify you#1Co 9:24; Php 3:14 by delighting in ascetic practices#Col 3:12 and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated#1Co 4:6 by empty notions of their unspiritual#2:18 Lit fleshly mind. 19They don’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body,#1Co 6:13; Eph 4:4 nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God.
20If you died with Christ#Rm 6:8; 1Pt 2:24 to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21“Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 22All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. 23Although these have a reputation for wisdom#Ac 7:22 by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.#2:23 Lit value against indulgence of the flesh#1Tm 4:8
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