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.
Qolasim (Colossians) 2
2
1For I wish you to know what a great struggle I have for you and those in Laodikeia, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,
2in order that their hearts might be encouraged, being knit together in love, and to all riches of the entire confirmation of understanding, to a true knowledge of the secret of Elohim, and of the Father, and of the Messiah,
3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.#See Isa. 11:2; Col. 2:9
4And this I say, so that no one deceives you with enticing words.
5For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your belief in Messiah.
6Therefore, as you accepted Messiah יהושע the Master, walk in Him,
7having been rooted and built up in Him, and established in the belief, as you were taught, overflowing in it with thanksgiving.
8See to it that no one makes a prey of you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary matters of the world,#See Col. 1:20 and Gal. 4:3; Gal. 4:9 and not according to Messiah.
9Because in Him dwells all the completeness of Elohim-ness bodily,
10and you have been made complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and authority.
11In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Messiah,
12having been buried with Him in immersion, in which you also were raised with Him through the belief in the working of Elohim, who raised Him from the dead.
13And you, being dead in your trespasses#See Eph. 2:1 and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14having blotted out that which was written by hand against us – by the dogmas#Dogmas - also see Col. 2:20 and Eph. 2:15 – which stood against us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the stake.
15Having stripped the principalities and the authorities, He made a public display of them, having prevailed over them in it.
16Let no one therefore judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths –
17which are a shadow of what is to come – but the Body of the Messiah.#The Body of Messiah is to give ruling on all matters, not the outsiders! See also Mat. 18:15-20
18Let no one deprive you of the prize, one who takes delight in false humility and worship of messengers, taking his stand on what he has not seen, puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the Body – nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments – grows with the growth of Elohim.
20If, then, you died with Messiah from the elementary matters#See Col. 2:8 and Gal. 4:3; Gal. 4:9 of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to dogmas:#Dogmas - also see Col. 2:14 and Eph. 2:15
21“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle” –
22which are all to perish with use – according to the commands and teachings of men?# Isa. 29:13#See also Mat. 15:8, 9 Mark 7:6, 7
23These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed worship, humiliation and harsh treatment of the body – of no value at all, only for satisfaction of the flesh.
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