Colossians 2:1-23
2 For I want YOU to realize how great a struggle+ I am having in behalf of YOU and of those at La·o·di·ceʹa+ and of all those who have not seen my face in the flesh,
2 that their hearts may be comforted,+ that they may be harmoniously joined together in love+ and with a view to all the riches of the full assurance of [their] understanding,+ with a view to an accurate knowledge of the sacred secret of God, namely, Christ.*+
3 Carefully concealed in him are all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.+
4 This I am saying that no man may delude* YOU with persuasive arguments.+
5 For though I am absent in the flesh, all the same I am with YOU in the spirit,+ rejoicing and beholding YOUR good order+ and the firmness of YOUR faith+ toward Christ.
6 Therefore, as YOU have accepted Christ Jesus the Lord, go on walking in union+ with him,
7 rooted+ and being built up+ in him and being stabilized in the faith,+ just as YOU were taught, overflowing with [faith]* in thanksgiving.+
8 Look out: perhaps there may be someone who will carry+ YOU off as his prey through the philosophy+ and empty deception*+ according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary+ things of the world and not according to Christ;
9 because it is in him that all the fullness+ of the divine+ quality*+ dwells bodily.
10 And so YOU are possessed of a fullness by means of him, who is the head of all government and authority.+
11 By relationship+ with him YOU were also circumcised+ with a circumcision performed without hands by the stripping off the body of the flesh,+ by the circumcision that belongs to the Christ,
12 for YOU were buried with him in [his]* baptism,+ and by relationship with him YOU were also raised+ up together through [YOUR] faith+ in the operation+ of God, who raised him up from the dead.+
13 Furthermore, though YOU were dead in YOUR trespasses and in the uncircumcised state of YOUR flesh, [God]* made YOU alive together with him.+ He kindly forgave us all our trespasses+
14 and blotted+ out* the handwritten document*+ against us, which consisted of decrees+ and which was in opposition to us;+ and He has taken it out of the way by nailing+ it to the torture stake.*+
15 Stripping the governments and the authorities+ bare, he exhibited* them in open public as conquered,+ leading them in a triumphal procession+ by means of it.*
16 Therefore let no man judge+ YOU in eating and drinking+ or in respect of a festival+ or of an observance of the new moon+ or of a sabbath;*+
17 for those things are a shadow+ of the things to come, but the reality*+ belongs to the Christ.+
18 Let no man deprive+ YOU of the prize+ who takes delight in a [mock] humility* and a form of worship* of the angels, “taking his stand on”* the things he has seen, puffed up without proper cause by his fleshly frame of mind,
19 whereas he is not holding fast to the head,+ to the one from whom all the body, being supplied and harmoniously joined together+ by means of its joints and ligaments, goes on growing with the growth that God gives.+
20 If YOU died+ together with Christ toward the elementary+ things of the world,+ why do YOU, as if living in the world, further subject yourselves to the decrees:+
21 “Do not handle, nor taste,+ nor touch,”+
22 respecting things that are all destined to destruction by being used up, in accordance with the commands and teachings of men?+
23 Those very things are, indeed, possessed of an appearance of wisdom in a self-imposed form of worship* and [mock] humility, a severe treatment of the body;+ but they are of no value in combating the satisfying of the flesh.+
Footnotes
^ “Of the God of Christ,” P46B; א*AVg, “of God the Father of (the) Christ (Jesus).”
^ Or, “cheat.”
^ “Overflowing in it,” BSyh,pArm; א*AVg, “overflowing.”
^ Lit., “seduction.”
^ “Divine quality.” Lit., “godship.” Gr., the·oʹte·tos; Lat., di·vi·ni·taʹtis.
^ Lit., “the.”
^ Lit., “he.”
^ See App 5C.
^ Or, “covenant.”
^ Lit., “having wiped out.”
^ Or, “him.” Gr., au·toiʹ, dative, sing.
^ Lit., “he made show of.”
^ Or, “of sabbaths.”
^ Or, “substance.” Lit., “body.” Gr., soʹma; Lat., corʹpus.
^ Lit., “lowly-mindedness.”
^ “Form of worship.” Lat., re·li·gi·oʹne, “religion.”
^ Quoted from the initiation rites of pagan mysteries.
^ Lit., “self-willed form of worship.” Gr., e·the·lo·thre·skiʹai; Lat., su·per·sti·ti·oʹne, “superstition.”
