Colossians
2
- I want you to know how much I am struggling
for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.
- My purpose is that they may be encouraged
in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete
understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
- in whom are hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge.
- I tell you this so that no one may deceive
you by fine-sounding arguments.
- For though I am absent from you in body,
I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and
how firm your faith in Christ is.
- So then, just as you received Christ Jesus
as Lord, continue to live in him,
- rooted and built up in him, strengthened
in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
- See to it that no one takes you captive
through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition
and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
- For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity
lives in bodily form,
- and you have been given fullness in Christ,
who is the head over every power and authority.
- In him you were also circumcised, in the
putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands
of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
- having been buried with him in baptism and
raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from
the dead.
- When you were dead in your sins and in the
uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave
us all our sins,
- having canceled the written code, with its
regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it
away, nailing it to the cross.
- And having disarmed the powers and authorities,
he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
- Therefore do not let anyone judge you by
what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon
celebration or a Sabbath day.
- These are a shadow of the things that were
to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
- Do not let anyone who delights in false
humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person
goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs
him up with idle notions.
- He has lost connection with the Head, from
whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews,
grows as God causes it to grow.
- Since you died with Christ to the basic
principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you
submit to its rules:
- "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not
touch! "?
- These are all destined to perish with use,
because they are based on human commands and teachings.
- Such regulations indeed have an appearance
of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their
harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual
indulgence.
Back
|
Home |
Next