Colossians 2

¹For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling ^a for you, for those in Laodicea, ^b and for all who have not seen me in person. ²I want their hearts to be encouraged ^c and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery ^d #— #Christ. ^e,^{f 3}In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom ^g and knowledge. ^h

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, ⁱ rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

⁶So then, just as you have received ^j Christ Jesus as Lord, ^k continue to walk in him, ⁷being rooted and built up in him ^l and established in the faith, just as you were taught, ^m and overflowing with gratitude.

⁸Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, ⁿ based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ. ^{o 9}For the entire fullness ^p of God’s nature dwells bodily ^q in Christ, ¹⁰and you have been filled by him, who is the head ^r 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, ^s in the circumcision of Christ, ^{t 12}when you were buried with him ^u in baptism, in which you were also raised with him ^v through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. ^{w 13}And 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. ^{x 15}He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him. ^y,^z

¹⁶Therefore, don’t let anyone judge ^aa you in regard to food and drink ^ab or in the matter of a festival or a new moon ^ac or a Sabbath day. ^{ad 17}These are a shadow ^ae of what was to come; ^af the substance is ^ag Christ. ^{ah 18}Let no one condemn ^ai you ^aj by delighting in ascetic practices ^ak and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated ^al by empty notions of their unspiritual ^am mind. ¹⁹They don’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, ^an nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God.

²⁰If you died with Christ ^ao 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 ^ap by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence. ^aq,^ar