Colossians 2
Holman Christian Standard Bible
2 For I want you to know how great a struggle(A) I have for you, for those in Laodicea,(B) and for all who have not seen me in person. 2 I want their hearts to be encouraged(C) and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery(D)—Christ.[a](E) 3 All the treasures of wisdom(F) and knowledge(G) are hidden in Him.
Christ versus the Colossian Heresy
4 I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments. 5 For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit,(H) rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.
6 Therefore, as you have received(I) Christ Jesus the Lord,(J) walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him(K) and established in the faith, just as you were taught,(L) overflowing with gratitude.
8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition,(M) based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.(N) 9 For the entire fullness(O) of God’s nature[b] dwells bodily[c] in Christ, 10 and you have been filled by Him, who is the head(P) over every ruler and authority. 11 You were also circumcised in Him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh,(Q) in the circumcision of the Messiah.[d](R) 12 Having been buried with Him(S) in baptism, you were also raised with Him(T) through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.(U) 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. 14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.(V) 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; He triumphed over them by Him.[e](W)
16 Therefore, don’t let anyone judge(X) you in regard to food and drink(Y) or in the matter of a festival or a new moon(Z) or a Sabbath day.[f] 17 These are a shadow(AA) of what was to come;(AB) the substance is[g] the Messiah.(AC) 18 Let no one disqualify you,[h](AD) insisting on ascetic practices(AE) and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated(AF) without cause by his unspiritual[i] mind. 19 He doesn’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body,(AG) nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God.
20 If you died with the Messiah(AH) to the elemental forces 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”? 22 All these regulations refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are commands and doctrines of men. 23 Although these have a reputation of wisdom(AI) by promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.[j](AJ)
Footnotes
- Colossians 2:2 Other mss read mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ; other ms variations exist on this v.
- Colossians 2:9 Or of the deity
- Colossians 2:9 Or nature lives in a human body
- Colossians 2:11 = His death
- Colossians 2:15 Or them through it; = through the cross
- Colossians 2:16 Or or sabbaths
- Colossians 2:17 Or substance belongs to
- Colossians 2:18 Or no one cheat us out of your prize
- Colossians 2:18 Lit fleshly
- Colossians 2:23 Lit value against indulgence of the flesh
Colossians 2
Jubilee Bible 2000
2 ¶ For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,
2 that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in charity and in all the riches of the fulfilled understanding to know the mystery of the God and Father and of the Christ;
3 in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 ¶ And this I say lest anyone should beguile you with enticing words.
5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 Therefore in the manner in which ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him,
7 rooted and built up in him and confirmed in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, according to the elements of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
10 and ye are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power.
11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of the Christ;
12 buried together with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead.
13 ¶ And you, being dead in sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14 blotting out the bill of the decrees that was against us, which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, {Gr. stauro – stake}
15 and having spoiled the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
16 ¶ Let no one therefore judge you in food or in drink or in respect of a feast day or of the new moon or of the sabbath days,
17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of the Christ.
18 Let no one govern you according to their own will under pretext of humility and religion of angels, intruding into those things which they have not seen, vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind,
19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, fed and united by its joints and bonds, grows in the increase of God.
20 For if ye are dead with the Christ to the elements of the world, why, as though living unto the world, do ye decree rites,
21 touch not; taste not; handle not?
22 Which all perish with the using, because they are the commandments and doctrines of men,
23 which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship and humility and neglecting of the body, but they have absolutely no value against the appetites of the flesh.
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