Colossians 2

2For I want you to know ^yhow great a ^wstruggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, ²that ^ztheir hearts may be encouraged, being ^aknit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of ^bGod’s mystery, which is Christ, ^3cin whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴I say this in order ^dthat no one may delude you with plausible arguments. ⁵For ^ethough I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your ^fgood order and ^gthe firmness of your faith in Christ.

Alive in Christ

^6hTherefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷ⁱrooted and ^jbuilt up in him and ^kestablished in the faith, just ^las you were taught, abounding ^min thanksgiving.

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive by ⁿphilosophy and ^oempty deceit, according to ^phuman tradition, according to the ^qelemental spirits¹ of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For ^rin him the whole fullness of deity dwells ^sbodily, ¹⁰and ^tyou have been filled in him, who is ^uthe head of all rule and authority. ¹¹In him also ^vyou were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by ^wputting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ^12xhaving been buried with him in baptism, in which ^yyou were also raised with him through faith in ^zthe powerful working of God, ^zwho raised him from the dead. ^13aAnd you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God ^bmade alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴by ^ccanceling ^dthe record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ^15wHe disarmed the rulers and authorities² and ^eput them to open shame, by ^ftriumphing over them in him.³

Let No One Disqualify You

¹⁶Therefore let no one ^gpass judgment on you ^hin questions of food and drink, or with regard to ⁱa festival or ^ja new moon or a Sabbath. ^17kThese are a shadow of the things to come, but ^lthe substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸Let no one ^mdisqualify you, ⁿinsisting on asceticism and worship of angels, ^ogoing on in detail about visions,^{4 p}puffed up without reason by ^qhis sensuous mind, ¹⁹and ^rnot ^sholding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

²⁰If with Christ ^tyou died to the ^uelemental spirits of the world, ^vwhy, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ^21w“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ²²(^xreferring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to ^yhuman precepts and teachings? ²³These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in ^zpromoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are ^aof no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.