Colossians 2:6–3:11

⁶You received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live as Christ’s people. ⁷Sink your roots in him and build on him. Be strengthened by the faith that you were taught, and overflow with thanksgiving. 

Beware of Requirements Invented by Humans

⁸Be careful not to let anyone rob you ⸤of this faith⸥ through a shallow and misleading philosophy. Such a person follows human traditions and the world’s way of doing things rather than following Christ. 

⁹All of God lives in Christ’s body, ¹⁰and God has made you complete in Christ. Christ is in charge of every ruler and authority. ¹¹In him you were also circumcised. It was not a circumcision performed by human hands. But it was a removal of the corrupt nature in the circumcision performed by Christ. ¹²This happened when you were placed in the tomb with Christ through baptism. In baptism you were also brought back to life with Christ through faith in the power of God,^awho brought him back to life. 

¹³You were once dead because of your failures and your uncircumcised corrupt nature. But God made you alive with Christ when he forgave all our failures. ¹⁴He did this by erasing the charges that were brought against us by the written laws God had established. He took the charges away by nailing them to the cross. ¹⁵He stripped the rulers and authorities ⸤of their power⸥ and made a public spectacle of them as he celebrated his victory in Christ. 

¹⁶Therefore, let no one judge you because of what you eat or drink or about the observance of annual holy days, New Moon Festivals, or weekly days of rest—holy days. ¹⁷These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body ⸤that casts the shadow⸥ belongs to Christ. 

¹⁸Let no one who delights in ⸤false⸥ humility and the worship of angels tell you that you don’t deserve a prize. Such a person, whose sinful mind fills him with arrogance, gives endless details of the visions he has seen. ¹⁹He doesn’t hold on to ⸤Christ,⸥ the head. Christ makes the whole body grow as God wants it to, through support and unity given by the joints and ligaments. 

²⁰If you have died with Christ to the world’s way of doing things, why do you let others tell you how to live? It’s as though you were still under the world’s influence. ²¹People will tell you, “Don’t handle this! Don’t taste or touch that!” ²²All of these things deal with objects that are only used up anyway. ²³These things look like wisdom with their self-imposed worship, ⸤false⸥ humility, and harsh treatment of the body. But they have no value for holding back the constant desires of your corrupt nature. 

3RD CHAPTER

Live as God’s People

¹Since you were brought back to life with Christ, focus on the things that are above—where Christ holds the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne. ²Keep your mind on things above, not on worldly things. ³You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴Christ is your life. When he appears, then you, too, will appear with him in glory. 

⁵Therefore, put to death whatever is worldly in you: your sexual sin, perversion, passion, lust, and greed (which is the same thing as worshiping wealth). ⁶It is because of these sins that God’s anger comes on those who refuse to obey him.^a7You used to live that kind of sinful life. ⁸Also get rid of your anger, hot tempers, hatred, cursing, obscene language, and all similar sins. ⁹Don’t lie to each other. You’ve gotten rid of the person you used to be and the life you used to live, ¹⁰and you’ve become a new person. This new person is continually renewed in knowledge to be like its Creator. ¹¹Where this happens, there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, uncivilized person, slave, or free person. Instead, Christ is everything and in everything.