Colossians 2

2For I want you to know how great a struggle ^jI have for you, for those in Laodicea, ^kand for all who have not seen me in person. ²I want their hearts to be encouraged ^land joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery ^m—Christ. ^no3All the treasures of wisdom ^pand knowledge ^qare hidden in Him.

Christ versus the Colossian Heresy

⁴I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments. ⁵For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, ^rrejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

⁶Therefore, as you have received ^sChrist Jesus the Lord, ^twalk in Him, ⁷rooted and built up in Him ^uand established in the faith, just as you were taught, ^voverflowing with gratitude.

⁸Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, ^wbased on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ. ^x9For the entire fullness ^yof God’s nature ^zdwells bodily ^ain Christ, ¹⁰and you have been filled by Him, who is the head ^bover every ruler and authority. ¹¹You were also circumcised in Him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, ^cin the circumcision of the Messiah. ^de12Having been buried with Him ^fin baptism, you were also raised with Him ^gthrough faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. ^h13And 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 out of the way by nailing it to the cross. ⁱ¹⁵He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; He triumphed over them by Him. ^jk

¹⁶Therefore, don’t let anyone judge ^lyou in regard to food and drink ^mor in the matter of a festival or a new moon ⁿor a Sabbath day. ^o17These are a shadow ^pof what was to come; ^qthe substance is ^rthe Messiah. ^s18Let no one disqualify you, ^tuinsisting on ascetic practices ^vand the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated ^wwithout cause by his unspiritual ^xmind. ¹⁹He doesn’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, ^ynourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, develops with growth from God.

²⁰If you died with the Messiah ^zto 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”? ²²All these regulations refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are commands and doctrines of men. ²³Although these have a reputation of wisdom ^aby promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence. ^bc