³We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. ⁴We thank him because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus. We have also heard that you love all of God’s people.

⁵Your faith and love are based on the hope you have. What you hope for is stored up for you in heaven. You have already heard about it. You were told about it when the message of truth was given to you. I’m talking about the good news ⁶that has come to you.

All over the world the good news is bearing fruit and growing. It has been doing that among you since the day you heard it. That is when you understood God’s grace in all its truth.

⁷You learned the good news from Epaphras. He is dear to us. He serves Christ together with us. He faithfully works for Christ and for us among you. ⁸He also told us about your love that comes from the Holy Spirit.

⁹That’s why we have not stopped praying for you. We have been praying for you since the day we heard about you. We have been asking God to fill you with the knowledge of what he wants. We pray that he will give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

¹⁰We pray that you will lead a life that is worthy of the Lord. We pray that you will please him in every way. So we want you to bear fruit in every good thing you do. We want you to grow to know God better. ¹¹We want you to be very strong, in keeping with his glorious power. We want you to be patient. Never give up. Be joyful ¹²as you give thanks to the Father.

He has made you fit to share with all his people. You will all receive a share in the kingdom of light.

¹³He has saved us from the kingdom of darkness. He has brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. ¹⁴Because of what the Son has done, we have been set free. Because of him, all of our sins have been forgiven.

Christ Is Far Above Everything

¹⁵Christ is the exact likeness of God, who can’t be seen. He is first, and he is over all of creation. ¹⁶All things were created by him. He created everything in heaven and on earth. He created everything that can be seen and everything that can’t be seen. He created kings, powers, rulers and authorities. Everything was created by him and for him. ¹⁷Before anything was created, he was already there. He holds everything together.

¹⁸And he is the head of the body, which is the church. He is the beginning. He is the first to be raised from the dead. That happened so that he would be far above everything. ¹⁹God was pleased to have his whole nature living in Christ. ²⁰God was pleased to bring all things back to himself because of what Christ has done. That includes all things on earth and in heaven. God made peace through Christ’s blood, through his death on the cross.

²¹At one time you were separated from God. You were enemies in your minds because of your evil ways. ²²But because Christ died, God has brought you back to himself. Christ’s death has made you holy in God’s sight. So now you don’t have any flaw. You are free from blame.

²³But you must keep your faith steady and firm. Don’t move away from the hope that the good news holds out to you. It is the good news that you heard. It has been preached to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, now serve the good news.

Paul’s Work for the Church

²⁴I am happy because of what was suffered for you. And in my body I fill up my share in Christ’s sufferings. I do it for his body, which is the church. ²⁵I serve the church. God appointed me to bring all of his word to you.

²⁶That word contains the mystery that has been hidden for many ages. But now it has been made known to God’s people. ²⁷God has chosen to make known to them the glorious riches of that mystery. He has made it known among those who aren’t Jews. And here is what it is. Christ is in you. He is your hope of glory.

²⁸We preach about him. With all the wisdom we have, we warn and teach everyone. When we bring them to God, we want them to be perfect as people who belong to Christ.

²⁹That’s what I’m working for. I work hard with all of Christ’s strength. His strength works powerfully in me.

2I want you to know how hard I am working for you. I’m concerned for those who are in Laodicea. I’m also concerned for everyone who has not met me in person. ²I want their hearts to be made cheerful and strong. I want them to be joined together in love. Then their understanding will be rich and complete. They will know the mystery of God. That mystery is Christ.

³All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him.

⁴But I don’t want anyone to fool you with fast talk that only sounds good. ⁵So even though I am away from you in body, I am with you in spirit. I am glad to see that you are doing everything in good order. And I am happy that your faith in Christ is so strong.

Freedom From Human Rules

⁶You received Christ Jesus as Lord. So keep on living in him. ⁷Have your roots in him. Build yourselves up in him. Grow strong in what you believe, just as you were taught. Be more thankful than ever before.

⁸Make sure no one captures you. They will try to capture you by using false reasoning that has no meaning. Their ideas depend on human teachings. They also depend on the basic things the people of this world believe. They don’t depend on Christ.

⁹God’s whole nature is living in Christ in human form. ¹⁰Because you belong to Christ, you have everything you need. He is the ruler over every power and authority.

¹¹When you received Christ, you were also circumcised by putting away your sinful nature. Human hands didn’t circumcise you. Christ did.

¹²When you were baptized, you were buried together with him. You were raised to life together with him by believing in God’s power. God raised Jesus from the dead.

¹³At one time you were dead in your sins. Your sinful nature was not circumcised. But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave us all of our sins.

¹⁴He wiped out the written Law with its rules. The Law was against us. It opposed us. He took it away and nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵He took away the weapons of the powers and authorities. He made a public show of them. He won the battle over them by dying on the cross.

¹⁶So don’t let anyone judge you because of what you eat or drink. Don’t let anyone judge you about holy days. I’m talking about special feasts and New Moons and Sabbath days. ¹⁷They are only a shadow of the things that were going to come. But what is real is found in Christ.

¹⁸Some people enjoy pretending they aren’t proud. They worship angels. But don’t let people like that hold you back from winning the prize. They tell you every little thing about what they have seen. Their minds are not guided by the Holy Spirit. So they are proud of their useless ideas.

¹⁹They aren’t connected to the Head. But the whole body grows from the Head. The muscles and tendons hold the body together. And God causes it to grow.

²⁰The people of the world believe certain basic things. You died with Christ as far as things like that are concerned. So why do you act as if you still belong to the world? Here are the rules you follow. ²¹“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” ²²Rules like that are all going to die out as time goes by. They are only based on human rules and teachings.

²³It is true that those rules seem wise. Because of them, people give themselves over to their own kind of worship. They pretend they aren’t proud. They treat their bodies very badly. But rules like that don’t help. They don’t stop people from chasing after sinful pleasures.

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