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.