Colossians 2

Not Philosophy But Christ

2For I want you to know what a great ^aconflict ¹I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, ²that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, ²both of the Father and of Christ, ^3bin whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

⁴Now this I say ^clest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. ⁵For ^dthough I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing ³to see ^eyour good order and the ^fsteadfastness of your faith in Christ.

^6gAs you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, ^7hrooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding ⁴in it with thanksgiving.

⁸Beware lest anyone ⁵cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to ⁱthe tradition of men, according to the ^jbasic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For ^kin Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead ⁶bodily; ¹⁰and you are complete in Him, who is the ^lhead of all ⁷principality and power.

Not Legalism But Christ

¹¹In Him you were also ^mcircumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by ⁿputting off the body ⁸of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ^12oburied with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through ^pfaith in the working of God, ^qwho raised Him from the dead. ¹³And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ^14rhaving wiped out the ⁹handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ^15sHaving disarmed ^tprincipalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

¹⁶So let no one ^ujudge you in food or in drink, or regarding a ¹festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ^17vwhich are a shadow of things to come, but the ²substance is of Christ. ¹⁸Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has ³not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹and not holding fast to ^wthe Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, ^xgrows with the increase that is from God.

²⁰⁴Therefore, if you ^ydied with Christ from the basic principles of the world, ^zwhy, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—^21a“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” ²²which all concern things which perish with the using—^baccording to the commandments and doctrines of men? ^23cThese things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and ⁵neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.