Colossians 2

I want you to know how hard I am contending^q for you and for those at Laodicea,^r and for all who have not met me personally. My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart^s and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery^t of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.^u I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.^v For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit^w and delight to see how disciplined^x you are and how firm^y your faith in Christ^z is.

Spiritual Fullness in Christ

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,^a continue to live your lives in him, rooted^b and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught,^c and overflowing with thankfulness.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,^d which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world^e rather than on Christ.

For in Christ all the fullness^f of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head^g over every power and authority.^h In him you were also circumcisedⁱ with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your sinful nature^j was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism,^k in which you were also raised with him^l through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.^m

When you were dead in your sinsⁿ and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive^o with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,^p having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness,^q which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.^r And having disarmed the powers and authorities,^s he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them^t by the cross.

Freedom From Human Rules

Therefore do not let anyone judge you^a by what you eat or drink,^b or with regard to a religious festival,^c a New Moon celebration^d or a Sabbath day.^e These are a shadow of the things that were to come;^f the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility^g and the worship of angels disqualify you.^h Such people also go into great detail about what they have seen, and their unspiritual minds puff them up with idle notions. They have lost connection with the head,ⁱ from whom the whole body,^j supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.^k

Since you died with Christ^l to the elemental spiritual forces of this world,^m why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:ⁿ “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish^o with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.^p Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility^q and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.