1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face in the flesh, 2 so that their hearts may be encouraged and they may be joined together in love, attaining all the riches of fully assured understanding, to the knowledge of God's mystery, Christ, 3 in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. 4 I say this so that no one may deceive you with persuasive arguments. 5 For though I am absent in the flesh, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, 7 rooted and being built up in him, and being established in the faith just as you were taught, overflowing with thanksgiving.

8 Take care that no one carries you off as plunder through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made by human hands, in the stripping off of the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ. 12 You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made alive together with him, forgiving us all our trespasses, 14 erasing the record of debt with its decrees that was against us and hostile to us. He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 Having stripped the rulers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

16 Therefore let no one judge you in food or drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths. 17 These are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, delighting in humility and worship of angels, dwelling on what he has seen, puffed up without cause by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, supplied and joined together through its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that comes from God.

20 If you died with Christ to the elements of the world, why, as though still living in the world, do you submit to regulations 21 such as “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch” 22 —all of which concern things that perish with use—according to human commandments and teachings? 23 These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in worship of their own choosing, humility, and harsh treatment of the body, but have no value in restraining indulgence of the flesh.