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1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have concerning you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, 2 that their hearts may be comforted, being joined together in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to a full knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 Now this I say so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable. 5 For though indeed I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your orderliness and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
Alive in Christ
6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 having been rooted and built up in Him and being established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 See that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and in Him you have been made complete, who is the head of all principality and power.
11 In whom you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried together with Him in baptism, in which also you were raised together through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 having blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and He has taken it out of the midst, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed principalities and powers, He mocked them in public, triumphing over them in it.
Let No One Disqualify You
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or of a new moon or of Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. 18 Let no one rule against you, desiring to do so in false humility and in worship of the angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, in vain being puffed up by his carnal mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, supported and joined together by joints and ligaments, grows with the growth of God.
20 If you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch,” 22 which things are all for corruption with the using, according to the commands and teaching of men? 23 These things indeed have a reputation of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and severity on the body, but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.