Colossians 2

The Record of Debt Nailed to the Cross

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Paul’s Struggle for Them

2:1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and those in Laodicea and all who have not seen my face in the flesh,

2:2so that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ,

2:3in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.

2:4I say this so that no one may deceive you with persuasive argument.

2:5For even if I am absent in the flesh, yet in spirit I am with you, rejoicing and seeing your order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Rooted and Built Up in Him

2:6Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him,

2:7rooted and being built up in Him and being established in the faith just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

2:8Watch out lest anyone carry you off as spoil through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ,

2:9because in Him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily,

2:10and you have been filled in Him, who is the head of every ruler and authority,

2:11in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made by hands, in the stripping off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ,

2:12having been buried together with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised together through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

2:13And you, being dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all the transgressions,

2:14having wiped out the handwritten record with its decrees that was against us, which was opposed to us, and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

2:15Having stripped the rulers and authorities, He displayed them openly, leading them in triumph in it.

Let No One Judge You

2:16Therefore let no one judge you in eating or drinking, or in the matter of a festival or new moon or Sabbaths,

2:17which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body belongs to Christ.

2:18Let no one disqualify you, delighting in humility and worship of angels, dwelling on what he has seen, puffed up without cause by the mind of his flesh,

2:19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, supplied and knit together through joints and ligaments, grows with the growth of God.

Died with Christ

2:20If you died with Christ away from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you submit to decrees:

2:21“Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch,”

2:22which all concern things that perish with use, according to human commandments and teachings?

2:23These indeed have a reputation of wisdom in self-chosen worship and humility and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.