Concern for the Colossians and Laodiceans
1For I want you to know how hard I am struggling for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not met me in person, 2so that their hearts may be encouraged, and that, united together in love, they may have the full riches of confident understanding, and so come to know the mystery of God—that is, the Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4I say this so that no one may deceive you with fine-sounding arguments. 5For even though I am absent in body, I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in the Christ.
Rooted and built up in the Christ
6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, 7rooted and built up in him, established in the faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, based on human tradition and the elemental powers of the world, rather than on the Christ. 9For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been brought to fullness in him. He is the head over every ruler and authority. 11In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands—by putting off the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ— 12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13And you, who were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh—God made you alive together with him. He forgave us all our trespasses, 14having erased the record of debt that stood against us with its decrees. It was hostile to us, but he took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Free from human rules
16Therefore do not let anyone judge you over food or drink, or regarding a festival, a new moon, or a Sabbath. 17These are only a shadow of what was to come; the reality belongs to the Christ. 18Do not let anyone disqualify you by insisting on humility and the worship of angels, dwelling on visions they claim to have seen, puffed up without cause by their fleshly mind, 19and not holding fast to the head. From him the whole body, nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that comes from God. 20If you died with the Christ to the elemental powers of the world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world, submitting to its rules— 21“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch”— 22rules about things that all perish as they are used, based on merely human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-made religion, humility, and harsh treatment of the body, but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
