Colossians 2

English Standard Version

2 For I want you to know ^(A)how great a ^(B)struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, ²that ^(C)their hearts may be encouraged, being ^(D)knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of ^(E)God's mystery, which is Christ, ³^(F)in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴I say this in order ^(G)that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. ⁵For ^(H)though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your ^(I)good order and ^(J)the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Alive in Christ

⁶^(K)Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷^(L)rooted and ^(M)built up in him and ^(N)established in the faith, just ^(O)as you were taught, abounding ^(P)in thanksgiving.

⁸See to it that no one takes you captive by ^(Q)philosophy and ^(R)empty deceit, according to ^(S)human tradition, according to the ^(T)elemental spirits^[a] of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For ^(U)in him the whole fullness of deity dwells ^(V)bodily, ¹⁰and ^(W)you have been filled in him, who is ^(X)the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹In him also ^(Y)you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by ^(Z)putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹²^(AA)having been buried with him in baptism, in which ^(AB)you were also raised with him through faith in ^(AC)the powerful working of God, ^(AD)who raised him from the dead. ¹³^(AE)And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God ^(AF)made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴by ^(AG)canceling ^(AH)the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵^(AI)He disarmed the rulers and authorities^[b] and ^(AJ)put them to open shame, by ^(AK)triumphing over them in him.^[c]

Let No One Disqualify You

¹⁶Therefore let no one ^(AL)pass judgment on you ^(AM)in questions of food and drink, or with regard to ^(AN)a festival or ^(AO)a new moon or a Sabbath. ¹⁷^(AP)These are a shadow of the things to come, but ^(AQ)the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸Let no one ^(AR)disqualify you, ^(AS)insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, ^(AT)going on in detail about visions,^[d] ^(AU)puffed up without reason by ^(AV)his sensuous mind, ¹⁹and ^(AW)not ^(AX)holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

²⁰If with Christ ^(AY)you died to the ^(AZ)elemental spirits of the world, ^(BA)why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ²¹^(BB)“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ²²(^(BC)referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to ^(BD)human precepts and teachings? ²³These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in ^(BE)promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are ^(BF)of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.