Colossians 2:6-19

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Fullness of Life in Christ

⁶ As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.^(A)

⁸ Watch out that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles^[a] of the world, and not according to Christ.^{(B) 9} For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.^{(C) 11} In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision,^[b] by the removal of the body^[c] of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ;^{(D) 12} when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.^{(E) 13} And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God^[d] made you^[e] alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,^{(F) 14} erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed^[f] the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.^(G)

¹⁶ Therefore, do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food or^[g] drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths.^{(H) 17} These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the body belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, initiatory visions,^[h] puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,^{[i] 19} and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with a growth that is from God.^(I)