ColossiansChapter 2

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¹I want you to know how hard I am working for you. I am working for the people in Laodicea too. And I am working for all who have never met me face to face. ²I want their hearts to be encouraged. I want them to be joined together in love. I want them to be filled with the full riches of complete understanding. Then they will know God's mystery, which is Christ. ³All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him. ⁴I tell you this so no one will fool you with smooth talk. ⁵I am away from you in body, but I am with you in spirit. I am happy to see how orderly you are. I am glad your faith in Christ is so firm. ⁶So you have received Christ Jesus as Lord. Now keep on living in him. ⁷Have your roots in him. Be built up in him. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught. And be full of thanks. ⁸Be careful that no one captures you with false ideas and empty tricks. Those things come from human customs and the spiritual forces of the world. They do not come from Christ. ⁹For all that God is lives in Christ, in a human body. ¹⁰And in Christ you have been made complete. He is the head over every ruler and authority. ¹¹In him you were also circumcised. Your sinful nature was cut away. This circumcision was done by Christ, not by human hands. ¹²You were buried with him when you were baptized. And you were raised with him through your faith in God's power. God is the one who raised Christ from the dead. ¹³You were once dead in your sins. Your sinful nature was not circumcised. But God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. ¹⁴He canceled the record of what we owed. Its rules stood against us. He took it away and nailed it to the cross! ¹⁵He took away the weapons of the powers and authorities. He made a public show of them. He won the victory over them by the cross. ¹⁶So don't let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink. Don't let them judge you about a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. ¹⁷These things are a shadow of what was coming. But the real thing that casts the shadow belongs to Christ. ¹⁸Some people love false humility and the worship of angels. They talk about visions they say they have seen. Don't let them take your prize from you. Such people are proud for no reason. Their minds are not led by the Spirit. ¹⁹They have lost touch with the head. The whole body is held up and joined together by the head through its joints and tendons. And it grows as God makes it grow. ²⁰If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why do you act like you still belong to the world? Why do you obey its rules, such as ²¹"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? ²²All these things will perish as they are used. That is because these rules are based on human commands and teachings. ²³These rules may seem wise. People make up their own ways to worship. They act falsely humble. They are hard on their bodies. But these rules do nothing to stop the desires of the sinful nature.