Colossians 2
For I want you to know ahow great a bstruggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that atheir hearts may be encouraged, being bknit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of cGod’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 ain whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order athat no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For athough I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your bgood order and cthe firmness of your faith in Christ.
Alive in Christ
6 aTherefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 arooted and bbuilt up in him and cestablished in the faith, just das you were taught, abounding ein thanksgiving.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by aphilosophy and bempty deceit, according to chuman tradition, according to the delemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For ain him the whole fullness of deity dwells bbodily, 10 and ayou have been filled in him, who is bthe head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also ayou were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by bputting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 ahaving been buried with him in baptism, in which byou were also raised with him through faith in cthe powerful working of God, cwho raised him from the dead. 13 aAnd you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God bmade alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by acanceling bthe record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 aHe disarmed the rulers and authorities and bput them to open shame, by ctriumphing over them in him.
Let No One Disqualify You
16 Therefore let no one apass judgment on you bin questions of food and drink, or with regard to ca festival or da new moon or a Sabbath. 17 aThese are a shadow of the things to come, but bthe substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one adisqualify you, binsisting on asceticism and worship of angels, cgoing on in detail about visions, dpuffed up without reason by ehis sensuous mind, 19 and anot bholding 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.
20 If with Christ ayou died to the belemental spirits of the world, cwhy, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 a“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (areferring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to bhuman precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in apromoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are bof no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.