I want you to know
I want you to know how hard I'm struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who haven't met me in person. My aim is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, and know the mystery of God — namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one deceives you with fine-sounding arguments. For though I'm not with you in person, I'm with you in spirit, and I'm glad to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
I want you to know how hard I'm struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who haven't met me in person.
My aim is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, and know the mystery of God — namely, Christ,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
I tell you this so that no one deceives you with fine-sounding arguments.
For though I'm not with you in person, I'm with you in spirit, and I'm glad to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
Rooted in him
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, go on living in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in him, who is the head over every power and authority, you've been brought to fullness. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, cancelling the record of debt that stood against us and condemned us. He's taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, go on living in him,
rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental forces of this world rather than on Christ.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
and in him, who is the head over every power and authority, you've been brought to fullness.
In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,
having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
cancelling the record of debt that stood against us and condemned us. He's taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Don't let anyone judge you
So don't let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Don't let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they've seen; they're puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They've lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
So don't let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Don't let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they've seen; they're puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.
They've lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Why submit to rules
Since you died with Christ to the elemental forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Don't handle. Don't taste. Don't touch”? These rules are all about things that perish with use. They're based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations do have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they're of no value in restraining the indulgences of the flesh.
Since you died with Christ to the elemental forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:
“Don't handle. Don't taste. Don't touch”?
These rules are all about things that perish with use. They're based on merely human commands and teachings.
Such regulations do have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they're of no value in restraining the indulgences of the flesh.