2 I want you to know how hard I am contendingq for you and for those at Laodicea,r and for all who have not met me personally. 2My goal is that they may be encouraged in hearts and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mysteryt of God, namely, Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.u 4I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.v 5For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spiritw and delight to see how disciplinedx you are and how firmy your faith in Christz is.
6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,a continue to live your lives in him, 7rootedb and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught,c and overflowing with thankfulness.
8See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,d which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces* of this worlde rather than on Christ.
9For in Christ all the fullnessf of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the headg over every power and authority.h 11In him you were also circumcisedi with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your sinful nature*j was put off when you were circumcised by* Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism,k in which you were also raised with himl through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.m
13When you were dead in your sinsn and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,* God made you* aliveo with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,p 14having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness,q which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.r 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities,s he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over themt by the cross.*
16Therefore do not let anyone judge youa by what you eat or drink,b or with regard to a religious festival,c a New Moon celebrationd or a Sabbath day.e 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come;f the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humilityg and the worship of angels disqualify you.h Such people also go into great detail about what they have seen, and their unspiritual minds puff them up with idle notions. 19They have lost connection with the head,i from whom the whole body,j supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.k
20Since you died with Christl to the elemental spiritual forces of this world,m why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:n 21“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perisho with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.p 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humilityq and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.