Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Colossians 2
Rooted and Built Up in Christ
I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face, so that their hearts may be encouraged, joined together in love, and brought into all the riches of full assurance that comes from understanding, to know God’s mystery, Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. I say this so that no one deceives you with persuasive speech. For although I am absent in body, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your order and the firmness of your trust in Christ. Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted and built up in him, established in the trust just as you were taught, overflowing with thanksgiving.
Fullness in Christ
Watch out that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made by hands, in the removal of the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through trust in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, forgiving us all our trespasses. He erased the record of debt with its decrees that stood against us. He removed it from the way, nailing it to the cross. He stripped the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in the cross.
Do Not Let Anyone Disqualify You
Therefore do not let anyone judge you about food or drink, or with respect to a festival, new moon, or Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Do not let anyone disqualify you, delighting in self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without reason by a fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by joints and ligaments, grows with growth from God.
Died with Christ to the Elemental Powers
If you died with Christ to the elemental powers of the world, why, as though still living in the world, do you submit to regulations: “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch”? These things are all destined to perish with use; they are based on human commands and teachings. Such practices have an appearance of wisdom in self-made religion, self-abasement, and severe treatment of the body, but they have no value in restraining fleshly indulgence.