English Standard Version

New Living Translation

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,

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I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally.

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that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ,

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I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself.

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in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.

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I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments.

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For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

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For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.

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Alive in Christ

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

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Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.

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rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

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Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

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See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spiritsa of the world, and not according to Christ.

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Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powersa of this world, rather than from Christ.

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For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

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For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.b

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and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

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So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

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In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

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When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision — the cutting away of your sinful nature.c

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having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

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For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

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And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

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You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.

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by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

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He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

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He disarmed the rulers and authoritiesb and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.c

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In this way, he disarmedd the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

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Let No One Disqualify You

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

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So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths.

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These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

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For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.

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Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions,d puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,

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Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels,e saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud,

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and not holding 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.

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and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.

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If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations —

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You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as,

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“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”

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“Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”?

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(referring to things that all perish as they are used) — according to human precepts and teachings?

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Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.

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These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

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These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.

Parallel

English Standard Version

New Living Translation

Colossians 2

Colossians 2