New Living Translation

New International Version

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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I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.

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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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My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,

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

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

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

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I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

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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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For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

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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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Spiritual Fullness in Christ

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,

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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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rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

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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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See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forcesa of this world rather than on Christ.

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

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For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,

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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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and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.

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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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In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the fleshb was put off when you were circumcised byc Christ,

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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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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.

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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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When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made youd alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,

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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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having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

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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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And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.e

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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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Freedom From Human Rules

Therefore do not 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.

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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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These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

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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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Do not 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 have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.

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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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They have 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.

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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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Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:

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

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“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?

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

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These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.

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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.

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Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Parallel

New Living Translation

New International Version

Colossians 2

Colossians 2