1For I want you to know how great a struggle I have in your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not Lit in the fleshpersonally seen my face,

2that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and that they would attain to all the wealth Lit of the full assurancethat comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself,

3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4I say this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments.

5For even though I am absent in body, I am nevertheless with you in spirit, rejoicing Lit and seeingto see Or your good orderyour orderly manner and the stability of your faith in Christ.

6Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so Or lead your lifewalk in Him,

7having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established Or byin Or the faithyour faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing One early ms in it withwith gratitude.

8See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, Lit and notrather than in accordance with Christ.

9For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

10and in Him you have been made Lit fullcomplete, and He is the head Lit ofover every ruler and authority;

11and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ,

12having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

13And Or althoughwhen you were dead Or by reason ofin your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings,

14having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

15When He had Or divested Himself ofdisarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Or it; i.e., the crossHim.

16Therefore, no one is to Lit judge youact as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath Or daysday—

17things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the Lit bodysubstance Lit of Christbelongs to Christ.

18Take care that no one keeps Or deciding against youdefrauding you of your prize by delighting in humility and the worship of the angels, Or going into detail abouttaking his stand on visions he has seen, Or conceitedinflated without cause by his fleshly mind,

19and not holding firmly to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and Lit bondsligaments, grows with a growth Lit of Godwhich is from God.

20If you have died with Christ Lit fromto the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,

21“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”

22(which all refer to things destined to perish Or by being consumedwith use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of man?

23These are matters which do have the Lit report; Gr logosappearance of wisdom in Or would-be religionself-made religion and humility and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.