Spiritual Fullness in Christ

⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,^(A) continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted^(B) and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught,^(C) and overflowing with thankfulness.

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,^(D) which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces^[a] of this world^(E) rather than on Christ.

⁹ For in Christ all the fullness^(F) of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head^(G) over every power and authority.^{(H) 11} In him you were also circumcised^(I) with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh^[b](J) was put off when you were circumcised by^[c] Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism,^(K) in which you were also raised with him^(L) through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.^(M)

The Parable of the Sower^(A)(B)(C)

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house^(D) and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat^(E) and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred,^(F) sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”^(G)

¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”