Colossians 2:4-15

Christian Standard Bible

Christ versus the Colossian Heresy

⁴ I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with arguments that sound reasonable. ⁵ For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit,^(A) rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.

⁶ So then, just as you have received^(B) Christ Jesus as Lord,^(C) continue to walk in him, ⁷ being rooted and built up in him^(D) and established in the faith, just as you were taught,^(E) and overflowing with gratitude.

⁸ Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition,^(F) based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ.^{(G) 9} For the entire fullness^(H) of God’s nature dwells bodily^[a] in Christ, ¹⁰ and you have been filled by him, who is the head^(I) over every ruler and authority. ¹¹ You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh,^(J) in the circumcision of Christ,^{(K) 12} when you were buried with him^(L) in baptism, in which you were also raised with him^(M) through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.^{(N) 13} And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses. ¹⁴ He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.^{(O) 15} He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; he triumphed over them in him.^[b](P)