Colossians 2
New Century Version
2 I want you to know how hard I work for you, those in Laodicea, and others who have never seen me. 2 I want them to be strengthened and joined together with love so that they may be rich in their understanding. This leads to their knowing fully God’s secret, that is, Christ himself. 3 In him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are safely kept.
4 I say this so that no one can fool you by arguments that seem good, but are false. 5 Though I am absent from you in my body, my heart is with you, and I am happy to see your good lives and your strong faith in Christ.
Continue to Live in Christ
6 As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live in him. 7 Keep your roots deep in him and have your lives built on him. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, and always be thankful.
8 Be sure that no one leads you away with false and empty teaching that is only human, which comes from the ruling spirits of this world, and not from Christ. 9 All of God lives fully in Christ (even when Christ was on earth), 10 and you have a full and true life in Christ, who is ruler over all rulers and powers.
11 Also in Christ you had a different kind of circumcision, a circumcision not done by hands. It was through Christ’s circumcision, that is, his death, that you were made free from the power of your sinful self. 12 When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and you were raised up with him through your faith in God’s power that was shown when he raised Christ from the dead. 13 When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self, God made you alive with Christ, and he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross. 15 God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross, he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless.
Don’t Follow People’s Rules
16 So do not let anyone make rules for you about eating and drinking or about a religious feast, a New Moon Festival, or a Sabbath day. 17 These things were like a shadow of what was to come. But what is true and real has come and is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone disqualify you by making you humiliate yourself and worship angels. Such people enter into visions, which fill them with foolish pride because of their human way of thinking. 19 They do not hold tightly to Christ, the head. It is from him that all the parts of the body are cared for and held together. So it grows in the way God wants it to grow.
20 Since you died with Christ and were made free from the ruling spirits of the world, why do you act as if you still belong to this world by following rules like these: 21 “Don’t handle this,” “Don’t taste that,” “Don’t even touch that thing”? 22 These rules refer to earthly things that are gone as soon as they are used. They are only human commands and teachings. 23 They seem to be wise, but they are only part of a human religion. They make people pretend not to be proud and make them punish their bodies, but they do not really control the evil desires of the sinful self.
Colossians 2
Evangelical Heritage Version
2 Indeed, I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those in Laodicea, and for all those who have not seen me personally. 2 I am doing this so that their hearts may be encouraged as they are brought together in love, and into all the wealth of assurance that understanding brings, into the knowledge of the mystery of God, which is Christ.[a] 3 All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him.
4 I say this so that no one deceives you with persuasive speech that sounds reasonable. 5 For though I am absent bodily, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your orderliness and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
The Fullness That Is Ours in Christ
6 Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, 7 by being rooted and built up in him, and strengthened in the faith just as you were taught, while you overflow in faith[b] with thanksgiving.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, which are in accord with human tradition, namely, the basic principles of the world, but not in accord with Christ. 9 For all the fullness of God’s being dwells bodily in Christ. 10 And you have been brought to fullness in him. Christ is the head over every ruler and authority. 11 You were also circumcised in him, with a circumcision not done by human hands, in the putting off of the body of flesh,[c] in the circumcision of Christ, 12 when you were buried with Christ in baptism. And in baptism you were also raised with him through the faith worked by the God who raised Christ from the dead.
13 Even when you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ by forgiving us all our trespasses. 14 God erased the record of our debt brought against us by his legal demands. This record stood against us, but he took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 After disarming the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them by triumphing over them in Christ.
Paul Addresses the False Teaching
16 Therefore, do not let anyone judge you in regard to food or drink, or in regard to a festival or a New Moon or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were coming, but the body belongs to Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who enjoys false humility and the worship of angels tell you that you are disqualified from the prize. This person goes into detail about what he has seen.[d] He is puffed up for no reason by the attitude of his sinful flesh. 19 He does not hold on to the head, from whom the whole body grows with the growth that comes from God as it is supported and held together by its sinews and ligaments.
Human Traditions Do Not Restrain the Flesh
20 If you died with Christ to the basic principles of the world, why do you submit to its rules, as if you were still living in the world? 21 “Do not touch!” “Do not taste!” “Do not handle!” 22 All of these rules end in destruction when they are used, because they are in accord with human commands and teachings. 23 While such rules have the appearance of wisdom with self-chosen religion, which consists of humiliation and severe treatment of the body, they have no value at all in checking the self-indulgence of the sinful flesh.
Footnotes
- Colossians 2:2 A few witnesses to the text read mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.
- Colossians 2:7 A few witnesses to the text omit in faith. A few read in him.
- Colossians 2:11 Some witnesses to the text read the body of the sins of the flesh.
- Colossians 2:18 Some witnesses to the text read has not seen.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.