Book of Common Prayer

⁸ Do not let anyone fool you by his wise words. They are not true. They are what men say. They are the teachings of this world and not what Christ says.

⁹ Christ has everything that God has.

¹⁰ And you, too, have everything when you are in him. He rules over every power and ruler.

¹¹ In Christ you were not circumcised by men's hands. But you were circumcised in Christ's way when all the wrong things you did in your bodies were taken away.

¹² You were buried with Christ when you were baptised. You were also raised with him to a new life when you were baptised. You were raised because you believed in the power of God who raised Christ from death.

¹³ You were dead because of the wrong things you had done, and because your lives had not been made clean. But God gave you life with Christ. He forgave you for all the wrong things you did.

¹⁴ He wiped out all the things that were written against us in the laws. He took the writing away and nailed it to a cross.

¹⁵ He won the victory over powers and rulers. He showed that they had no power at all. He showed the world his victory through the cross.

¹⁶ So do not let anyone say you are wrong about what you eat or drink, or about a feast, or a special holy day or a Sabbath day.

¹⁷ They are like a shadow of what is to come. But Christ is the body that makes the shadow.

¹⁸ Do not let anyone tell you that you are wrong and that to be humble you must worship angels. He talks about things he has not seen. He is very proud, but he has nothing to be proud of, because his thoughts come from his own mind.

¹⁹ He is not joined to the real head which is Christ. It is from him that the whole body receives strength and is held together by its joints and muscles. It is from him that the body grows as God makes it grow.

²⁰ Did you die with Christ? Then you left the teachings of this world. So why do you obey laws as if you were still living in this world?

²¹ I mean laws like this: "Do not touch that. Do not eat this. Do not put your hand on that."

²² All such things are gone as soon as they are used. These are laws made and taught by men.

²³ These laws look as if they are good laws. They make a show of doing things for God. They make people humble themselves in some way. They make people control their bodies in certain ways. But they have no power to keep people from doing all the wrong things they want to do.

³⁹ Jesus also told the people a story. He said, `A blind man cannot lead a blind man. They will both fall into a hole.

⁴⁰ The one who learns is not better than his teacher. But every one who learns will be like his teacher when his teacher has finished teaching him.

⁴¹ `Why do you look at the small piece of dust in your brother's eye? And you do not see the big stick in your own eye.

⁴² How can you say to your brother, "Brother, let me take the dust out of your eye"? But you do not see the stick in your own eye. You are not true to yourselves! First take the stick out of your own eye. Then you will be able to see to take the dust out of your brother's eye.'

⁴³ `A good tree does not have bad fruit. And also, a bad tree does not have good fruit.

⁴⁴ Every kind of tree is known by its fruit. People do not pick fruit like figs from thorn trees. And they do not pick grapes from bramble bushes.

⁴⁵ A good man has stored up good things in his heart, so he says good things. A bad man has stored up wrong things in his heart, so he will say wrong things. The mouth will say what is in the heart.'

⁴⁶ `Why do you call me "Lord, Lord," but you do not do what I tell you?

⁴⁷ `A person comes to me. He hears what I say and obeys me. I will show you who he is like.

⁴⁸ He is like a man who built a house. He dug down deep in the ground and made it stand on a rock. The water in the river came up high. The water beat hard against the house. But the house did not move, because it was built on a rock.

⁴⁹ A man hears what I say but does not obey me. He is like a man who built his house on top of the ground. He did not dig down deep. The water beat hard against it and it fell with a loud noise!'