Alive with Christ

1For I want you to understand how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not seen my face in the flesh, 2so that their hearts may be encouraged, having been held together in love, even unto all the wealth of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full 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 delude you with persuasive argument. 5For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing [†]to see your good order and the stability of your faith in Christ.

6Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so [†]walk in Him, 7having been firmly rooted and being built up in Him, and having been established [†]in your faith—just as you were instructed—and abounding [†]with thanksgiving.

8See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily, 10and in Him you have been filled, who is the head [†]over all rule and authority; 11in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, 12having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13And you being dead [†]in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him, having graciously forgiven us all our transgressions. 14Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us which was hostile to us, He also has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15Having [†]disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them in [†]Him.

16Therefore, no one is to judge you in food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath [†]day— 17things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the [†]substance [†]belongs to Christ. 18Let no one keep [†]defrauding you of your prize by delighting in [†]self-abasement and the worship of the angels, going into detail about visions he has seen, being puffed up for nothing by his fleshly mind, 19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and [†]ligaments, grows with a growth [†]that is from God.

20If you have died with Christ [†]to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees: 21“Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch”? 22Which [†]deal with everything destined to perish [†]with use, which are in accordance with the commands and teachings of men; 23which are matters having, to be sure, a [†]word of wisdom in [†]self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.