The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Colossians 02
1 For I desire to have you know how
greatly I struggle for you and for those at
Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen
my face in the flesh;
2 that their hearts may be comforted,
they being knit together in love,
and gaining all riches ofthe full
assurance ofunderstanding, that
they may know the mystery
of God, both of the Father
and of Christ,
3 in whom all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge are hidden.
4 Now I say this that no one may delude
you with persuasiveness of speech.
5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet
I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing and
seeing your order, and the steadfastness of
your faith in Christ.
6 As therefore you received Christ Jesus
the Lord, walk in him,
7 rooted and built up in him and
establishedinthe faith, evenas you were taught,
abounding in it in thanksgiving.
8 Be careful that you don’t let anyone
rob you through his philosophy and vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the elemental spirits of the world, and not
after Christ.
9 For in him all the fullness of the Deity
dwells bodily,
10 and in him you are made full, who is
the head of all principality and power.
11 In him you were also circumcised with
a circumcisionnotmade withhands, inthe
putting off of the body of the sins of the
flesh, in the circumcision of Christ,
12 having been buried with him in baptism,
in which you were also raised with
him through faith in the working of God,
who raised him from the dead.
13 You were dead through your trespasses
and the uncircumcision of your
flesh. He made you alive together with
him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 wiping out the handwriting in ordinances
which was against us. He has taken
it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.
15 Having stripped the principalities and
the powers, he made a show of them
openly, triumphing over them in it.
16 Let no one therefore judge you in
eating or drinking, or with respect to a feast
day or a new moon or a Sabbath day,
17 which are a shadow of the things to
come; but the body is Christ’s.
18 Let no one rob you of your prize by
self-abasement and worshiping of the angels,
dwelling in the things which he has
not seen, vainly puffed up by his
fleshly mind,
19 and not holding firmly to the Head,
from whom all the body, being supplied
and knit together through the joints and
ligaments, grows with God’s growth.
20 If you died with Christ from the
elemental spirits of the world, why,
as though living in the world, do
you subject yourselves to ordinances,
21 “Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch”
22 (all of which perish with use), according
to the precepts and doctrines of men?
23 These things indeed appear like wisdom
in self-imposed worship, humility,
and severity to the body, but aren’t of any
value against the indulgence of the flesh.