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Colossians 2 :: New International Version (NIV)

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Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:1 - I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:2 - My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:3 - in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:4 - I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:5 - For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

Spiritual Fullness in Christ

Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:6 - So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:7 - rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:8 - See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[fn] of this world rather than on Christ.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:9 - For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:10 - and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:11 - In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh[fn] was put off when you were circumcised by[fn] Christ,
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:12 - having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:13 - When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[fn] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:14 - having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:15 - And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[fn]

Freedom From Human Rules

Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:16 - Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:17 - These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:18 - Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:19 - They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:20 - Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:21 - “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:22 - These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.
Unchecked Copy BoxCol 2:23 - Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
NIV Footnotes
Or the basic principles; also in verse 20
In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verse 13.
Or put off in the circumcision of
Some manuscripts us
Or them in him
NIV

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Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
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For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.

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