New King James Version

New Living Translation

Not Philosophy but Christ

For I want you to know what a great conflict[a] I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,

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I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally.

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that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, [b]both of the Father and of Christ,

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I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself.

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in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words.

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I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments.

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For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing [c]to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

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For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.

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As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

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Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.

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rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding [d]in it with thanksgiving.

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Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

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Beware lest anyone [e]cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

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Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powersa of this world, rather than from Christ.

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For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead [f]bodily;

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For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.b

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and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all [g]principality and power.

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So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

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Not Legalism but Christ

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body [h]of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

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When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision — the cutting away of your sinful nature.c

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buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

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For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

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And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,

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You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.

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having wiped out the [i]handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

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He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

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Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

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In this way, he disarmedd the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

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So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a [j]festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

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So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths.

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which are a shadow of things to come, but the [k]substance is of Christ.

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For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.

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Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has [l]not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

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Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels,e saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud,

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and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

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and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.

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[m]Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations —

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You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as,

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“Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”

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“Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”?

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which all concern things which perish with the using — according to the commandments and doctrines of men?

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Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.

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These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and [n]neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

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These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.

Parallel

New King James Version

New Living Translation

Colossians 2

Colossians 2