Colossians 2

1I want you to know how hard I am working for you, and for the people in Laodicea, and for everyone who has never met me in person.

2I want them to be encouraged in their hearts and joined together in love. I want them to have the full riches of complete understanding, so that they truly know God's secret, which is Christ himself.

3In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4I tell you this so that no one will fool you with smooth talk.

5For even though I am far away from you in body, I am with you in spirit. And I am glad to see how well-ordered you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

6So then, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, keep living in him.

7Keep your roots deep in Christ. Build your life on him. Stay strong in the faith you were taught, and overflow with thankfulness.

8Be careful that no one traps you with empty, tricky ideas that come from human thinking and from the basic powers of this world, and not from Christ.

9For everything that God is lives fully in Christ, in his body.

10And you have everything you need in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and power.

11In Christ you also went through a kind of circumcision — not one done by human hands. It is the removing of your sinful self, the circumcision that Christ does.

12When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ. And you were raised to new life with him, because you believed in the power of God, who raised Christ from death.

13You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful self was not yet cut away. But God made you alive together with Christ. God forgave us all our sins.

14There was a record of the rules we had broken, a record that stood against us. God wiped it out and took it away, nailing it to the cross.

15And God stripped the rulers and powers of their weapons. He shamed them in public, leading them as defeated prisoners by the cross.

16So do not let anyone judge you about what you eat or drink, or about a religious feast, a New Moon festival, or a Sabbath day.

17These were only a shadow of the things that were coming; the real thing is Christ.

18Do not let anyone rob you of your prize. Some people enjoy false humility and the worship of angels. They go on and on about visions they have seen, and their human thinking makes them proud for no reason.

19They have lost their hold on Christ, the Head. From the Head the whole body is fed and held together by its joints, and it grows as God makes it grow.

20You died with Christ and were set free from the basic powers of this world. So why do you act as if you still belong to the world? Why do you obey rules like these:

21Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!?

22All these things are meant to be used up and thrown away. They are only human commands and teachings.

23These rules look wise, with their self-made religion, false humility, and harsh treatment of the body. But they have no value for stopping the wrong desires of the body.