2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have in your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not ①personally seen my face,
▷ ①Lit in the flesh
2:2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and that they would attain to all the wealth ①that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself,
▷ ①Lit of the full assurance
2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
2:4 I say this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments.
2:5 For even though I am absent in body, I am nevertheless with you in spirit, rejoicing ①to see ②your orderly manner and the stability of your faith in Christ.
▷ ①Lit and seeing ②Or your good order
2:6 Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so ①walk in Him,
▷ ①Or lead your life
2:7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established ①in ②your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing ③with gratitude.
▷ ①Or by ②Or the faith ③One early ms in it with
2:8 See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, ①rather than in accordance with Christ.
▷ ①Lit and not
2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
2:10 and in Him you have been made ①complete, and He is the head ②over every ruler and authority;
▷ ①Lit full ②Lit of
2:11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ,
2:12 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.
2:13 And ①when you were dead ②in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings,
▷ ①Or although ②Or by reason of
2:14 having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
2:15 When He had ①disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through ②Him.
▷ ①Or divested Himself of ②Or it; i.e., the cross
2:16 Therefore, no one is to ①act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath ②day—
▷ ①Lit judge you ②Or days
2:17 things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the ①substance ②belongs to Christ.
▷ ①Lit body ②Lit of Christ
2:18 Take care that no one keeps ①defrauding you of your prize by delighting in humility and the worship of the angels, ②taking his stand on visions he has seen, ③inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,
▷ ①Or deciding against you ②Or going into detail about ③Or conceited
2:19 and not holding firmly to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ①ligaments, grows with a growth ②which is from God.
▷ ①Lit bonds ②Lit of God
2:20 If you have died with Christ ①to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
▷ ①Lit from
2:21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”
2:22 (which all refer to things destined to perish ①with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of man?
▷ ①Or by being consumed
2:23 These are matters which do have the ①appearance of wisdom in ②self-made religion and humility and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
▷ ①Lit report; Gr logos ②Or would-be religion