You Are Built Up in Christ

¹For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not ^[a]personally seen my face, ² that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth ^[b]that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, ³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ⁴ I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. ⁵ For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing ^[c]to see ^[d]your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.

⁶ Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so ^[e]walk in Him, ⁷ having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established ^[f]in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing ^[g]with gratitude.

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, ^[h]rather than according to Christ. ⁹ For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Him you have been made ^[i]complete, and He is the head ^[j]over all rule and authority; ¹¹ and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; ¹² having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. ¹³ When you were dead ^[k]in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, ¹⁴ having canceled out 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. ¹⁵ When He had ^[l]disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through ^[m]Him.

¹⁶ Therefore no one is to ^[n]act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath ^[o]day— ¹⁷ things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the ^[p]substance ^[q]belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one keep ^[r]defrauding you of your prize by delighting in ^[s]self-abasement and the worship of the angels, ^[t]taking his stand on visions he has seen, ^[u]inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ^[v]ligaments, grows with a growth ^[w]which is from God.

²⁰ If you have died with Christ ^[x]to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ²¹ “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” ²² (which all refer to things destined to perish ^[y]with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? ²³ These are matters which have, to be sure, the ^[z]appearance of wisdom in ^[aa]self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.