Absent in Body, Present in Spirit
(Revelation 3:14–22)

1For I want you⁺ to know how much I am struggling for you⁺ and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face, 2that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love {agapē}, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God {Theou}, namely Christ \the mystery of God: Christ/,a 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4I say this so that no one will deceive you⁺ by smooth rhetoric. 5For although I am absent from you⁺ in body (flesh), I am present with you⁺ in spirit {pneumati}, and I delight to see your⁺ orderly condition and firm faith in Christ (the Anointed One).

Alive with Christ
(Ephesians 2:1–10)

6Therefore, just as you⁺ have received Christ (the Anointed One) Jesus (YHWH saves) as Lord {Kyrion}, continue to walk in Him, 7rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you⁺ were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

8See to it that no one takes you⁺ captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ (the Anointed One). 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity {Theotētos} dwells in bodily form. 10And you⁺ have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

11In Him you⁺ were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ \in the cutting away of the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ/b and not by human hands. 12And having been buried with Him in baptism (submersion), you⁺ were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God {Theou}, who raised Him from the dead.

13When you⁺ were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your⁺ sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, 14having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

16Therefore let no one judge you⁺ by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ \but the body is of the Christ/.c 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels (messengers) disqualify you⁺ with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind. 19He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God {Theou} causes it to grow.

20If you⁺ have died with Christ (the Anointed One) to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you⁺ submit to its regulations: 21“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”? 22These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings {didaskalias}. 23Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.