| Berean Study Bible | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 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, | 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 personally seen my face, |
| 2that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, | 2that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, |
| 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. | 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. |
| 4I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric. | 4I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. |
| 5For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ. | 5For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. |
| 6Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, | 6Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, |
| 7rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. | 7having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. |
| 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. | 8See 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, rather than according to Christ. |
| 9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. | 9For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, |
| 10And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. | 10and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; |
| 11In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands. | 11and 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; |
| 12And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. | 12having 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. |
| 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, | 13When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, |
| 14having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! | 14having 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. |
| 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. | 15When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. |
| 16Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. | 16Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- |
| 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ. | 17things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. |
| 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind. | 18Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly 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 causes it to grow. | 19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. |
| 20If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: | 20If you have died with Christ 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!”? | 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. | 22(which all refer to things destined to perish with use)-- in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? |
| 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. | 23These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. |
| The Berean Bible (Berean Study Bible (BSB) © 2016, 2018 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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