1I want you to know how much I am struggling for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all those who have not met me personally.
2I want their hearts to be encouraged, to be brought together in love, and to gain the full riches of complete understanding. Then they will know God's secret, which is Christ.
3In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4I say this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive words.
5Even though I am absent physically, I am with you in spirit. I am happy to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him.
7Be rooted and built up in him, and be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with thankfulness.
8Be careful that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
9For in Christ, all the fullness of God lives in a human body.
10And in Christ, you have been made complete, because he is the head over every ruler and authority.
11In him, you were also circumcised, not with a physical circumcision performed by human hands, but with the circumcision Christ performs, which removes the sinful nature of the body.
12You were buried with him in baptism, and in baptism, you were also raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
13You were spiritually dead because of your sins and your sinful nature. But God made you alive with Christ, and he forgave all our sins.
14He canceled the record of our debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took it away, nailing it to the cross.
15He disarmed the rulers and authorities, and he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
16So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holidays, new moons, or Sabbaths.
17These things are only a shadow of the reality that was to come — Christ himself.
18Do not let anyone disqualify you from the prize by insisting on false humility and the worship of angels, claiming insights from visions they haven’t actually seen. Such people are puffed up with their own shallow, human way of thinking.
19They are not connected to Christ, who is the head. It is from him that the whole body, supported and held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God makes it grow.
20If you died with Christ and are free from the world’s basic spiritual principles, why do you act as if you still belong to the world by following rules like:
21“Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”?
22These rules deal with things that are all destined to perish with use, and they are based on human commands and teachings.
23While these rules may seem wise because they require strict devotion, humility, and harsh treatment of the body, they are of no value in stopping a person from giving in to sinful desires.