2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you,¹ and for those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not met me face to face.² 2:2 My goal is that³ their hearts, having been knit together⁴ in love, may be encouraged, and that⁵ they may have all the riches of full assurance in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 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 through arguments⁶ that sound reasonable.⁷ 2:5 For though⁸ I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, rejoicing to see⁹ the order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

2:6 Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,¹⁰ continue to live your lives¹¹ in him, 2:7 rooted¹² and built up in him and firm¹³ in your¹⁴ faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 2:8 Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you¹⁵ through an empty, deceitful philosophy¹⁶ that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits¹⁷ of the world, and not according to Christ. 2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives¹⁸ in bodily form 2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 2:11 In him you also were circumcised—not, however,¹⁹ with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal²⁰ of the fleshy body,²¹ that is,²² through the circumcision done by Christ. 2:12 Having been united with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your²³ faith in the power²⁴ of God who raised him from the dead. 2:13 And even though you were dead in your²⁵ transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nonetheless²⁶ made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions. 2:14 He has destroyed²⁷ what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness²⁸ expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross, 2:15 and disarming²⁹ the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross.³⁰

2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days 2:17 that are only³¹ the shadow of the things to come, but the reality³² is Christ.³³ 2:18 Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths³⁴ about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind.³⁵ 2:19 He has not held fast³⁶ to the head from whom the whole body, supported³⁷ and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.³⁸

2:20 If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits³⁹ of the world, why as though you lived in the world do you submit to them? 2:21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” 2:22 These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are⁴⁰ on human commands and teachings.⁴¹ 2:23 They have the appearance of wisdom⁴² with their self-imposed worship and false humility,⁴³ by an⁴⁴ unsparing treatment of the body, but they are thoroughly useless when it comes to restraining the indulgences of the flesh.⁴⁵