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1 I want you to know how hard I'm working for you, and for those at Laodicea—in fact for all those who haven't met me personally— 2 so that you may be encouraged. May you be bound together in love, experiencing the great benefit of being completely sure in your understanding, for this is what the true knowledge of God brings. May you know the revealed mystery of God, which is Christ! 3 In him you can discover all the rich wisdom and knowledge of God.
4 I'm telling you this so that no one will fool you by spinning you a tale.* 5 Even though I'm not physically there with you, I'm with you in spirit. I'm so happy to see the way you stick together and how firm you are in your trust in Christ. 6 Just as you accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, go on following him, 7 grounded in him and built up by him. May your trust in him continue to grow strong, following what you were taught, full of gratitude to God.
8 Watch out that nobody enslaves you through their philosophy and worthless delusions, following human traditions and concepts of this world, and not following Christ. 9 For the fullness of God's divine nature lives in Christ in bodily form, 10 and you have been made full† in him. He is supreme over every ruler and authority.
11 You were “circumcised” in him but not by human hands. You have been set free from sinful human nature by the “circumcision” Christ performed.‡ 12 You were buried with him in baptism, and you were raised with him through your trust in what God did by raising him from the dead. 13 And even though you were dead because of your sins and being physically “uncircumcised,” he brought you to life together with him. He has forgiven us all our sins. 14 He wiped out the record of our debts according to the Law that was written down against us; he took away this barrier§ by nailing it to the cross. 15 He stripped away the power of spiritual rulers and authorities,* and having publicly revealed what they were truly like, he led them captive behind him in victory.
16 So don't let anyone criticize you for what you eat or what you drink, or regarding which religious festival, new moon ritual, or ceremonial sabbaths you choose to observe.† 17 These are just a shadow of what was to come, for the physical reality is Christ. 18 Don't let anyone cheat you out of your prize by insisting you have to beat yourself,‡ or worship angels. They think they are better than anyone else because of visions they say they've had, and become ridiculously conceited in their sinful minds. 19 Such people are not connected to the head that directs the body, nourished and joined together through the body's sinews and muscles. As the body is united together it grows the way God wants it to grow.
20 If you died with Christ to the religious demands that this world insists upon,§ why would you make yourself subject to such demands as if you were still part of this world? 21 Things like: don't handle that, don't taste that, don't touch that! 22 These commands refer to things that don't last since they're used up,* and they're based on man-made requirements and teachings. 23 Such rules may make some kind of sense to those who practice self-centered piety, who are so proud of being humble, and who “mortify the body;” but in reality they don't help at all in dealing with sinful desires.
* 2:4 Literally, “false arguments.” † 2:10 Or “complete,” “whole.” ‡ 2:11 Clearly this is not talking about physical circumcision but what it was supposed to mean spiritually. § 2:14 Note that the barrier is on our side, not God's. * 2:15 Clearly speaking about evil spiritual agencies. † 2:16 In this context Paul is referring to the various yearly festival days of the Jewish ceremonial system. ‡ 2:18 Self-mortification; the phrase could also be translated “false humility.” § 2:20 Probably referring both to Jewish religious regulations and to pagan ceremonies and taboos. * 2:22 This tends to indicate that the rules are about food and drink which will of course be consumed and then “used up.”