2FOR I want you to know how great is my solicitude for you [how severe an inward struggle I am engaged in for you] and for those [believers] at Laodicea, and for all who [like yourselves] have never seen my face {and} known me personally.G1063G2309G5209G1492G2245G73G2192G4012G5216G2532G1722G2993G2532G3745G3708G3756G3708G3450G4383G1722G45612[For my concern is] that their hearts may be braced (comforted, cheered, and encouraged) as they are knit together in love, that they may come to have all the abounding wealth {and} blessings of assured conviction of understanding, and that they may become progressively more intimately acquainted with {and} may know more definitely {and} accurately {and} thoroughly that mystic secret of God, [which is] Christ (the Anointed One).G2443G846G2588G3870G4822G1722G26G2532G1519G3956G4149G4136G4907G1519G1922G3466G2316G2532G3962G2532G55473In Him all the treasures of [divine] wisdom (comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God) and [all the riches of spiritual] knowledge {and} enlightenment are stored up {and} lie hidden.G1722G3739G1526G614G3956G2344G4678G2532G11084I say this in order that no one may mislead {and} delude you by plausible {and} persuasive {and} attractive arguments {and} beguiling speech.G1161G5124G3004G3363G5100G3884G5209G1722G40865For though I am away from you in body, yet I am with you in spirit, delighted at the sight of your [standing shoulder to shoulder in such] orderly array and the firmness {and} the solid front {and} steadfastness of your faith in Christ [that leaning of the entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].G1063G1499G548G4561G235G1510G4862G5213G4151G5463G2532G991G5216G5010G2532G4733G5216G4102G1519G55476As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with {and} conformity to Him.G5613G3880G3767G3880G5547G2424G2962G4043G1722G8467Have the roots [of your being] firmly {and} deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed {and} established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding {and} overflowing in it with thanksgiving.G4492G2532G2026G1722G846G2532G950G1722G4102G2531G1321G4052G1722G846G1722G21698See to it that no one carries you off as spoil {or} makes you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy {and} intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense), following human tradition (men's ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary {and} elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding [the teachings of] Christ (the Messiah).G991G3361G5100G2071G4812G5209G1223G5385G2532G2756G539G2596G3862G444G2596G4747G2889G2532G3756G2596G55479For in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form [giving complete expression of the divine nature].G3754G1722G846G2730G3956G4138G2320G498510And you are in Him, made full {and} having come to fullness of life [in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead--Father, Son and Holy Spirit--and reach full spiritual stature]. And He is the Head of all rule and authority [of every angelic principality and power].G2532G2075G4137G1722G846G3739G2076G2776G3956G746G2532G184911In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but in a [spiritual] circumcision [performed by] Christ by stripping off the body of the flesh (the whole corrupt, carnal nature with its passions and lusts).G1722G3739G2532G4059G4061G886G1722G555G4983G266G4561G1722G4061G554712[Thus you were circumcised when] you were buried with Him in [your] baptism, in which you were also raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God [as displayed] when He raised Him up from the dead.G4916G846G1722G908G1722G3739G2532G4891G1223G4102G1753G2316G3588G1453G846G1537G349813And you who were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (your sensuality, your sinful carnal nature), [God] brought to life together with [Christ], having [freely] forgiven us all our transgressions,G2532G5209G5607G3498G1722G3900G2532G203G5216G4561G4806G4862G846G5483G5213G3956G390014Having cancelled {and} blotted out {and} wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees {and} demands which was in force {and} stood against us (hostile to us). This [note with its regulations, decrees, and demands] He set aside {and} cleared completely out of our way by nailing it to [His] cross.G1813G5498G1378G2596G2257G3739G2258G5227G2254G2532G142G846G1537G3319G4338G846G471615[God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display {and} public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him {and} in it [the cross].G554G746G2532G1849G1165G1722G3954G2358G846G1722G84616Therefore let no one sit in judgment on you in matters of food and drink, or with regard to a feast day or a New Moon or a Sabbath.G2919G3361G5100G3767G2919G5209G1722G1035G2228G1722G4213G2228G1722G3313G1859G2228G3561G2228G452117Such [things] are only the shadow of things that are to come, {and} they have only a symbolic value. But the reality (the substance, the solid fact of what is foreshadowed, the body of it) belongs to Christ.G3739G2076G4639G3195G1161G4983G554718Let no one defraud you by acting as an umpire {and} declaring you unworthy {and} disqualifying you for the prize, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions [he claims] he has seen, vainly puffed up by his sensuous notions {and} inflated by his unspiritual thoughts {and} fleshly conceit,G2603G3367G2603G5209G2603G1722G2309G5012G2532G2356G32G1687G3739G3708G3361G3708G1500G5448G5259G846G4561G356319And not holding fast to the Head, from Whom the entire body, supplied and knit together by means of its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.G2532G3756G2902G2776G1537G3739G3956G4983G1223G860G2532G4886G2023G2532G4822G837G838G231620If then you have died with Christ to material ways of looking at things {and} have escaped from the world's crude {and} elemental notions {and} teachings of externalism, why do you live as if you still belong to the world? [Why do you submit to rules {and} regulations?--such as]G3767G1487G599G4862G5547G575G4747G2889G5101G5613G2198G1722G2889G137921Do not handle [this], Do not taste [that], Do not even touch [them],G680G3361G1089G3366G2345G336622Referring to things all of which perish with being used. To do this is to follow human precepts and doctrines.G3739G3956G2076G1519G5356G671G2596G1778G2532G1319G44423Such [practices] have indeed the outward appearance [that popularly passes] for wisdom, in promoting self-imposed rigor of devotion {and} delight in self-humiliation {and} severity of discipline of the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh (the lower nature). [Instead, they do not honor God but serve only to indulge the flesh.]G3748G2192G3303G2076G3056G4678G1722G1479G2532G5012G2532G857G4983G3756G1722G5100G5092G4314G4140G4561
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