21 For 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 , 2 that 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, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge .
4 I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument . 5 For 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 . 6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord , so walk in Him, 7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith , just as you were instructed , and overflowing with gratitude .
8 See 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 e according to Christ . 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form , 10 and in Him you have been made complete , and He is the head over all rule and authority ; 11 and 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 ; 12 having 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 .
13 When 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 , 14 having 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 . 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities , He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
16 Therefore 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- 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come ; but the substance belongs to Christ . 18 Let 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 , 19 and 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 . 20 If 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 !" 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use )-in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men ? 23 These 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 e value against fleshly indulgence .
