2:1 For
I
want
you
to
know
how
great
a
struggle
I
have
for
you
and
for
those
at
Laodicea
and
for
all
who
have
not
seen
me
face
to
face,
2:2 that
their
hearts
may
be
encouraged,
being
knit
together
in
love,
to
reach
all
the
riches
of
full
assurance
of
understanding
and
the
knowledge
of
God's
mystery,
which
is
Christ,
2:3 in
whom
are
hidden
all
the
treasures
of
wisdom
and
knowledge.
2:4 I
say
this
in
order
that
no
one
may
delude
you
with
plausible
arguments.
2:5 For
though
I
am
absent
in
body,
yet
I
am
with
you
in
spirit,
rejoicing
to
see
your
good
order
and
the
firmness
of
your
faith
in
Christ.
2:6 Therefore,
as
you
received
Christ
Jesus
the
Lord,
so
walk
in
him,
2:7 rooted
and
built
up
in
him
and
established
in
the
faith,
just
as
you
were
taught,
abounding
in
thanksgiving.
2:8 See
to
it
that
no
one
takes
you
captive
by
philosophy
and
empty
deceit,
according
to
human
tradition,
according
to
the
elemental
spirits
of
the
world,
and
not
according
to
Christ.
2:9 For
in
him
the
whole
fullness
of
deity
dwells
bodily,
2:10 and
you
have
been
filled
in
him,
who
is
the
head
of
all
rule
and
authority.
2:11 In
him
also
you
were
circumcised
with
a
circumcision
made
without
hands,
by
putting
off
the
body
of
the
flesh,
by
the
circumcision
of
Christ,
2:12 having
been
buried
with
him
in
baptism,
in
which
you
were
also
raised
with
him
through
faith
in
the
powerful
working
of
God,
who
raised
him
from
the
dead.
2:13 And
you,
who
were
dead
in
your
trespasses
and
the
uncircumcision
of
your
flesh,
God
made
alive
together
with
him,
having
forgiven
us
all
our
trespasses,
2:14 by
canceling
the
record
of
debt
that
stood
against
us
with
its
legal
demands.
This
he
set
aside,
nailing
it
to
the
cross.
2:15 He
disarmed
the
rulers
and
authorities
and
put
them
to
open
shame,
by
triumphing
over
them
in
him.
2:16 Therefore
let
no
one
pass
judgment
on
you
in
questions
of
food
and
drink,
or
with
regard
to
a
festival
or
a
new
moon
or
a
Sabbath.
2:17 These
are
a
shadow
of
the
things
to
come,
but
the
substance
belongs
to
Christ.
2:18 Let
no
one
disqualify
you,
insisting
on
asceticism
and
worship
of
angels,
going
on
in
detail
about
visions,
puffed
up
without
reason
by
his
sensuous
mind,
2:19 and
not
holding
fast
to
the
Head,
from
whom
the
whole
body,
nourished
and
knit
together
through
its
joints
and
ligaments,
grows
with
a
growth
that
is
from
God.
2:20 If
with
Christ
you
died
to
the
elemental
spirits
of
the
world,
why,
as
if
you
were
still
alive
in
the
world,
do
you
submit
to
regulations--
2:21 "Do
not
handle,
Do
not
taste,
Do
not
touch"
2:22 (referring
to
things
that
all
perish
as
they
are
used)--according
to
human
precepts
and
teachings
2:23 These
have
indeed
an
appearance
of
wisdom
in
promoting
self-made
religion
and
asceticism
and
severity
to
the
body,
but
they
are
of
no
value
in
stopping
the
indulgence
of
the
flesh.