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You Are Built Up in Christ

¹ For I want you to know how great a ^(C1)struggle I have for you and for those believers at ^(F1)(C2)Laodicea, and for all who like yourselves have never seen me face to face.² For my hope is that their ^(C1)hearts may be encouraged as they are ^(C2)knit together in unselfish ^(F1)love, so that they may have all ^(C3)the riches that come from the full assurance of understanding the joy of salvation, resulting in a ^(C4)true and more intimate knowledge of the ^(F2)(C5)mystery of God, that is, Christ,³ in whom are hidden all ^(C1)the treasures of wisdom and knowledge regarding the word and purposes of God.^4 (C1)I say this so that no one will deceive you with ^(C2)persuasive but thoroughly deceptive arguments.⁵ For even though I am ^(C1)absent from you in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, ^(F1)delighted to see your ^(C2)good discipline as you stand shoulder to shoulder and form a solid front and to see the ^(C3)stability of your faith in Christ your steadfast reliance on Him and your unwavering confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness.

⁶ Therefore as you have received ^(C1)Christ Jesus the Lord, ^(C2)walk in union with Him reflecting His character in the things you do and say—living lives that lead others away from sin,⁷ having been deeply ^(C1)rooted in Him and now being continually ^(C2)built up in Him and becoming increasingly more ^(C3)established ^(F1)in your faith, just as you ^(C4)were taught, and overflowing in it with gratitude.

^8 (C1)See to it that no one takes you captive through ^(C2)philosophy and empty deception pseudo-intellectual babble, according to the tradition and musings of mere men, following the ^(F1)(C3)elementary principles of this world, rather than following the truth—the teachings of Christ.⁹ For in Him all the ^(C1)fullness of Deity (the Godhead) dwells in bodily form completely expressing the divine essence of God.¹⁰ And in Him you have been ^(C1)made complete achieving spiritual stature through Christ, and ^(C2)He is the head over all ^(C3)rule and authority of every angelic and earthly power.¹¹ In Him ^(C1)you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but by the spiritual circumcision of Christ in the stripping off of ^(C2)the body of the flesh the sinful carnal nature,¹² having been ^(C1)buried with Him in baptism and ^(C2)raised with Him to a new life through your faith in the working of God, as displayed when He ^(C3)raised Christ from the dead.¹³ When you were ^(C1)dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (worldliness, manner of life), God ^(C2)made you alive together with Christ, having freely forgiven us all our sins,¹⁴ having canceled out the ^(F1)(C1)certificate of debt consisting of ^(F2)legal demands which were in force against us and which were hostile to us. And ^(C2)this certificate He has set aside and completely removed by nailing it to the cross.¹⁵ When He had ^(C1)disarmed the ^(C2)rulers and authorities those supernatural forces of evil operating against us, He ^(C1)made a public example of them exhibiting them as captives in His triumphal procession, having ^(C3)triumphed over them through ^(F1)the cross.

¹⁶ Therefore let no one ^(C1)judge you in regard to ^(C2)food and ^(C2)drink or in regard to the observance of a ^(C3)festival or a ^(C4)new moon or a ^(C5)Sabbath day.¹⁷ Such things are only ^(C1)a shadow of what is to come and they have only symbolic value; but the substance the reality of what is foreshadowed belongs to Christ.¹⁸ Let no one ^(C1)defraud you of your prize your freedom in Christ and your salvation by ^(C2)insisting on mock humility and the worship of angels, going into detail about visions he claims he has seen to justify his authority, ^(C3)puffed up in conceit by his ^(C4)unspiritual mind,¹⁹ and not holding fast to ^(C1)the head of the body, Jesus Christ, from whom ^(C2)the entire body, supplied and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that can come only from God.

^20 (C1)If you have died with Christ to the ^(F1)(C2)elementary principles of the world, ^(C3)why, as if you were still living in the world, do you submit to ^(C4)rules and regulations, such as,²¹ "Do not handle this, do not taste that, do not even touch!"?²² (^(C1)these things all perish with use)—in accordance with the ^(C2)commandments and teachings of men. ^(VR1)23 These practices indeed have the appearance that popularly passes as that of wisdom in ^(C1)self-made religion and mock humility and ^(C2)severe treatment of the body (asceticism), but are of no value against sinful ^(C3)indulgence because they do not honor God.