Paul's Struggle for Them
Paul wrestles in prayer for believers he has never met, wanting them rooted in Christ rather than captured by clever philosophy, food rules, or angel visions. The record of debt against them is already nailed to the cross; our Father raised them with Christ.
2 1I want you to know how hard I'm struggling for you, those in Laodicea, and all who haven't met me in person, 2that their hearts may be encouraged, knit together in love, and come into all the riches of full assurance and understanding—into the knowledge of our Father's mystery, which is Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4I say this so that no one may deceive you with persuasive arguments. 5Though absent in body, I'm with you in spirit, glad to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
Rooted and Built up in Him
6Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, 7rooted and built up in him, firm in the faith as taught, overflowing with thanks.
8Watch that no one captures you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the world's elemental spirits, not according to Christ. a a v8 The elemental spirits of the world: the spiritual powers and basic principles that hold people captive apart from Christ. 9For in him the whole fullness of deity lives in bodily form, 10and in him you have been made complete, who is the head over all rule and authority. 11In him you were also circumcised—a circumcision not made by hands, stripping off the body of flesh—the circumcision of Christ. b b v11 Circumcision made without hands: a spiritual transformation of the heart, not a physical rite. 12Buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in our Father's power, who raised him from the dead. 13You were dead in your sins and uncircumcised flesh, but our Father made you alive with him, forgiving us all our sins, 14erasing the record of debt, with its regulations, that stood against us. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15He disarmed the rulers and authorities and publicly shamed them, triumphing over them in him.
16So let no one judge you over food, drink, festival, new moon, or Sabbath. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come, but the reality belongs to Christ. 18Let no one disqualify you by delighting in false humility and worship of angels, focusing on visions he has seen, puffed up without cause by his fleshly mind, 19and not holding on to the Head, from whom the whole body, fed and joined by joints and ligaments, grows with growth from our Father.
20If you died with Christ to the world's elemental spirits, why, as if still part of the world, do you submit to its rules? 21"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch"? 22These all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23These rules seem wise—invented worship, false humility, harsh treatment of the body—but hold no value against indulging the flesh.
