1For I want you to know how much I struggle for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have never seen me face to face.a 2Because they are united in love, I prayb that their hearts may be encouraged by all the riches that come from a complete understanding of the full knowledge of the Messiah,c who isd the mystery of God. 3In him are stored all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4I say this so that no one will mislead you with nice-sounding rhetoric. 5For although I am physically absent, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how stable you are and how firm your faith in the Messiahe is.

Fullness of Life

6So then, just as you have received the Messiahf Jesus the Lord, continue to live dependent on him. 7For you have been rooted in him and are being built up and strengthened in the faith, just as you were taught, while you continue to be thankful. 8See to it that no one enslaves you through philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the basic principles of the world,g and not according to the Messiah,h 9because all the essencei of deity inhabits him in bodily form. 10And you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11In union with him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without humanj hands by stripping off the corrupt nature by the circumcision performed by the Messiah.k 12When you were buried with the Messiahl in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13Even when you were dead because of your offenses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, Godm made you alive with him when he forgave us all of our offenses, 14having erased the charges that were brought against us, along with their obligations that were hostile to us. He took those charges away when he nailed them to the cross. 15And when he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross.n

16Therefore, let no one judge you in matters of food and drink or with respect to a festival, a New Moon, or Sabbath days.o 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the realityp belongs to the Messiah.q 18Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels cheat you out of the prize by rejoicing about what he has seen.r Such a person is puffed up for no reason by his carnal mind. 19He does not hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, which is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God enables it.

The New Life in the Messiah

20If you have died with the Messiahs to the basic principles of the world,t why are you submitting to its decrees as though you still lived in the world? 21“Don’t handle this! Don’t taste or touch that!” 22All of these things will be destroyed as they are used, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23These things have the appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion, humility, and harsh treatment of the body, but they have no value against self-indulgence.