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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Colossians 2 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/colossians/2.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/colossians/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Colossians 2</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../colossians/1.htm" title="Colossians 1">◄</a> Colossians 2 <a href="../colossians/3.htm" title="Colossians 3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/colossians/2.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.</p><p class="hdg">Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> of this world, rather than from Christ. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>In this way, he disarmed<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">d</span></a> the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">e</span></a> saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>“Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/colossians/2-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">2:8 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">the spiritual principles;</span><span class="ft"> also in 2:20.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">2:9 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">in him dwells all the completeness of the Godhead bodily.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">2:11 </span><span class="ft">Greek </span><span class="it">the cutting away of the body of the flesh.</span><br><span class="fn">d</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">2:15 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">he stripped off.</span><br><span class="fn">e</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">2:18 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">or worshiping with angels.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 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