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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</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/bsb/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" 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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 align="center" id="jump2"><a href="/niv/colossians/2.htm">NIV</a> • <a href="/nlt/colossians/2.htm">NLT</a> • <a href="/esv/colossians/2.htm">ESV</a> • <a href="/kjv/colossians/2.htm">KJV</a> • <a href="/nkjv/colossians/2.htm">NKJ</a> • <a href="/nasb/colossians/2.htm">NAS</a></div><br /><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="1%" valign="top">BSB</td><td width="99%" valign="top" align="right"><a href="/parallel/colossians/2.htm" style="font-weight:normal" title="Parallel Chapters">Parallel Chapters ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><A name="2"></a><p class="hdg">Absent in Body, Present in Spirit<br /><span class="cross">(<a href ="../revelation/3.htm#14">Revelation 3:14–22</a>)</span><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face, <A name="3"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ,<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">a</a></span> <A name="4"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. <A name="5"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric. <A name="6"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ. <A name="7"></a><p class="hdg">Alive with Christ<br /><span class="cross">(<a href ="../ephesians/2.htm">Ephesians 2:1–10</a>)</span><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, <A name="8"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. <A name="9"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ. <A name="10"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form. <A name="11"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. <A name="12"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">b</a></span> and not by human hands. <A name="13"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>And having been buried with Him in baptism, you were raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. <A name="14"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, <A name="15"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! <A name="16"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. <A name="17"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. <A name="18"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">c</a></span> <A name="19"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind. <A name="20"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow. <A name="21"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: <A name="22"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”? <A name="23"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. <span class="reftext"><a href="/colossians/2-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.</p><A name="fn"></a><div id="fnlink"><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:</b><br><br><span class="fnverse">2</span> <span class="footnotesbot">a</span> Literally <i>the mystery of God: Christ</i><span class="thin"> </span><br><span class="fnverse">11</span> <span class="footnotesbot">b</span> Literally <i>in the cutting away of the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ</i><span class="thin"> </span><br><span class="fnverse">17</span> <span class="footnotesbot">c</span> Literally <i>but the body is of the Christ</i><span class="thin"> </span><br><br /></div><br /></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Berean Bible (<a href=http://berean.bible>www.Berean.Bible</a>) <a href=http://bereanbible.com>Berean Study Bible (BSB)</a> © 2016, 2020 by <a href=http://biblehub.com>Bible Hub</a> and <a href=http://berean.bible>Berean.Bible</a>. 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