Parallel Bible results for "colossians 2"

Colossians 2

The Bible in Basic English BBE

1 For it is my desire to give you news of the great fight I am making for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face in the flesh;

2 So that their hearts may be comforted, and that being joined together in love, they may come to the full wealth of the certain knowledge of the secret of God, even Christ,

3 In whom are all the secret stores of wisdom and knowledge.

4 I say this so that you may not be turned away by any deceit of words.

5 For though I am not present in the flesh, still I am with you in the spirit, seeing with joy your order, and your unchanging faith in Christ.

6 As, then, you took Christ Jesus the Lord, so go on in him,

7 Rooted and based together in him, strong in the faith which the teaching gave you, giving praise to God at all times.

8 Take care that no one takes you away by force, through man's wisdom and deceit, going after the beliefs of men and the theories of the world, and not after Christ:

9 For in him all the wealth of God's being has a living form,

10 And you are complete in him, who is the head of all rule and authority:

11 In whom you had a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;

12 Having been put to death with him in baptism, by which you came to life again with him, through faith in the working of God, who made him come back from the dead.

13 And you, being dead through your sins and the evil condition of your flesh, to you, I say, he gave life together with him, and forgiveness of all our sins;

14 Having put an end to the handwriting of the law which was against us, taking it out of the way by nailing it to his cross;

15 Having made himself free from the rule of authorities and powers, he put them openly to shame, glorying over them in it.

16 For this reason let no man be your judge in any question of food or drink or feast days or new moons or Sabbaths:

17 For these are an image of the things which are to come; but the body is Christ's.

18 Let no man take your reward from you by consciously making little of himself and giving worship to angels; having his thoughts fixed on the things which he has seen, being foolishly lifted up in his natural mind,

19 And not joined to the Head, from whom all the body, being given strength and kept together through its joins and bands, has its growth with the increase of God.

20 If you were made free, by your death with Christ, from the rules of the world, why do you put yourselves under the authority of orders

21 Which say there may be no touching, tasting, or taking in your hands,

22 (Rules which are all to come to an end with their use) after the orders and teaching of men?

23 These things seem to have a sort of wisdom in self-ordered worship and making little of oneself, and being cruel to the body, not honouring it by giving it its natural use.

Good News Translation GNT

1 Let me tell you how hard I have worked for you and for the people in Laodicea and for all others who do not know me personally.

2 I do this in order that they may be filled with courage and may be drawn together in love, and so have the full wealth of assurance which true understanding brings. In this way they will know God's secret, which is Christ himself.

3 He is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God's wisdom and knowledge.

4 I tell you, then, do not let anyone deceive you with false arguments, no matter how good they seem to be.

5 For even though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I am glad as I see the resolute firmness with which you stand together in your faith in Christ.

6 Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him.

7 Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith, as you were taught. And be filled with thanksgiving.

8 See to it, then, that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of human wisdom, which comes from the teachings handed down by human beings and from the ruling spirits of the universe, and not from Christ.

9 For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity,

10 and you have been given full life in union with him. He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority.

11 In union with Christ you were circumcised, not with the circumcision that is made by human beings, but with the circumcision made by Christ, which consists of being freed from the power of this sinful self.

12 For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death.

13 You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins;

14 he canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross.

15 And on that cross Christ freed himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; he made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession.

16 So let no one make rules about what you eat or drink or about holy days or the New Moon Festival or the Sabbath.

17 All such things are only a shadow of things in the future; the reality is Christ.

18 Do not allow yourselves to be condemned by anyone who claims to be superior because of special visions and who insists on false humility and the worship of angels. For no reason at all, such people are all puffed up by their human way of thinking

19 and have stopped holding on to Christ, who is the head of the body. Under Christ's control the whole body is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God wants it to grow.

20 You have died with Christ and are set free from the ruling spirits of the universe. Why, then, do you live as though you belonged to this world? Why do you obey such rules as

21 "Don't handle this," "Don't taste that," "Don't touch the other"?

22 All these refer to things which become useless once they are used; they are only human rules and teachings.

23 Of course such rules appear to be based on wisdom in their forced worship of angels, and false humility, and severe treatment of the body; but they have no real value in controlling physical passions.