The Darby Translation DBY
New Century Version NCV
1 For I would have you know what combat I have for you, and those in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen my face in flesh;
1
I want you to know how hard I work for you, those in Laodicea, and others who have never seen me.
2 to the end that their hearts may be encouraged, being united together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to [the] full knowledge of the mystery of God;
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I want them to be strengthened and joined together with love so that they may be rich in their understanding. This leads to their knowing fully God's secret, that is, Christ himself.
3 in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.
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In him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are safely kept.
4 And I say this to the end that no one may delude you by persuasive speech.
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I say this so that no one can fool you by arguments that seem good, but are false.
5 For if indeed in the flesh I am absent, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order, and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
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Though I am absent from you in my body, my heart is with you, and I am happy to see your good lives and your strong faith in Christ.
6 As therefore ye have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in him,
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As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live in him.
7 rooted and built up in him, and assured in the faith, even as ye have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
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Keep your roots deep in him and have your lives built on him. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, and always be thankful.
8 See that there be no one who shall lead *you* away as a prey through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the teaching of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.
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Be sure that no one leads you away with false and empty teaching that is only human, which comes from the ruling spirits of this world, and not from Christ.
9 For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;
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All of God lives in Christ fully (even when Christ was on earth),
10 and ye are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and authority,
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and you have a full and true life in Christ, who is ruler over all rulers and powers.
11 in whom also ye have been circumcised with circumcision not done by hand, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of the Christ;
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Also in Christ you had a different kind of circumcision, a circumcision not done by hands. It was through Christ's circumcision, that is, his death, that you were made free from the power of your sinful self.
12 buried with him in baptism, in which ye have been also raised with [him] through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead.
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When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and you were raised up with him through your faith in God's power that was shown when he raised Christ from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in offences and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has quickened together with him, having forgiven us all the offences;
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When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self, God made you alive with Christ, and he forgave all our sins.
14 having effaced the handwriting in ordinances which [stood out] against us, which was contrary to us, he has taken it also out of the way, having nailed it to the cross;
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He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross.
15 having spoiled principalities and authorities, he made a show of them publicly, leading them in triumph by it.
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God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross, he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless.
16 Let none therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in matter of feast, or new moon, or sabbaths,
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So do not let anyone make rules for you about eating and drinking or about a religious feast, a New Moon Festival, or a Sabbath day.
17 which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Christ.
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These things were like a shadow of what was to come. But what is true and real has come and is found in Christ.
18 Let no one fraudulently deprive you of your prize, doing his own will in humility and worship of angels, entering into things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh,
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Do not let anyone disqualify you by making you humiliate yourself and worship angels. Such people enter into visions, which fill them with foolish pride because of their human way of thinking.
19 and not holding fast the head, from whom all the body, ministered to and united together by the joints and bands, increases with the increase of God.
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They do not hold tightly to Christ, the head. It is from him that all the parts of the body are cared for and held together. So it grows in the way God wants it to grow.
20 If ye have died with Christ from the elements of the world, why as [if] alive in [the] world do ye subject yourselves to ordinances?
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Since you died with Christ and were made free from the ruling spirits of the world, why do you act as if you still belong to this world by following rules like these:
21 Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch,
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"Don't eat this," "Don't taste that," "Don't even touch that thing"?
22 (things which are all for destruction in the using [of them]:) according to the injunctions and teachings of men,
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These rules refer to earthly things that are gone as soon as they are used. They are only man-made commands and teachings.
23 (which have indeed an appearance of wisdom in voluntary worship, and humility, and harsh treatment of the body, not in a certain honour,) to [the] satisfaction of the flesh.
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They seem to be wise, but they are only part of a man-made religion. They make people pretend not to be proud and make them punish their bodies, but they do not really control the evil desires of the sinful self.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.