| New Living Translation | King James Bible |
| 1I 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. | 1For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; |
| 2I 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. | 2That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; |
| 3In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. | 3In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. |
| 4I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. | 4And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. |
| 5For 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. Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ | 5For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. |
| 6And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. | 6As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: |
| 7Let 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. | 7Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. |
| 8Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. | 8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. |
| 9For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. | 9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. |
| 10So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. | 10And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: |
| 11When 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. | 11In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: |
| 12For 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. | 12Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. |
| 13You 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. | 13And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; |
| 14He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. | 14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; |
| 15In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. | 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. |
| 16So 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. | 16Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: |
| 17For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. | 17Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. |
| 18Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, | 18Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, |
| 19and 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. | 19And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. |
| 20You 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, | 20Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, |
| 21“Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? | 21(Touch not; taste not; handle not; |
| 22Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. | 22Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? |
| 23These 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. | 23Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. |
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