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Colossians 2:11-23
New International Version
Colossians 2:11-23
New International Version
11 In him you were also circumcised(A) with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh[a](B) was put off when you were circumcised by[b] Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism,(C) in which you were also raised with him(D) through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.(E)
13 When you were dead in your sins(F) and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[c] alive(G) with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,(H) 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness,(I) which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.(J) 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities,(K) he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them(L) by the cross.[d]
Freedom From Human Rules
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you(M) by what you eat or drink,(N) or with regard to a religious festival,(O) a New Moon celebration(P) or a Sabbath day.(Q) 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come;(R) the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility(S) and the worship of angels disqualify you.(T) Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head,(U) from whom the whole body,(V) supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.(W)
20 Since you died with Christ(X) to the elemental spiritual forces of this world,(Y) why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:(Z) 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish(AA) with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.(AB) 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility(AC) and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Footnotes
- Colossians 2:11 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verse 13.
- Colossians 2:11 Or put off in the circumcision of
- Colossians 2:13 Some manuscripts us
- Colossians 2:15 Or them in him
Colossians 2:11-23
Good News Translation
Colossians 2:11-23
Good News Translation
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 (A)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 (B)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 (C)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;[a] he made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession.
16 (D)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 (E)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.
Dying and Living with Christ
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.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Colossians 2:15 Christ freed himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; or Christ stripped the spiritual rulers and authorities of their power.
Colossians 2:11-23
Common English Bible
Colossians 2:11-23
Common English Bible
11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by human hands. The circumcision of Christ is realized in the stripping away of the whole self dominated by sin. 12 You were buried with him through baptism and raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead because of the things you had done wrong and because your body wasn’t circumcised, God made you alive with Christ and forgave all the things you had done wrong. 14 He destroyed the record of the debt we owed, with its requirements that worked against us. He canceled it by nailing it to the cross. 15 When he disarmed the rulers and authorities, he exposed them to public disgrace by leading them in a triumphal parade.
16 So don’t let anyone judge you about eating or drinking or about a festival, a new moon observance, or sabbaths. 17 These religious practices are only a shadow of what was coming—the body that cast the shadow is Christ. 18 Don’t let anyone who wants to practice harsh self-denial and worship angels rob you of the prize. They go into detail about what they have seen in visions and have become unjustifiably arrogant by their selfish way of thinking. 19 They don’t stay connected to the head. The head nourishes and supports the whole body through the joints and ligaments, so the body grows with a growth that is from God.
20 If you died with Christ to the way the world thinks and acts, why do you submit to rules and regulations as though you were living in the world? 21 “Don’t handle!” “Don’t taste!” “Don’t touch!” 22 All these things cease to exist when they are used. Such rules are human commandments and teachings. 23 They look like they are wise with this self-made religion and their self-denial by the harsh treatment of the body, but they are no help against indulging in selfish immoral behavior.
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New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
Good News Translation (GNT) 
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
Common English Bible (CEB)
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible