Colossians 2:
6 Therefore, just as you received the Messiah Yeshua as Lord, keep living your life united with him. 7 Remain deeply rooted in him; continue being built up in him and confirmed in your trust, the way you were taught, so that you overflow in thanksgiving.
8 Watch out, so that no one will take you captive by means of philosophy and empty deceit, following human tradition which accords with the elemental spirits of the world but does not accord with the Messiah. 9 For in him, bodily, lives the fullness of all that God is. 10 And it is in union with him that you have been made full — he is the head of every rule and authority.
11 Also it was in union with him that you were circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands, but accomplished by stripping away the old nature’s control over the body. In this circumcision done by the Messiah, 12 you were buried along with him by being immersed; and in union with him, you were also raised up along with him by God’s faithfulness that worked when he raised Yeshua from the dead. 13 You were dead because of your sins, that is, because of your “foreskin,” your old nature. But God made you alive along with the Messiah by forgiving you all your sins. 14 He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake. 15 Stripping the rulers and authorities of their power, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by means of the stake.
16 So don’t let anyone pass judgment on you in connection with eating and drinking, or in regard to a Jewish festival or Rosh-Hodesh or Shabbat. 17 These are a shadow of things that are coming, but the body is of the Messiah.
18 Don’t let anyone deny you the prize by insisting that you engage in self-mortification or angel-worship. Such people are always going on about some vision they have had, and they vainly puff themselves up by their worldly outlook. 19 They fail to hold to the Head, from whom the whole Body, receiving supply and being held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God makes it grow.
[Complete Jewish Bible]"See to it that no one takes you captive," Paul warns the Colossians, who were embroiled in arguments that sound a lot like stuff Christians have squabbled about for 2,000 years. But it is easy indeed to insist that our particular insights or school of thought is more correct than others'. Christ is the head, Paul reminds them (and us). That's where all our strength comes from.
In a time when we are reminded daily of the tragic outcomes of those who are so religiously zealous and certain, we give life to the world by insisting that knowing this God whom we have encountered in Jesus Christ is sufficient. We needn't argue or persuade--that's the Holy Spirit's work. Ours is to live lives that follow the God who lives in us.
O God, help us to order our lives so that our devotions, rituals, worship and work are all centered in you. Keep us from using our particular practices to judge others, but may our practices always bring us back to your presence. Help us to be open to the devotional practices of others, that we might grow in our own devotion and awe. Amen.
Peter Rogness
Retired Bishop, ELCA
Master of Divinity , 1972
Colossians 2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him,
7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.
9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.
11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ;
12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,
14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.
16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths.
17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,
19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.[New Revised Standard Version]
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