that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints.

For I can testify that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ!

giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?

These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings.

I, Paul, write this greeting by my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face.

Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind.

He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body – for the sake of his body, the church – what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

He has not held fast to the head from whom the whole body, supported and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.