Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 223
1:26–2:15
C o l o ssia n s
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the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire m
essage
to you. This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past,
but now it has been revealed to God’s people. For God wanted them to
know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And
this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing
his glory.
So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone
with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God,
perfect in their relationship to Christ. That’s why I work and struggle so
hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.
I 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. I 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. In him lie hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. For 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.
And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let 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.
Don’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. For in Christ lives all the
fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your
union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
When 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. For 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.
You 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. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it
away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers
and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on
the cross.
