Colossians 2 (BHT-ATN)

1 Indeed, I want you to know just how intense a race it is that I am running+ for the sake of you and those in Laodicea, and for all others who have never met me personally,+ 2 so that their hearts, having been instructed+ in love,+ may be strengthened and encouraged, and so that they may be stirred to full conviction about the reliability of what they have come to understand, to a complete certainty about the truth of God’s mystery,+ the Messiah, 3 in union with whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 This I am saying so that no one will be able to deceive you through false arguments, no matter how plausible they may sound.+ 5 For even though I am not there in person,+ I am with you in spirit,+ joyfully watching out for your proper order and the steadfastness of your faith in the Messiah.

“In Union with Him You Are to Continue to Live Your Lives”

6 In light of these things, just as you received Messiah Jesus as Lord, so in union with him you are to continue to live your lives,+ 7 firmly rooted as you still are+ and being continually built up in union with him and established more and more in faith,+ just as you were taught, overflowing with thanksgiving. 8 Make sure that absolutely no one plunders your minds through deceitful philosophy based on the traditions of mere men, which is so void of power, and comes from the lesser powers assigned over creation+ and not from the Messiah. 9 For in him all the fullness of the divine nature dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in union with him,+ who is the head over every ruler and authority. 11 In union with him you were circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands, when you took off,+ like old clothes,+ your former nature void of the Spirit,+ when you received the circumcision+ performed by the Messiah, 12 having been placed in the tomb with him, as it were, in baptism, in which you were also “raised” with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 This includes you.+ Although you were dead in your sins and in the vile practices of the Gentiles,+ he gave you new life with the Messiah,+ having forgiven us all our sins. 14 Having blotted out the written record of debts consisting of ordinances+ that was against us, which was hostile to us, this+ he has also taken out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Disrobing himself,+ the Messiah made a public example+ of the rulers and the authorities,+ having triumphed over them+ at the cross.+

16 In light of these things, don’t let anyone condemn you with respect to what you eat or drink, or in regard to a special festival or a new moon+ or a Sabbath.+ 17 These things+ are a foreshadow of the things to come; the reality,+ however, is of the Messiah. 18 Let absolutely no one pronounce you unfit to receive the prize, delighting in+ self-abasement+ and worship of the angels,+ going into great detail about+ things he has seen, inflated with pride by his corrupt and sinful mind+ for no reason at all, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, by its joints and ligaments supported and held together, grows with a growth that comes from God. 20 If you died with the Messiah and have been set free from those lesser powers assigned to creation,+ why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you allow yourselves to be put under rules and regulations— 21 “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!” 22 (referring to things that are all meant to perish as soon as they are eaten and drunk+)+—based on the precepts and teachings of mere men? 23 Although things of this sort have the appearance of wisdom, in self-imposed religion+ and self-abasement+ and severe treatment of the body, they are of no real value in keeping someone from satisfying the evil desires of the mortal nature.+

+1:2Unless otherwise marked (through superscript— ˢyou), all second person pronouns are in the second person plural.+1:4Lit the holy ones/saints.+1:5Or previously heard.+1:5Or the hope of which you learned when you previously heard the word of the truth. Lit which you first heard/heard previously in/through the word of the truth. ME (see UBSHS [Col], 9).+1:6Or came to know.+1:6Or in truth, or truly.+1:7Or trustworthy.+1:8Or in, or by.+1:9Or in, or with.+1:10Lit to all desire to pleasing. ME (see BDAG, 129, sv ἀρεσκεία).+1:12Lit the holy ones/saints.+1:12Cf Ac 26:15-18.+1:13Lit who.+1:13Or to the kingdom. The contrast with ἐκ τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ σκότους ( ek tēs exousias tou skotous) indicates that βασιλεία ( basileia) here is referring to the Messianic authority described in passages like Mt 28:18 and Eph 1:20-23 (exercised to prepare the saints to inherit the coming Kingdom of the Messiah), rather than to the Messianic Kingdom somehow being “realized.”+1:13Cf Mt 28:18-20; Eph 1:20-23; Php 3:20.+1:14Lit in whom we have the redemption. Maintaining consistency in translation with Eph 1:7.+1:15Lit who. “Son” is the antecedent here.+1:15Cf Ps 89:27; Rm 8:29; Heb 1:6; Re 1:5.+1:17Or in him.+1:18Or in everything. Cf Mt 28:18.+1:19Lit For in him he gladly chose all the fullness to dwell, or in him all the fullness gladly chose to dwell. ME (see BDAG, 829, sv 3.b.; UBSHS [Eph], 88; UBSHS [Col], 27). Cf TEV.+1:21Or resulting in evil deeds, or because you did evil things. Cf NET, REB.+1:22Lit in the body of the flesh of him through death. ME (see FBT Chart C, F, G, I, M, N; notes at Rm 8:3; UBSHS [Col], 32). The first preposition is interpreted as signaling accompanying circumstance (see ESS [Col], interpretation 2; cf NASB, NJB, NLT, NRSV). This is also reflected in the translation. Cf Rm 8:3; Php 2:6-11; Heb 2:9.+1:22Lit holy. ME/IT (see Timothy Miller, “Paul’s Priestly Mission and Salvation from the Coming Wrath: A Missiological Probe of Romans 15:16 and the Question of Divine Anger through the Worldview of Leviticus” [PhD diss., Columbia International University, 2024]).+1:22Or in his sight, or before him.+1:23Or continue in the faith, or continue in your faith.+1:23Lit in all creation under the sky. ME (see BDAG, 572, sv κτίσις 2.a.; Ibid, 737, sv οὐρανός, 1.b.; UBSHS [Col], 34). Cf NLT.+1:24Lit and I fill up what is lacking/absent of the of the afflictions of the Messiah in my flesh. ME (see BDAG, 1044, ὑστέρημα 1; ESS [1 Co], 373). Cf translation and notes at 1 Co 16:17 and Php 2:30. “Flesh” is translated according to “Flesh” C, G (see FBT Chart). Cf 2 Co 2:12-17, 4:7-18.+1:24Cf 1 Co 4:6, 11:1.+1:25Or to make the word of God fully known.+1:26Or kept hidden from the spiritual powers. Maintaining consistency in translation with Eph 3:9.+1:27Or among.+1:27Cf Eph 3:6.+1:28Or mature.+1:28Cf Rm 1:14; 2 Co 11:2; Eph 4:13.+2:1Or how intense a fight it is that I am fighting. Lit the fight I have, or the contest I have.+2:1Lit and as many has have not seen my face in the flesh. ME (see BDAG, 887, sv πρόσωπον 1.b.; UBSHS [Col], 44). Cf CJB, NIV, NLT, TEV.+2:2Or having been joined together.+2:2Cf 1 Ti 1:5-6.+2:2Lit and for all the riches of the full conviction/certainty/assurance of the understanding, for the full/true/accurate/certain knowledge of the mystery of God. ME (see L-N, 31.45). Cf NLT. The information in the genitive is highly compressed here. The context, however (“I tell you this so that no one may deceive you...” [v 4, NIV, emphasis mine]), makes it clear what Paul means here: “I want the example of my life to result in you being so convinced of the truth of the gospel that you have received and come to understand, that you aren’t led astray from it.” If the second εἰς ( eis) clause is functioning as an amplification of the preceding clause (see interpretation 1 in ESS [Col], 116), as seems to be the case, then the prepositional prefix attached to “knowledge” (ἐπίγνωσις [ epignōsis]) does carry significance (ie, full/certain knowledge), since πληροφορία [ plērophoria] (“full certainty/conviction”) is used there. All of these factors have been taken into account in the translation here.+2:4Cf CJB, TEV; L-N, 33.31.+2:5Lit in the flesh. ME. Cf NCV and NLT at 1 Co 5:3.+2:5Or in the Spirit.+2:6Lit so in him walk. ME (see BDAG, 803, sv περιπατέω 2). Cf NET.+2:7“As you still are” is drawn from the perfect tense of the participle here.+2:7Or in your faith, or in the faith.+2:8Or according to the basic principles of the world. Lit according to the elemental spirits of the world, or according to the elemental things of the world. ME(H/OTB) (see translation and notes at Ga 4:3, 9). Cf TEV.+2:10Cf Eph 3:19.+2:11Or by the taking off. The preposition here (ἐν [ en]) has been interpreted as signaling attendant circumstance (see L-N, 89.80; cf Ga 3:27). This is reflected in the translation. Cf NLT.+2:11The picture here is of taking off clothing (see BSL, Col 2:11, sv ἀπέκδυσις). Cf Ga 3:27+2:11Lit the body of the flesh. ME (see translation and notes at Rm 7:5; FBT Chart, O, P). Cf Ga 3:27; Eph 4:22-24; Col 3:10-12. Cf also CJB, ISV, NCV, NIV, NLT, TEV.+2:11Or by the circumcision.+2:13Maintaining consistency in translation here with Eph 2:1 and Col 1:21 (see translation and notes in those places).+2:13Lit in the uncircumcision of your flesh. ME (see BDAG, 39, sv ἀκροβυστία 2; UBSHS [Col], 59). Cf Eph 2:1-12, 4:17-24; 1 Th 4:1-8.+2:13Lit with him.+2:14Maintaining consistency in translation with Eph 2:15 (see translation and notes there).+2:14Lit it.+2:15Cf 2 Co 5:1-4.+2:15Or exposed to public disgrace.+2:15Or Stripping the rulers and authorities of their power, God made a public example of them; Or Divesting himself of the rulers and the authorities, the Messiah made a public example of them.+2:15Or leading them as captives in his victory procession, or exhibiting them in triumph. Cf 2 Co 2:14.+2:15Or on the cross, or through him (if God is the subject), or through himself (if the Messiah is the subject). Lit by/on/at it, or through him (or himself).+2:16Cf Nu 10:10, 28:11-15; 1 Sm 20:5; Ne 10:33; Ps 81:3; Is 1:13-14; Ho 2:11; Am 8:5; Ga 4:10.+2:16Cf Ga 4:10.+2:17Lit which.+2:17Or the thing itself, or the substance. Lit the body. ME (see L-N, 58.66). Cf most English translations.+2:18Or insisting on.+2:18Or in false humility, or in self-mortification, or in asceticism.+2:18Or angelic worship.+2:18Or taking his stand on.+2:18Lit the mind of his flesh, or his mind of the flesh. ME (see BDAG, 915, sv σάρξ 2.c.α.; FBT Chart, H). Cf NLT. “Flesh” has been interpreted as an attributive genitive. This is reflected in the translation. Cf most English translations.+2:20Or from the basic principles of the world. Lit from the elemental spirits of the world, or from the elemental things of the world. ME (H/OTB) (see translation and notes at Ga 4:3, 9).+2:22Lit used up, or consumed. ME (see UBSHS [Col], 71).+2:22Cf ESV, NASB.+2:23Or in self-made religion.+2:23Or in false humility, or in self-mortification, or in asceticism.+2:23Lit against gratification/indulgence/satisfaction of the flesh. ME (see UBSHS [Col], 73). Cf NCV, NLT, TEV. Translating “flesh” according to “Flesh” O, P (see FBT Chart).