Colossians 2
1 I want you to know in how great a struggle I am engaged for you and for Christ’s people at Laodicea, and for all who have not yet seen me;
我想让你们知道我是多么的努力工作，为了你们、为了老底嘉的人们，事实上还为那些不曾见过面的人们。
2 in the hope that they, being bound to one another by love, and keeping in view the full blessedness of a firm conviction, may be encouraged to strive for a perfect knowledge of God’s hidden truth,
我的努力是为了让你们能够受到鼓舞，让你们在爱中彼此联系，可以凭借领悟而感到完全的确信，以此获得巨大的益处，因为这才是上帝带来的真正知识。希望你们知道，上帝显化的奥秘，那就是耶稣！
3 even Christ himself, in whom all treasures of wisdom and knowledge lie hidden.
通过耶稣，你们可以发现一切智慧和知识。
4 I say this to prevent anyone from deceiving you by plausible arguments.
我说这些话，免得有人用花言巧语欺骗你们。
5 It is true that I am not with you in person, but I am with you in spirit, and am glad to see the good order and the unbroken front resulting from your faith in Christ.
我的身体虽然没有和你们在一起，灵却与你们同在。很高兴看见团结在一起，坚定地信基督。
6 Since, therefore, you have received Jesus, the Christ, as your Lord, live your lives in union with him –
一如你们如何接受基督耶稣为主，就按照这种方式追随他，
7 rooted in him, building up your characters through union with him, growing stronger through your faith, as you were taught, overflowing with faith and thanksgiving.
以他为根基，以他进行修建。希望你们对他的信能继续变得更强壮，遵循一直向你们教导的，对上帝充满感激。
8 Take care that there is not someone who will carry you away by his ‘philosophy’ – a hollow sham! – following, as it does, mere human traditions, and dealing with puerile questions of this world, and not with Christ.
要小心，不要哪些不遵循基督、而是按照人的传统和世俗言论，皆有其哲学和骗人的空谈，奴役你们。
9 For in Christ the Godhead in all its fulness dwells incarnate;
因为上帝神圣本性，以基督身体的形式完整存在，
10 and, by your union with him, you also are filled with it. He is the head of all archangels and powers of heaven.
你们也因他而完整。他远远高于所有执政掌权者。
11 By your union with him you received a circumcision that was not performed by human hands, when you threw off the tyranny of the earthly body, and received the circumcision of the Christ.
通过它，你们接受了“割礼”，但并非由人手进行，而是通过基督提供的割礼，从人类罪的天性中获得自由。
12 For in baptism you were buried with Christ; and in baptism you were also raised to life with him, through your faith in the omnipotence of God, who raised him from the dead.
你们在洗礼中已与他埋葬在一起，也因信上帝将基督从死人中复活的行为，与耶稣一同复活了。
13 And to you, who once were dead, by reason of your sins and your uncircumcised nature – to you God gave life in giving life to Christ! He pardoned all our sins!
尽管你们因罪和肉体未受割礼而死亡，但上帝让你们与基督一起复活，上帝赦免了我们的一切罪。
14 He canceled the bond which stood against us – the bond that consisted of ordinances – and which was directly hostile to us! He has taken it out of our way by nailing it to the cross!
他根据那用于反对我们的律法，抹去了我们的债；他把这障碍钉在十字架上，以此将其移除。
15 He rid himself of all the powers of evil, and held them up to open contempt, when he celebrated his triumph over them on the cross!
他废除了精神统治者和掌权者的权利，将他们的真正的样子公开显示，用胜利彻底征服他们。
16 Do not, then, allow anyone to take you to task on questions of eating or drinking, or in the matter of annual or monthly or weekly festivals.
所以不要让任何人因你们所选择遵循的饮食、宗教节日、新的拜月仪式或安息日庆祝，而批评你们。
17 These things are only the shadow of what is to come; the substance is in the Christ.
这些不过是即将到来之事的影子，因为那真正的现实就是基督。
18 Do not let anyone defraud you of the reality by affecting delight in so-called ‘humility’ and angel-worship. Such a person busies themselves with their visions, and without reason are rendered conceited by their merely human intellect.
不要让人通过欺骗夺去你们的奖赏，他们坚持让你们故作谦卑或敬拜天使。他们说自己曾看到过异像，所以就认为自己好于任何人，他们的有罪思想也变得如此自负，令人可笑。
19 They fail to maintain union with the head, to whom it is due that the whole body, nourished and knit together by the contact and connexion of every part, grows with a divine growth.
这样的人并没有与自己的头连接，没有用头指导身体，没有通过身体的关节和筋络获得滋养，连接在一起。因为身体是连接在一起的，按照上帝希望它成长的方式成长。
20 Since, with Christ, you became dead to the puerile teaching of this world, why do you submit, as if you still belonged to the world,
你们若与基督一同死去，摆脱世俗强加给你们的宗教要求，为什么好像仍然是这个世界的一部分，仍然要受这些要求的摆布，
21 to such ordinances as ‘Do not handle, or taste, or touch’?
比如“不可拿、不可尝、不可触”的要求？
22 For all the things referred to in them cease to exist when used. You are following mere human directions and instructions.
这些要求所指，是一经使用就会坏掉的东西。这些规条是照着人的要求和教训而定。
23 Such prohibitions appear reasonable where there is a desire for self-imposed service, and so-called ‘humility,’ and harsh treatment of the body, but are of no real value against the indulgence of our earthly nature.
对于那些以自我为中心敬拜之人、故作谦卑之人和“苦修身体”之人，这些规则似乎合情合理。但事实上，它们在应对所有罪恶欲望方面，没有任何帮助。
