Colossenes 2
1 Volo enim vos scire qualem solicitudinem habeam pro vobis, et pro iis, qui sunt Laodiciæ, et quicumque non viderunt faciem meam in carne:
For I would have you know how great a contest I am waging for you and the brethren in Laodicea, and for all who have never seen my face.
2 ut consolentur corda ipsorum, instructi in charitate, et in omnes divitias plenitudinis intellectus, in agnitionem mysterii Dei Patris et Christi Iesu:
May their hearts be comforted! May they be knit together in love! May they gain in all its riches the full assurance of their understanding! May they come to a perfect knowledge of the secret truth of God, which is Christ himself.
3 in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiæ, et scientiæ absconditi.
In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge!
4 Hoc autem dico, ut nemo vos decipiat in sublimitate sermonum.
And this I say, lest any one should mislead you with enticing words.
5 Nam etsi corpore absens sum, sed spiritu vobiscum sum: gaudens, et videns ordinem vestrum, et firmamentum eius, quæ in Christo est, fidei vestræ.
For though I am absent from you in body, I am with you in spirit, happy to note your discipline and the solid front of your faith in Christ.
6 Sicut ergo accepistis Iesum Christum Dominum, in ipso ambulate,
As then you have received Jesus Christ, your Lord, in him live your lives;
7 radicati, et superædificati in ipso, et confirmati fide, sicut et didicistis, abundantes in illo in gratiarum actione:
since you are rooted in him, and in him continually built up. Be firmly established in the faith as you were taught it, and continually abound in it with thanksgiving.
8 Videte ne quis vos decipiat per philosophiam, et inanem fallaciam secundum traditionem hominum, secundum elementa mundi, et non secundum Christum:
Take care lest any man drag you away captive by his philosophy which is a vain deceit, following the traditions of men and the world’s crude notions, and not Christ.
9 quia in ipso inhabitat omnis plenitudo divinitatis corporaliter:
For it is in Christ that all the fullness of deity dwells bodily,
10 et estis in illo repleti, qui est caput omnis principatus, et potestatis:
and in him you have your fulness, and he is the Lord of all the principalities and powers.
11 in quo et circumcisi estis circumcisione non manu facta in expoliatione corporis carnis, sed in circumcisione Christi:
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands; even in putting off your sensual nature in Christ’s own circumcision,
12 consepulti ei in baptismo, in quo et resurrexistis per fidem operationis Dei, qui suscitavit illum a mortuis.
when you were buried with him in baptism. In baptism also you were raised with him, through your faith in the energy of that God who raised him from the dead.
13 Et vos cum mortui essetis in delictis, et præputio carnis vestræ, convivificavit cum illo, donans vobis omnia delicta:
And you also, at one time dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sensual nature, he has made alive together with himself. For he forgave us all our transgressions,
14 delens quod adversus nos erat chirographum decreti, quod erat contrarium nobis, et ipsum tulit de medio, affigens illud cruci:
blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that stood against us and was hostile to us, and took it out of our way, nailing it to his cross.
15 et expolians principatus, et potestates traduxit confidenter, palam triumphans illos in semetipso.
Principalities and powers he disarmed, and openly displayed them as his trophies, when he triumphed over them in the cross.
16 Nemo ergo vos iudicet in cibo, aut in potu, aut in parte diei festi, aut neomeniæ, aut Sabbatorum:
Therefore do not permit any one to sit in judgment on you in regard to what you may eat or drink, or in regard to feast-days or new moons or sabbaths.
17 quæ sunt umbra futurorum: corpus autem Christi.
These were a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
18 Nemo vos seducat, volens in humilitate, et religione Angelorum, quæ non vidit ambulans, frustra inflatus sensu carnis suæ,
Let no man at his will defraud you of your prize through his false humility and worship of the angels, taking his stand on the visions he has seen, and vainly puffed up by his material mind;
19 et non tenens caput, ex quo totum corpus per nexus, et coniunctiones subministratum, et constructum crescit in augmentum Dei.
instead of keeping connection with the Head from the whole body draws nourishment for all its needs by the joints which bind it; and is knit together, and grows with a divine growth.
20 Si ergo mortui estis cum Christo ab elementis huius mundi: quid adhuc tamquam viventes in mundo decernitis?
If you died with Christ to the world’s rudimentary notions, why, as if you still lived in the world, do you submit yourselves to dogmatisms found on teachings and doctrines of men -
21 Ne tetigeritis, neque gustaveritis, neque contrectaveritis:
such as "Do not handle this," "You must not taste that," "Do not touch this" -
22 quæ sunt omnia in interitum ipso usu, secundum præcepta, et doctrinas hominum:
all things which are intended to perish in the using?
23 quæ sunt rationem quidem habentia sapientiæ in superstitione, et humilitate, et non ad parcendum corpori, non in honore aliquo ad saturitatem carnis.
For these precepts, although they have a show of wisdom with their self-imposed devotions and fastings and bodily austerities, are of no real value against the indulgence of the carnal appetites.
