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[1]But I wish you to know what an agony I have for you and for those who are in Laodikia, and for the rest who have not seen my person in the flesh;
[2]That their hearts may be comforted, and that they may approach in love to all the riches of assurance, and to the understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of Aloha the Father and of the Meshiha,
[3]In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.
[4]But this I say, Let no man deceive you with the persuasion of words.
[5]For though in the flesh I am far from you, yet in the spirit I am with you; and I rejoice to behold your order, and the firmness of your faith in the Meshiha.
[6]As, then, you have received Jeshu Meshiha our Lord, [so] in him walk,
[7]Your roots strengthened,ⓘ and you builded in him, and established in that faith which you have learned, that you may abound therein with thanksgiving.
[8]Beware lest any man strip you by philosophy and by vain deceit, according to the teaching of men, and according to the principles of the world, and not according to the Meshiha,
[9]In whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
[10]And in him also you are complete; for he is the head of all principalities and powers.
[11]And in him you have been circumcised with the circumcision which is not with hands, by the putting away of the flesh of sins, [even] by the circumcision of the Meshiha.
[12]And you have been buried with him by baptism, and in him have risen with him, who have believed in the power of Aloha who raised him from among the dead.
[13]And you who were dead in your sins, and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he hath made alive with him, and forgiven us all our sins;
[14]And hath blotted out in his mandates the writing of our debts that was against us, and hath taken it from the midst, and affixed it to his cross;
[15]And by the yielding up of his body he hath prostrated principalities and powers, and hath shamed them openly by himself.
[16]LET no man therefore judge you in meat and in drink, or in the distinctions of festivals, and of new moons, and of shabeths,ⓘ
[17]Which are shadows of those to come, but the body is the Meshiha.
[18]And lest any man wish by abasement of mind to fetter you to be subject to the worship of angels, intrudingⓘ upon that which he hath not seen, and vainly inflated in his fleshly mind;
[19]And not holding the Head, from whom all the body is composed and constituted in joints and limbs, and increaseth [with] the increase of Aloha.
[20]For if you are dead with the Meshiha from the principles of the world, why as if you lived in the world are you judged?
[21]As thatⓘ you are not to touch, nor to taste, nor to handle?
[22]For these are of perishable use, and are ordinances and doctrines of men;
[23]And appear to have in them a reason of wisdom, with the look of humility and the fear of Aloha, [as] not sparing the body, [yet] not in that which is [really] of value, but in those [things] whose use pertains to the flesh.
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