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- See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
- For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
- and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
- In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,
- having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
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- When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
- having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
- And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
- Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
- These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
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- Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.
- He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
- Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:
- "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?
- These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
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- Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
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