Monday, March 14, 2022

Fifteenth Day of Great Lent

Colossians 2:8-3:4

Colossians 2:8-3:4

[8] See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.
[9] For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily,
[10] and you have come to fulness of life in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
[11] In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ;
[12] and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
[13] And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
[14] having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
[15] He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.
[16] Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath.
[17] These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
[18] Let no one disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,
[19] and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
[20] If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations,
[21] “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”
[22] (referring to things which all perish as they are used), according to human precepts and doctrines?
[23] These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting rigor of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh.

Chapter 3
[1] If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
[2] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
[3] For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
[4] When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

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