1. I want you to know that I am trying very hard to help you. And I am trying to help those in Laodicea and others who have never seen me.
2. I want them to be strengthened and joined together with love. I want them to be rich in the strong belief that comes from understanding. I mean I want you to know fully God’s secret truth. That truth is Christ himself.
3. And in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are safely kept.
4. I say this so that no one can fool you by arguments that seem good, but are false.
5. I am not there with you, but my heart is with you. I am happy to see your good lives and your strong faith in Christ.
6. As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live in him.
7. Keep your roots deep in him and have your lives built on him. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught. And always be thankful.
8. Be sure that no one leads you away with false ideas and words that mean nothing. Those ideas come from men. They are the worthless ideas of this world. They are not from Christ.
9. All of God lives fully in Christ (even when Christ was on earth).
10. And in him you have a full and true life. He is ruler over all rulers and powers.
11. In Christ you had a different kind of circumcision. That circumcision was not done by hands. I mean, you were made free from the power of your sinful self. That is the kind of circumcision Christ does.