1. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for those who have not met me face to face.
2. My goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
3. in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4. I say this so that no one will deceive you through arguments that sound reasonable.
5. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
6. Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,
7. rooted and built up in him and firm in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8. Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
9. For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form,