As saints of God, then, holy and dearly loved, let your behaviour be marked by pity and mercy, kind feeling, a low opinion of yourselves, gentle ways, and a power of undergoing all things;Being gentle to one another and having forgiveness for one another, if anyone has done wrong to his brother, even as the Lord had forgiveness for you:And more than all, have love; the only way in which you may be completely joined together.And let the peace of Christ be ruling in your hearts, as it was the purpose of God for you to be one body; and give praise to God at all times.
If then you have a new life with Christ, give your attention to the things of heaven, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.Keep your mind on the higher things, not on the things of earth.For your life on earth is done, and you have a secret life with Christ in God.At the coming of Christ who is our life, you will be seen with him in glory.Then put to death your bodies which are of the earth; wrong use of the flesh, unclean things, passion, evil desires and envy, which is the worship of strange gods;Because of which the wrath of God comes on those who go against his orders;Among whom you were living in the past, when you did such things.But now it is right for you to put away all these things; wrath, passion, bad feeling, curses, unclean talk;Do not make false statements to one another; because you have put away the old man with all his doings,And have put on the new man, which has become new in knowledge after the image of his maker;
If you were made free, by your death with Christ, from the rules of the world, why do you put yourselves under the authority of ordersWhich say there may be no touching, tasting, or taking in your hands,(Rules which are all to come to an end with their use) after the orders and teaching of men?These things seem to have a sort of wisdom in self-ordered worship and making little of oneself, and being cruel to the body, not honouring it by giving it its natural use.
Take care that no one takes you away by force, through man's wisdom and deceit, going after the beliefs of men and the theories of the world, and not after Christ: For in him all the wealth of God's being has a living form And you are complete in him, who is the head of all rule and authority:
Through him uniting all things with himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, uniting all things which are on earth or in heaven.And you, who in the past were cut off and at war with God in your minds through evil works, he has now made one In the body of his flesh through death, so that you might be holy and without sin and free from all evil before him:
Giving praise to the Father who has given us a part in the heritage of the saints in light;Who has made us free from the power of evil and given us a place in the kingdom of the Son of his love;