1 Q uiero que sepan que es grande la lucha que sostengo por ustedes y por los que están en Laodicea, lo mismo que por todos los que nunca me han visto personalmente,

For I want you to know how great is my solicitude for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who '> like yourselves] have never seen my face and known me personally.

2 p ara que su corazón se anime y para que permanezcan unidos en amor, hasta que alcancen todas las riquezas que provienen de la convicción y el entendimiento, para que conozcan el misterio de Dios el Padre y de Cristo,

that their hearts may be braced (comforted, cheered, and encouraged) as they are knit together in love, that they may come to have all the abounding wealth and blessings of assured conviction of understanding, and that they may become progressively more intimately acquainted with and may know more definitely and accurately and thoroughly that mystic secret of God, Christ (the Anointed One).

3 e n quien se hallan escondidos todos los tesoros de la sabiduría y del conocimiento.

In Him all the treasures of wisdom ( comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God) and knowledge and enlightenment are stored up and lie hidden.

4 L es digo esto para que nadie los engañe con palabras persuasivas,

I say this in order that no one may mislead and delude you by plausible and persuasive and attractive arguments and beguiling speech.

5 p orque aunque físicamente estoy lejos de ustedes, en el espíritu estoy entre ustedes, y me alegra ver su buen orden y la firmeza de su fe en Cristo.

For though I am away from you in body, yet I am with you in spirit, delighted at the sight of your orderly array and the firmness and the solid front and steadfastness of your faith in Christ '> leaning of the entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].

6 P or tanto, vivan en el Señor Jesucristo de la manera que lo recibieron:

As you have therefore received Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him.

7 a rraigados y sobreedificados en él, confirmados en la fe y rebosantes de acciones de gracias, que es como fueron enseñados. Plenitud de vida en Cristo

Have the roots firmly and deeply planted, being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving.

8 C uídense de que nadie los engañe mediante filosofías y huecas sutilezas, que siguen tradiciones humanas y principios de este mundo, pero que no van de acuerdo con Cristo.

See to it that no one carries you off as spoil or makes you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense), following human tradition (men’s ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding Christ (the Messiah).

9 P orque en él habita corporalmente toda la plenitud de la Deidad,

For in Him the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form.

10 y en él, que es la cabeza de toda autoridad y poder, ustedes reciben esa plenitud.

And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life. And He is the Head of all rule and authority.

11 E n él ustedes fueron también circuncidados. Pero no me refiero a la circuncisión física, sino a la circuncisión que nos hace Cristo, y que consiste en despojarnos de la naturaleza pecaminosa.

In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but in a circumcision Christ by stripping off the body of the flesh (the whole corrupt, carnal nature with its passions and lusts).

12 C uando ustedes fueron bautizados, fueron también sepultados con él, pero al mismo tiempo resucitaron con él, por la fe en el poder de Dios, que lo levantó de los muertos.

'> you were circumcised when] you were buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him '> to a new life] through faith in the working of God '> as displayed] when He raised Him up from the dead.

13 A ntes, ustedes estaban muertos en sus pecados; aún no se habían despojado de su naturaleza pecaminosa. Pero ahora, Dios les ha dado vida juntamente con él, y les ha perdonado todos sus pecados.

And you who were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (your sensuality, your sinful carnal nature), brought to life together with, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

14 H a anulado el acta de los decretos que había contra nosotros y que nos era adversa; la quitó de en medio y la clavó en la cruz.

Having cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This He set aside and cleared completely out of our way by nailing it to cross.

15 D esarmó además a los poderes y las potestades, y los exhibió públicamente al triunfar sobre ellos en la cruz.

disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it.

16 N o permitan, pues, que nadie los juzgue por lo que comen o beben, o en relación con los días de fiesta, la luna nueva o los días de reposo.

Therefore let no one sit in judgment on you in matters of food and drink, or with regard to a feast day or a New Moon or a Sabbath.

17 T odo esto no es más que una sombra de lo que está por venir; pero lo real y verdadero es Cristo.

Such are only the shadow of things that are to come, and they have only a symbolic value. But the reality (the substance, the solid fact of what is foreshadowed, the body of it) belongs to Christ.

18 N o permitan que los condenen esos que se ufanan de humildad pero rinden culto a los ángeles. Los tales se meten en cosas que no han visto y están envanecidos por su razonamiento humano;

Let no one defraud you by acting as an umpire and declaring you unworthy and disqualifying you for the prize, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, vainly puffed up by his sensuous notions and inflated by his unspiritual thoughts and fleshly conceit,

19 n o están unidos a la Cabeza, que es quien nutre y une a todo el cuerpo mediante las coyunturas y ligamentos, y lo hace crecer con el crecimiento que da Dios.

And not holding fast to the Head, from Whom the entire body, supplied and knit together by means of its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

20 S i con Cristo ustedes han muerto a los principios de este mundo, ¿por qué, como si vivieran en el mundo, se someten a sus preceptos?

If then you have died with Christ to material ways of looking at things and have escaped from the world’s crude and elemental notions and teachings of externalism, why do you live as if you still belong to the world?

21 L es dicen: «No tomes eso en tus manos, no pruebes aquello, y ni siquiera lo toques.»

Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not even touch,

22 E sos preceptos se ciñen a mandamientos y doctrinas humanas, y todas ellas son cosas que se destruyen con el uso.

Referring to things all of which perish with being used. To do this is to follow human precepts and doctrines.

23 S in duda, tales cosas pueden parecer sabias en cuanto a la religiosidad sumisa y el duro trato del cuerpo, pero no tienen ningún valor contra los apetitos humanos.

Such have indeed the outward appearance for wisdom, in promoting self-imposed rigor of devotion and delight in self-humiliation and severity of discipline of the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh (the lower nature).