1 P orque quiero que sepáis qué lucha tan dura sostengo por vosotros, y por los que están en Laodicea, y 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 sean consolados sus corazones, unidos en amor, hasta alcanzar todas las riquezas de una plena seguridad de comprensión, a fin de conocer bien 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 están 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 Y esto lo digo para que nadie os seduzca con razonamientos capciosos.

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 estoy ausente en cuerpo, no obstante en espíritu estoy con vosotros, gozándome y mirando vuestro buen orden y la firmeza de vuestra 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, de la manera que recibisteis al Señor Jesucristo, andad así en él,

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, y consolidados en la fe, así como fuisteis enseñados, abundando en acciones de gracias. 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 M irad que no haya nadie que os esté llevando cautivos por medio de filosofías y huecas sutilezas, según la tradición de los hombres, conforme a los principios elementales del mundo, y no según 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 vosotros estáis completos en él, que es la cabeza de todo principado y potestad.

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 también fuisteis circuncidados con circuncisión no hecha a mano, al echar de vosotros el cuerpo pecaminoso carnal, en la circuncisión de Cristo;

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 h abiendo sido sepultados con él en el bautismo, en el cual fuisteis también resucitados con él, mediante la fe en la fuerza activa de Dios que le 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 Y a vosotros, estando muertos en pecados y en la incircuncisión de vuestra carne, os dio vida juntamente con él, tras habernos concedido el perdón de todos los delitos,

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 c ancelando el documento de deuda en contra nuestra, que consistía en ordenanzas, y que nos era adverso, quitándolo de en medio y clavándolo 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 y despojando a los principados y a las potestades, los exhibió públicamente, triunfando 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 P or tanto, nadie os juzgue en comida o en bebida, o en cuanto a días de fiesta, luna nueva o sábados,

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 lo cual es sombra de lo que ha de venir; pero el cuerpo es de 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 adie os prive de vuestro premio, afectando humildad y culto a los ángeles, entremetiéndose en lo que no ha visto, vanamente hinchado por su propia mente carnal,

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 y no asiéndose de la Cabeza, en virtud de quien todo el cuerpo, nutrido y bien trabado por las junturas y ligamentos, crece 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 P ues si habéis muerto con Cristo a los principios elementales del mundo, ¿por qué, como si vivieseis en el mundo, os sometéis a 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 t ales como: No toques, ni gustes, ni manejes

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

22 ( en conformidad a mandamientos y enseñanzas de hombres), cosas que están todas destinadas a destruirse con el uso?

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

23 T ales cosas tienen, a la verdad, cierta reputación de sabiduría en culto voluntario, en humildad y en duro trato del cuerpo; pero no tienen valor alguno contra los apetitos de la carne.

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).