Colossians 2:9-14
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Sovereign Role of Christ. 9 (A)For in him dwells the whole fullness of the deity[a] bodily, 10 and you share in this fullness in him, who is the head of every principality and power. 11 (B)In him[b] you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand, by stripping off the carnal body, with the circumcision of Christ. 12 You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.(C) 13 (D)And even when you were dead [in] transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; 14 [c]obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross;(E)
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- 2:9 Fullness of the deity: the divine nature, not just attributes; see note on Col 1:19.
- 2:11 A description of baptism (Col 2:12) in symbolic terms of the Old Testament rite for entry into the community. The false teachers may have demanded physical circumcision of the Colossians.
- 2:14 The elaborate metaphor here about how God canceled the legal claims against us through Christ’s cross depicts not Christ being nailed to the cross by men but the bond…with its legal claims being nailed to the cross by God.
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