5. For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.
6. And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.
7. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
8. Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.
9. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.
10. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
11. When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.
12. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.