Colossians 2
1 For I wish that you know how great agony I have concerning you and the [ones] of Laodecia, even as much as they have not seen my face in [the] flesh, 2 that their hearts be encouraged, having been instructed in agape-love and into all wealth of the full assurance of understanding, into knowledge of the mystery of God, of Christ, 3 in which are all the treasures of wisdom and hidden knowledge. 4 This I say that no one deceive you in persuasive speech. 5 For if also I am absent in the flesh, yet in the spirit I am with you rejoicing and seeing your order and the steadfastness [of you] faith in Christ. 6 Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, in him be walking, 7 having been firmly rooted and being built-on in him and being established in the faith just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 Be taking heed lest there be any [of you] being led captive through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him dwells all the full measure of Godhead bodily, 10 and in him you are made full, who is head of all dominions and authorities, 11 in whom also you were circumcised with [a] circumcision not made by hands by the putting off of the body of flesh, [that is] in the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in [his] baptism, with whom also you were raised together through faith in the action of [the] God having raised him out of the dead, 13 and you being dead by transgressions and with uncircumcision [of your] flesh, he made us alive with him, having forgiven us all [our] transgressions, 14 having erased the written decrees against us, the decree which was hostile to us, and he has taken it out of the middle, having nailed it to the cross, 15 having disarmed the dominions and authorities, he mocked [them] in boldness, having triumphed over them. 16 Therefore let1 no one criticize you in meat and in drinking or in [the] matter of festival or new moon or Sabbaths, 17 which is [a] shadow of the [things] [about] to be, indeed the body of the Christ. 18 Let1 no one be cheating you, delighting in false humblemindedness and [in] the worship of the angels, standing on what he has seen, without cause being puffed up by the mind of his flesh, 19 and not holding fast the head, out of which all the body, through the ligaments and bonds being supported and united, grows in the growth of God. 20 If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why as zoe-living2 in the world are you submitting to regulations— 21 do not grasp nor taste nor touch— 22 which all are for the destruction of the consuming, according to the commandment and teaching of men? 23 Which is [an] idea having wisdom in self-made religion and false humblemindedness and severe-treatment of [the] body, not anything of value against [the] indulgence of the flesh.1imperative
2from ZOE "ZOH-ay" (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected. Although it means 'life' in the conventional sense (for example: Matt.9:18, Matt.27:63, Luke.2:36, Acts.25:24, Rom.7:2, 2Cor.1:8, 1Thes.4:17, 1Tim.5:10, Rev.19:20), Jesus uses ZOE exclusively of 'life eternal' (with the possible exceptions of Luke.15:13, Luke.16:25). The other N.T. writers use ZOE in both senses—temporal and eternal, generally clear from the context. The Father is the 'zoe-living God' (see Matt.16:16). The Septuagint (LXX) in Gen.2:7 has "...[God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of zoe-life, and the man became a zoe-living psyche-life" (and see 1Cor.15:45); and Gen.3:20 (LXX) "And Adam called his wife's name ZOE, because she was the mother of all zoe-living." Contrast PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. See John.12:25 where both ZOE and PSYCHE occur. Greek also has the word BIOS (βιoς ) for 'life' in the sense of biological processes.