came to you. This Gospel is [now] also producing fruit all over the world [i.e., throughout the Roman Empire] and growing [in its influence], just as it is doing among you people also, since the day you [first] heard and understood God's unearned favor in [all its] truth.

So, since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in [fellowship with] Him,

rooted and built up in [your relationship to] Him, established by your faith [or, "in the faith"], just as you were taught, overflowing with thanksgiving.

Do not allow anyone, who delights in acting humble [i.e., living an ascetic life] and who worships angels, to rob you of your reward [in heaven]. [Note: This "angel worship" could mean holding angels in high regard because of their role as God's messengers, or the claim that God can be approached only through angelic intermediaries]. He places great importance on what he [claims to] see [i.e., visions], being inflated with pride by his fleshly mind for no [good] reason.

Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of the world, [then] why, as though you [still] lived in [harmony with] the world, do you submit yourselves to [its] rules, [such as]:

So, put to death [i.e., stop practicing the desires of] your physical bodies [such as] sexual immorality, [moral] impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is [in reality] idolatry.

[In this state] there cannot be [such distinctions as] Greek [i.e., Gentile] and Jew; circumcised people and non-circumcised people; barbarian and Scythian [Note: These last two words refer to foreigners whose language was unintelligible and who were uncivilized heathens], or slave and free person; but Christ is all [that is important] and [He is] in all [of His people].

So, as God's elect [i.e., His people], holy and dearly loved [by Him], clothe yourselves with a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Tolerate one another's [weaknesses] and forgive each other if anyone [of you] has a complaint against someone else. You should forgive people just as the Lord forgave you.

You should let the message of Christ live in you abundantly [i.e., as individuals and collectively]. Use [much] wisdom in teaching and warning one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with favor [i.e., with thankfulness] in your hearts toward God.

You wives should submit to your husbands, as this is proper in [the fellowship of] the Lord.

In whatever you do, work wholeheartedly, as though it were for the Lord and not [just] for people,

knowing that you will receive from the Lord a [spiritual] inheritance as a reward, [for] you are [really] serving the Lord.

[Pray] that I will make it [clearly] known, as I ought to.

Tychicus will tell you all about my affairs. [Note: This man probably delivered this letter as well as the one to the Ephesians. See Eph. 6:21]. He is our dearly loved brother and faithful minister and fellow-slave in [the service of] the Lord.