Colossians 2:17

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ!

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Heb 10:1 : 1 Concluding Exposition: Old and New Sacrifices Contrasted For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship.
  • Heb 8:5 : 5 The place where they serve is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. For he says,“See that you make everything according to the design shown to you on the mountain.”
  • John 1:17 : 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.
  • Heb 9:9 : 9 This was a symbol for the time then present, when gifts and sacrifices were offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper.
  • Heb 4:1-9 : 1 God’s Promised Rest Therefore we must be wary that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in with those who heard it in faith. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,“As I swore in my anger,‘They will never enter my rest!’” And yet God’s works were accomplished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way:“And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,” 5 but to repeat the text cited earlier:“They will never enter my rest!” 6 Therefore it remains for some to enter it, yet those to whom it was previously proclaimed did not enter because of disobedience. 7 So God again ordains a certain day,“Today,” speaking through David after so long a time, as in the words quoted before,“Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken afterward about another day. 9 Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. 10 For the one who enters God’s rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works. 11 Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.
  • Matt 11:28-29 : 28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Col 2:14-16
    3 verses
    77%

    14He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

    15Disarming the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

    16Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days–

  • Col 2:18-20
    3 verses
    75%

    18Let no one who delights in false humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind.

    19He has not held fast to the head from whom the whole body, supported and knit together through its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.

    20If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?

  • Col 2:22-23
    2 verses
    75%

    22These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings.

    23Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body– a wisdom with no true value– they in reality result in fleshly indulgence.

  • Heb 10:1
    74%

    1Concluding Exposition: Old and New Sacrifices Contrasted For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship.

  • Eph 1:23
    73%

    23Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

  • Col 2:8-11
    4 verses
    73%

    8Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

    9For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form,

    10and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

    11In him you also were circumcised– not, however, with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal of the fleshly body, that is, through the circumcision done by Christ.

  • Heb 8:5
    72%

    5The place where they serve is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. For he says,“See that you make everything according to the design shown to you on the mountain.”

  • 1 Cor 12:27
    71%

    27Now you are Christ’s body, and each of you is a member of it.

  • Heb 9:9-11
    3 verses
    71%

    9This was a symbol for the time then present, when gifts and sacrifices were offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper.

    10They served only for matters of food and drink and various ritual washings; they are external regulations imposed until the new order came.

    11Christ’s Service in the Heavenly Sanctuary But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation,

  • 1 Cor 12:12
    70%

    12Different Members in One Body For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body– though many– are one body, so too is Christ.

  • Heb 9:24
    70%

    24For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands– the representation of the true sanctuary– but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us.

  • Col 1:27
    70%

    27God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

  • Col 1:18
    70%

    18He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.

  • Heb 13:9
    70%

    9Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not ritual meals, which have never benefited those who participated in them.

  • Heb 8:2
    69%

    2a minister in the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up.

  • 1 Cor 3:23
    69%

    23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

  • Eph 5:30
    69%

    30because we are members of his body.

  • 1 Cor 4:6
    68%

    6I have applied these things to myself and Apollos because of you, brothers and sisters, so that through us you may learn“not to go beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of the one against the other.

  • Rom 13:14
    68%

    14Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to arouse its desires.

  • 2 Cor 10:7
    68%

    7You are looking at outward appearances. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should reflect on this again: Just as he himself belongs to Christ, so too do we.

  • Rom 12:5
    68%

    5so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members who belong to one another.

  • 1 Cor 1:30
    68%

    30He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

  • 1 Cor 10:18
    68%

    18Look at the people of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?

  • Rom 8:9-10
    2 verses
    68%

    9You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him.

    10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness.

  • Heb 10:10
    68%

    10By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

  • 1 Cor 10:16
    68%

    16Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ?

  • Jude 1:17
    68%

    17Exhortation to the Faithful But you, dear friends– recall the predictions foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.

  • Col 3:3-4
    2 verses
    68%

    3for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

    4When Christ(who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him.

  • Eph 1:10
    68%

    10toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ– the things in heaven and the things on earth.

  • Eph 2:21
    68%

    21In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,

  • Phil 3:21
    68%

    21who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.

  • Eph 4:15
    68%

    15But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.

  • 1 Cor 12:14
    67%

    14For in fact the body is not a single member, but many.

  • Col 1:24
    67%

    24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body– for the sake of his body, the church– what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

  • 1 Cor 12:20
    67%

    20So now there are many members, but one body.

  • 2 Thess 2:2
    67%

    2not to be easily shaken from your composure or disturbed by any kind of spirit or message or letter allegedly from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.

  • 1 Cor 12:24
    67%

    24but our presentable members do not need this. Instead, God has blended together the body, giving greater honor to the lesser member,

  • Col 1:22
    67%

    22but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him–