³ Grace and peace to you^[a] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.^(A)

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,^(A) which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces^[a] of this world^(B) rather than on Christ.

¹⁶ He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable^(A) people distort,^(B) as they do the other Scriptures,^(C) to their own destruction.

¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard^(A) so that you may not be carried away by the error^(B) of the lawless^(C) and fall from your secure position.^(D)