¹³ When you were dead in your sins^(A) and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you^[a] alive^(B) with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,^{(C) 14} having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness,^(D) which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.^(E)

²⁰ Since you died with Christ^(A) to the elemental spiritual forces of this world,^(B) why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:^{(C) 21} “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? ²² These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish^(D) with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.^(E)