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) 15} And having disarmed the powers and authorities,^(F) he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them^(G) by the cross.^[b]

Freedom From Human Rules

¹⁶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you^(H) by what you eat or drink,^(I) or with regard to a religious festival,^(J) a New Moon celebration^(K) or a Sabbath day.^{(L) 17} These are a shadow of the things that were to come;^(M) the reality, however, is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility^(N) and the worship of angels disqualify you.^(O) Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. ¹⁹ They have lost connection with the head,^(P) from whom the whole body,^(Q) supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.^(R)

²⁰ Since you died with Christ^(S) to the elemental spiritual forces of this world,^(T) why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:^{(U) 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^(V) with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.^{(W) 23} Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility^(X) and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ,^(Y) set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.^{(Z) 2} Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.^{(AA) 3} For you died,^(AB) and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Jesus Predicts His Death^(A)

²¹ From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem^(B) and suffer many things^(C) at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law,^(D) and that he must be killed^(E) and on the third day^(F) be raised to life.^(G)

²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

²³ Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!^(H) You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.^{(I) 25} For whoever wants to save their life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.^{(J) 26} What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man^(K) is going to come^(L) in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.^(M)

²⁸ “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”