^8 (A)Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.

^17 (A)For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but ^(B)of righteousness and ^(C)peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

⁹ Do not be ^(A)led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, ^(B)not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.

^13 (A)“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one ^(B)and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but ^(C)for the Lord, and ^(D)the Lord for the body.

²⁰ If with Christ ^(A)you died to the ^(B)elemental spirits of the world, ^(C)why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— ^21 (D)“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ²² (^(E)referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to ^(F)human precepts and teachings? ²³ These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in ^(G)promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are ^(H)of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.