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Colossians 2:16-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Colossians 2:16-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
16 Therefore, do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food or[a] drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths.(A) 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the body belongs to Christ. 18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, initiatory visions,[b] puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,[c] 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with a growth that is from God.(B)
Warnings against False Teachers
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental principles[d] of the world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations,(C) 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings.(D) 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence.[e]
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Colossians 2:16-23
New International Version
Colossians 2:16-23
New International Version
Freedom From Human Rules
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you(A) by what you eat or drink,(B) or with regard to a religious festival,(C) a New Moon celebration(D) or a Sabbath day.(E) 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come;(F) the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility(G) and the worship of angels disqualify you.(H) 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,(I) from whom the whole body,(J) supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.(K)
20 Since you died with Christ(L) to the elemental spiritual forces of this world,(M) why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:(N) 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(O) with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.(P) 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility(Q) and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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