¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility^(A) and the worship of angels disqualify you.^(B) Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.

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.

On Denying the Incarnation

4 Dear friends,^(A) do not believe every spirit,^(B) but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.^{(C) 2} This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh^(D) is from God,^(E)

⁷ They want to be teachers^(A) of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.^(B)

²³ Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility^(A) and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.