^20 [a]Therefore, if you ^(A)died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, ^(B)why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—

⁸ Beware lest anyone ^[a]cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to ^(A)the tradition of men, according to the ^(B)basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

¹⁶ So let no one ^(A)judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a ^[a]festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

^14 (A)having wiped out the ^[a]handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

³ Even so we, when we were children, ^(A)were in bondage under the elements of the world.

⁴ Therefore, my brethren, you also have become ^(A)dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should ^(B)bear fruit to God. ⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ^(C)were at work in our members ^(D)to bear fruit to death. ⁶ But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve ^(E)in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

¹⁹ We know that we are of God, and ^(A)the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

⁹ Do not be carried ^[a]about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.

Christ’s Example to Be Followed

4 Therefore, since Christ suffered ^[a]for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, ² that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, ^(A)but for the will of God. ³ For we have spent enough of our past ^[b]lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.