Colossians 2:16-3:4
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised
16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling[a] on 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 sinews, grows with a growth that is from God.
Warnings against False Teachers
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe,[d] why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, 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. 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]
The New Life in Christ
3 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your[f] life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Footnotes
- Colossians 2:18 Other ancient authorities read not dwelling
- Colossians 2:18 Meaning of Gk uncertain
- Colossians 2:18 Gk by the mind of his flesh
- Colossians 2:20 Or the rudiments of the world
- Colossians 2:23 Or are of no value, serving only to indulge the flesh
- Colossians 3:4 Other authorities read our
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.