Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁶ So do not let anyone say you are wrong about what you eat or drink, or about a feast, or a special holy day or a Sabbath day.

¹⁷ They are like a shadow of what is to come. But Christ is the body that makes the shadow.

¹⁸ Do not let anyone tell you that you are wrong and that to be humble you must worship angels. He talks about things he has not seen. He is very proud, but he has nothing to be proud of, because his thoughts come from his own mind.

¹⁹ He is not joined to the real head which is Christ. It is from him that the whole body receives strength and is held together by its joints and muscles. It is from him that the body grows as God makes it grow.

²⁰ Did you die with Christ? Then you left the teachings of this world. So why do you obey laws as if you were still living in this world?

²¹ I mean laws like this: "Do not touch that. Do not eat this. Do not put your hand on that."

²² All such things are gone as soon as they are used. These are laws made and taught by men.

²³ These laws look as if they are good laws. They make a show of doing things for God. They make people humble themselves in some way. They make people control their bodies in certain ways. But they have no power to keep people from doing all the wrong things they want to do.