Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹⁶ So don’t let anyone pass judgment on you in a question of food or drink, or in the matter of festivals, new moons or sabbaths. ¹⁷ These things are a shadow cast by the coming reality—and the body that casts the shadow belongs to the Messiah! ¹⁸ Don’t let anyone rule you out of order by trying to force you into a kind of fake humility, or into worshiping angels. Such people will go on and on about visions they’ve had; they get puffed up without good reason by merely human thinking, ¹⁹ and they don’t keep hold of the Head. It’s from him that the whole body grows with the growth God gives it, as it’s nourished and held together by its various ligaments and joints.

Dying and rising with Christ

²⁰ If you died with the Messiah, coming out from the rule of the “worldly elements,” what’s the point of laying down laws as though your life was still merely worldly? ²¹ “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!” ²² Rules like that all have to do with things that disappear as you use them. They are the sort of regulations and teachings that mere humans invent. ²³ They may give an appearance of wisdom, since they promote a do-it-yourself religion, a kind of humility, and severe treatment of the body. But they are of no use when it comes to dealing with physical self-indulgence.