Colossians 2
1Indeed, I want you to know how much I am striving for that goal on your behalf, and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face in the flesh,
2so that their hearts will be encouraged, being knit together in love, and so that they will have all the riches of full assurance that comes from understanding, and so that they will have the knowledge of the sacred secret of God—Christ—
3in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
4I say this so that no one deceives you with arguments that sound reasonable.
5For although I am absent in the flesh, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your orderly conduct and the steadfastness of your trust in Christ.
6Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in connection with him,
7since you have been firmly rooted and now are being built up in him and established in the faith just as you were taught, and are overflowing with thankfulness.
8See to it that no one takes you captive through empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human tradition and according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ,
9because embodied in him resides all the divine fullness,
10and you have been filled with that fullness in union with him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
11In union with him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by the removal of the body of flesh, that is, by the circumcision from our union with Christ,
12having been buried together with him in baptism, in which you were also raised together with him through your trust in the power of God, who raised him from among the dead.
13And when you were dead due to your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions.
14He has wiped clean the record of debt (caused by the regulations) that was against us and hostile to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.
15He stripped the rulers and the authorities, and He made a public spectacle of them, leading them as captives in a triumphal procession in connection with him.
16Therefore, let no one judge you in regard to food and drink, or in regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.
17These are a shadow of what was to come, but the reality is Christ.
18Let no one disqualify you from the prize who is delighting in false humility and the worshiping of angels, going into detail about visions he has seen, being puffed up with pointless notions by his fleshly mind,
19and who is not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, which is supported and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
20Since you died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as though you were still living in the world, do you submit to regulations—such as,
21“Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”
22(which all refer to things that perish when consumed)—based on human commandments and doctrines?
23Although regulations of this kind have a reputation for wisdom due to their self-imposed rituals, and false humility, and harsh treatment of the body, they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.