Colossians 2:20 Themes and Topics

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!" These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings. read more.
Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and false humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body -- a wisdom with no true value -- they in reality result in fleshly indulgence.

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. read more.
For every creation of God is good and no food is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.

For "physical exercise has some value, but godliness is valuable in every way. It holds promise for the present life and for the life to come." Verse Concepts

But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless basic forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? Verse Concepts

And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. They hold fast to many other traditions: the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and dining couches.) Verse Concepts

So now why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? Verse Concepts

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. Verse Concepts

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? Verse Concepts

They served only for matters of food and drink and various washings; they are external regulations imposed until the new order came. Verse Concepts

We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Verse Concepts

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Verse Concepts

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? Verse Concepts

As it is written, "For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." Verse Concepts

For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal body. Verse Concepts

This saying is trustworthy: If we died with him, we will also live with him. Verse Concepts

Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Verse Concepts

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Verse Concepts

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? Verse Concepts

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. By his wounds you were healed. Verse Concepts

This saying is trustworthy: If we died with him, we will also live with him. Verse Concepts

So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Verse Concepts

Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Verse Concepts

(For someone who has died has been freed from sin.) Verse Concepts

for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Verse Concepts

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? Verse Concepts

But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.

Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life. read more.
For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.) Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage. So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress. read more.
So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, "Do not covet." But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. For apart from the law, sin is dead. And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? Verse Concepts

Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Verse Concepts

The voice spoke to him again, a second time, "What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean!" Verse Concepts

I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean in itself; still, it is unclean to the one who considers it unclean. Verse Concepts

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!" These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings.

We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Verse Concepts

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Verse Concepts

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? Verse Concepts

As it is written, "For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." Verse Concepts

For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal body. Verse Concepts

This saying is trustworthy: If we died with him, we will also live with him. Verse Concepts

They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these. Verse Concepts

"Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law -- justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others. Verse Concepts

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? Verse Concepts

The sovereign master says, "These people say they are loyal to me; they say wonderful things about me, but they are not really loyal to me. Their worship consists of nothing but man-made ritual. Verse Concepts

They seek me day after day; they want to know my requirements, like a nation that does what is right and does not reject the law of their God. They ask me for just decrees; they want to be near God. Verse Concepts

This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, Verse Concepts

Do not bring any more meaningless offerings; I consider your incense detestable! You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations, but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! Verse Concepts

You are observing religious days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you that my work for you may have been in vain.

So also we, when we were minors, were enslaved under the basic forces of the world. Verse Concepts

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? Verse Concepts

If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world? "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!" These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are on human commands and teachings. read more.
Even though they have the appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship and false humility achieved by an unsparing treatment of the body -- a wisdom with no true value -- they in reality result in fleshly indulgence.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight -- the only thing that matters is faith working through love. Verse Concepts

For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that matters is a new creation! Verse Concepts

when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, Verse Concepts

He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. Verse Concepts

Now the first covenant, in fact, had regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary. Verse Concepts

Listen to the Lord's word, you leaders of Sodom! Pay attention to our God's rebuke, people of Gomorrah! "Of what importance to me are your many sacrifices?" says the Lord. "I am stuffed with burnt sacrifices of rams and the fat from steers. The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats I do not want. When you enter my presence, do you actually think I want this -- animals trampling on my courtyards? read more.
Do not bring any more meaningless offerings; I consider your incense detestable! You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations, but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! I hate your new moon festivals and assemblies; they are a burden that I am tired of carrying. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I look the other way; when you offer your many prayers, I do not listen, because your hands are covered with blood. Wash! Cleanse yourselves! Remove your sinful deeds from my sight. Stop sinning! Learn to do what is right! Promote justice! Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! Take up the cause of the orphan! Defend the rights of the widow!

The Holy Spirit is making clear that the way into the holy place had not yet appeared as long as the old tabernacle was standing. This was a symbol for the time then present, when gifts and sacrifices were offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper. They served only for matters of food and drink and various washings; they are external regulations imposed until the new order came.