Colossians 2:20

18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.

19 He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow.

If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:

21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”?

22 These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:
KJV
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
WEB
If you died with Christ from the elemental spirits of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,
ASV
If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances,
DARBY
If ye have died with Christ from the elements of the world, why as [if] alive in [the] world do ye subject yourselves to ordinances?
BLB
If you⁺ died with Christ, away from the elements of the world, why, as if living in the world, are you⁺ subject to decrees:
ÅB
Er dere avdød med Kristus fra verdens barnelærdom, hvorfor gir de dere da, som om dere levde i verden, slike bud:
OTB
Hvis dere har dødd med Kristus fra verdens ting, hvorfor oppfører dere dere som om dere fortsatt lever i verden ved å underkaste dere dens forskrifter?
B1930
Er I avdød med Kristus fra verdens barnelærdom, hvorfor gir de eder da, som om I levde i verden, slike bud:

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Colossians 2:8

    See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.

    Read in context
  • Colossians 2:14

    having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!

    Read in context
  • Colossians 2:16

    Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.

    Read in context
  • Galatians 4:3

    So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world.

    Read in context
  • Romans 7:4–6

    Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

    Read in context
  • 1 John 5:19

    We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.

    Read in context
  • Hebrews 13:9

    Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.

    Read in context
  • 2 Corinthians 10:3

    For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh.

    Read in context