7 You used to walk in these ways, in
the life you once lived.8 But
now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice,
slander, and filthy language from your lips.9 Do not lie to each other, since you have
taken off your old self with its practices10 and have put on the new self, which is
being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this
world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its
rules:21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not
touch!”?22 These
rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use,
are based on merely human commands and teachings.23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance
of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their
harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual
indulgence.
18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of
angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what
they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.19 They have lost connection with
the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its
ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or
with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.17 These are a shadow of the
things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.