13. You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins;
14. he cancelled the unfavourable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross.
15. And on that cross Christ freed himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; he made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession.
16. So let no one make rules about what you eat or drink or about holy days or the New Moon Festival or the Sabbath.
17. All such things are only a shadow of things in the future; the reality is Christ.
18. Do not allow yourselves to be condemned by anyone who claims to be superior because of special visions and who insists on false humility and the worship of angels. For no reason at all, such people are all puffed up by their human way of thinking
19. and have stopped holding on to Christ, who is the head of the body. Under Christ's control the whole body is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God wants it to grow.
20. You have died with Christ and are set free from the ruling spirits of the universe. Why, then, do you live as though you belonged to this world? Why do you obey such rules as
21. “Don't handle this,” “Don't taste that,” “Don't touch the other”?
22. All these refer to things which become useless once they are used; they are only human rules and teachings.
23. Of course such rules appear to be based on wisdom in their forced worship of angels, and false humility, and severe treatment of the body; but they have no real value in controlling physical passions.