Daily Bible Reading 9th July 2025 // Colossians 2:16-23
16 Therefore let no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Notice what Paul says about the nature and the effect of these legalistic rules and regulations (v 23). He cuts away the facade, and with strong direct language he exposes the sham and the hypocrisy. Ultimately, Paul says, such rules do exactly the opposite of that which seems to be their intention. They appear to be spiritual and wise. They give an impressive show of piety and asceticism with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body but, behind it all, they actually pander to the flesh. This is the stark and surprising reality of such legalistic rules and regulations. They (v 23) '...lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence'. It is possible to translate what Paul says in the last line of chapter 2 like this: 'which things actually lead to the gratification of the flesh'. Moffatt’s translation has this (v 23).
These rules are determined by human precepts and tenets; they get the name of 'wisdom' for their self-imposed devotions, their fasting, and their rigorous discipline of the body, but they are of no value, they simply pamper the flesh!
Constantly focusing on such 'do's and don'ts' does not deny the flesh. It does not deny the old self/the old Adam, it feeds and encourages it, and that is sensuality. This kind of imposed legalistic puritanism which Paul is exposing here looks like true piety. It looks like a true death to self, but it is in fact a self-gratifying substitute which men cling to and which they parade for all to see, exactly because they are unwilling to die the death to self and sin.