What is the meaning of Colossians 2:21? Do not handle Colossians 2:21 opens with the warning, “Do not handle,” pointing to human-made rules that claimed spiritual benefit through physical restriction. Paul has just said, “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it is Christ” (Colossians 2:17). By putting “Do not handle” in quotation marks, he spotlights regulations that looked pious yet shifted attention away from the sufficiency of Jesus. • Those who “handled” holy things only in certain ways believed they were earning favor. • Paul exposes such rigor as hollow because “in Christ all the fullness of Deity lives bodily, and you have been made complete in Him” (Colossians 2:9-10). • Similar cautions appear in Galatians 4:9-10, where observing days and seasons is called a return to bondage. • First Timothy 4:1-3 predicts teachers who forbid what God created, showing how easily rules can masquerade as righteousness. Christ does call for discipline, yet external handling rules cannot add to His finished work; they merely distract from living by faith (Hebrews 10:22). Do not taste The next slogan, “Do not taste,” targets food laws that promised purity through the mouth instead of the heart. Acts 10:13-15 records the Lord telling Peter, “What God has cleansed, you must not call impure,” sweeping away ceremonial barriers. Paul echoes that spirit: “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). • Food had become a litmus test for spirituality. • Yet “food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do” (1 Corinthians 8:8). • By quoting the restriction, Paul unmasks its inability to restrain the flesh (Colossians 2:23) or produce new life. In Christ, every table is a reminder of grace, received “with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth” (1 Timothy 4:3-4). Do not touch! Finally, “Do not touch!” reflects the most extreme separation—hands off, stay away, keep distant. The Lord once rebuked Pharisees who held “to the tradition of the elders” while setting aside God’s command (Mark 7:1-8). Such traditions multiplied into lists of untouchables that looked holy but left hearts unchanged. • Isaiah 29:13 shows how lips can honor God while hearts remain far away. • Jesus called people to cleanliness within, not mere external avoidance (Matthew 23:25-26). • Paul reminds that all these things are “destined to perish with use, based on human commands and teachings” (Colossians 2:22), while believers are joined to the living Head who never perishes. Touching or not touching material things cannot defile or perfect the soul; only union with Christ can do that. summary “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” represents man-centered religion that substitutes rules for relationship, shadows for substance. Paul does not belittle holiness; he exposes counterfeit holiness that trusts external taboos over the indwelling Christ. Because Scripture states we are already “complete in Him,” our calling is to walk in that completeness—steering clear of legalism, enjoying the gifts of God with gratitude, and letting the life of Jesus, not the fear of human regulations, shape every step. |
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