Colossians 2:16-23, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Colossians 2:16-23
Do Not Submit to Judgment, Visions, or Body-Severity Detached from the Head
Shadow is not the substance, and severity is not holiness.
No one is to judge them about food and drink, or a festival, new moon, or Sabbath. Those things are a shadow of what was to come; the substance belongs to Christ. Paul is not sneering at Jews or at Israel's Scriptures. He is telling Gentile believers not to let anyone use calendar and kitchen as a court against their standing in the Messiah who fulfilled them.
Let no one disqualify them, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by a fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head. If they died with Christ to the elemental spirits, why submit to human regulations that look wise in self-made religion and severity to the body, yet have no value against fleshly indulgence?
How this should shape us
Do not let anyone rank you by what you skip, what days you mark, or what visions they claim. Hold to Christ, and do not treat Jewish neighbors or Israel's Scriptures as the problem.
Teach it back
Explain Colossians 2:16-23 in your own words. Include its place in Colossians, one exact textual observation, one important uncertainty or alternative, one older-English clarification, and one conclusion the unit does not permit.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters dispute whether food-calendar observance and visionary asceticism form one system; whether angels are worshiped or joined in worship; whether stoicheia are principles, elements, spirits, or powers; what the visionary 'enters'; and how to construe verse 23's final phrase. The confident conclusion is narrower: imposed judgment and self-exalting rigor detached from Christ cannot supply the growth and transformation they promise.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: The exact pinned KJV wording, paragraph data, and supplied-word markup for Colossians 2:16-23.
eBible/CrossWire eng-kjv2006 USFM, source files dated 2026-08-19, Colossians 2:16-23; archive and normalized-corpus SHA-256 values are recorded in the shared library policy.
Supports: The critically edited Greek wording, connective structure, lexical forms, and variation markers.
Official Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/Col.txt, Colossians 2:16-23.
Supports: A morphology and lexical-range cross-check for original-language notes; contextual meaning remains controlled by the unit.
STEP Bible Data repository, TAGNT and Greek lexical records, Colossians 2:16-23.
Supports: Material translation choices, syntax, and textual variants checked at the cited verses.
NET Bible official Colossians chapter 2, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Colossians 2:16-23.
Supports: A current pro-Pauline commentary check on literary flow, theology, pastoral purpose, and major interpretations.
Alistair I. Wilson, The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, “Colossians,” TGC Exhortation Not to Be Judged by False Teachers (2:16-23).
Supports: A modern historical-critical and Jewish-context check on authorship, setting, calendar, ethics, slavery, and textual questions.
Peter Zaas, “Colossians,” in The Jewish Annotated New Testament (2011 first edition), print pp. 368-369.
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: The exact pinned KJV wording, paragraph data, and supplied-word markup for Colossians 2:16-23.
Exact location: eBible/CrossWire eng-kjv2006 USFM, source files dated 2026-08-19, Colossians 2:16-23; archive and normalized-corpus SHA-256 values are recorded in the shared library policy.
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: The critically edited Greek wording, connective structure, lexical forms, and variation markers.
Exact location: Official Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/Col.txt, Colossians 2:16-23.
Open the Colossians Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: A morphology and lexical-range cross-check for original-language notes; contextual meaning remains controlled by the unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data repository, TAGNT and Greek lexical records, Colossians 2:16-23.
Open source ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible - Colossians with translators' and textual notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005-2026 online edition
Supports: Material translation choices, syntax, and textual variants checked at the cited verses.
Exact location: NET Bible official Colossians chapter 2, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Colossians 2:16-23.
Open NET Colossians 2 notesmodern open commentary
Colossians
Alistair I. Wilson
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: A current pro-Pauline commentary check on literary flow, theology, pastoral purpose, and major interpretations.
Exact location: Alistair I. Wilson, The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, “Colossians,” TGC Exhortation Not to Be Judged by False Teachers (2:16-23).
Open source ↗modern annotated new testament
Colossians introduction and annotations in The Jewish Annotated New Testament
Peter Zaas; edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler
Oxford University Press, 2011
Supports: A modern historical-critical and Jewish-context check on authorship, setting, calendar, ethics, slavery, and textual questions.
Exact location: Peter Zaas, “Colossians,” in The Jewish Annotated New Testament (2011 first edition), print pp. 368-369.
Open source ↗