Colossians 2:23

Plain English Version

Those laws might sound like they are good, but they are useless. They get people to do things that hurt their bodies, and then they think they are good, and they think it makes God happy. But even when people try to follow those laws, they still can’t stop themselves from going wrong. Their bodies still make them want to do bad things, and then they do those bad things. So those laws are useless.

Cross References

Romans 13:14

But instead, you have to be like our leader, Jesus Christ, so that whenever other people look at you, it will be like they see him. And whenever that bad part inside you makes you want to do something bad, take no notice of it. Just don’t think about doing that bad thing.

Ephesians 5:29

No man ever hates his own body. No, instead he gives it food and takes care of it. Jesus Christ does that too. He takes care of his people, the church.

Colossians 2:18

There are some people that tell lies and say, “God has shown us special things.” Those people think up their own ideas, and that makes them feel smart. But they tell you that they are not smart, and then they tell you to show respect to God’s angel messengers, as if those angels are God. But they are trying to trick you. Don’t take any notice of those people, and don’t believe those lies.

Colossians 2:22

Those laws just come from people, not from God, so you don’t have to take any notice of them. Those laws are just about things that wear out when people use them.

Colossians 2:8

Some people might try to make you believe some ideas about God that are wrong. Those ideas didn’t come from Jesus Christ, but they came from bad spirits, and from the people of this world. People taught those ideas to their kids, and to their grand-kids. But those ideas are not true. They might sound good, but they are tricky lies. Be careful. Don’t believe them.

1 Timothy 4:3

They tell people, “You can’t marry anyone. It is wrong.” And they tell people, “There are some sorts of food you can’t eat. You just have to leave it alone.” Those things that they say are not true. God tells us in his book that he made everything good. That means that he made all food good. We believe that word and know it is true, so we don’t have to leave any sort of food alone. Instead, we can just thank him for it and eat it. God’s word says that all food is good, so we pray to him and thank him for it, and then it is all right for us to eat it.

1 Timothy 4:8

You sometimes hear people say, “If we train our bodies, we will get fit so that we can play sport and live better lives, and that is good for us now. But if we train our spirits to respect God and take notice of him, we will not only live better lives now, but we will live a lot better in the life that will come after we die, just like God promised us. That is a lot better for us.” Well, those words are true, and everybody has to follow that message.