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Colossians 2:20

Therefore if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances,
Read Chapter 2

Ambrose of Milan

AD 397
Indeed, we are often deceived by sight, and we see things for the most part other than they really are. We are deceived by hearing too. And so, if we do not wish to be deceived, let us contemplate not what is seen but what is unseen…. On this account the apostle also cries out: “Do not touch, nor taste, nor handle, things which must all perish”; for things which are for the body’s indulgence are also for its corruption.
< 1 min1/16
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Ambrose of Milan

AD 397
With the knowledge of what Paul had seen and heard in paradise, he cried out saying: “Why, as if still viewing the world do you lay down rules: ‘Do not touch; nor handle; nor taste!’—things which must all perish in their very use!” He wished us to be in the world in figure, not in actual possession and use of it. We are to use the world as if we did not use it, as if we were but passing through, not residing in it, walking through as in a dream, not with desire, so that with the speed of thought we might pass through the shadow of this world.
1 min2/16
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Ambrose of Milan

AD 397
[Some] say that Paul was a teacher of wantonness. Pray, who will be a teacher of sobriety if he taught wantonness, for he chastised his body and brought it to subjection and by many fasts said that he had rendered the worship which is due to Christ. He did so not to praise himself and his deeds but to teach us what example we must follow. Did he give us instruction in wantonness when he said: “ ‘Do not touch; nor handle; nor taste!’ things that must all perish in their use”? And he also said that we must live “Not in indulgence of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying and love of the flesh, not in the lusts of error; but in the Spirit by whom we are renewed.”
1 min3/16
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Ambrosiaster

AD 400
The problem is that the Colossians worship worldly things, put their hope in them, and not in Christ alone … so that these rules have been cut off from the head, who is Christ, and thus have become the basis of a pseudoreligion and a sacrilege. .
< 1 min4/16
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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430
As to the words “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” they are not to be considered as a commandment of the apostle forbidding us to touch, taste or handle something or other. It is just the opposite, if I am not deluded by the obscurity of the passage. Surely he used these words in mockery of those by whom he did not want his followers to be deceived and led astray. They were the ones who made a distinction of foods according to the worship of angels and issued decrees for this life, saying: “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” although “all things are clean to the clean.” “For every creature of God is good,” as he assures us in another place. .
1 min5/16
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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430
What is so praiseworthy as a show of wisdom, and what so detestable as the superstition of error? Humility, also, both pleasing to God and eminently praiseworthy in true religion, is given with a show of wisdom to those of whose teachings and actions we are told: “Touch not, taste not, handle not, which are unto destruction,” because they are not of God, and “all that is not of faith, is sin.” … I wish to know what this humility is and this show of wisdom which he says is in their superstition, which comes from the doctrines of men…. I think he is speaking of a pretended and useless abstinence such as heretics usually strive after … because they put on the appearance of a holy work, but, as they do not practice it in the fold of truth, they gain neither honor nor the reward of glory. .
1 min6/16
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Clement Of Alexandria

AD 215
It follows that celibacy is not particularly praiseworthy unless it arises through love of God. The blessed Paul says of those who show a distaste for marriage: “In the last times people will abandon the faith, attaching themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demonic powers that they should abstain from food, at the same time forbidding marriage.” Again he says, “Do not let anyone disqualify you in forced piety of selfmortification and severity to the body.” .
< 1 min7/16
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Cyprian of Carthage

AD 258
Of this same thing to the Colossians: "If ye be dead with Christ froth I the elements of the world, why still, as if living in the world, do ye follow vain things? ". Moreover also elsewhere, that be may exhort us to martyrdom, he has called us fellow-heirs with Christ; nay, that he might omit nothing, he says, "If ye are dead with Christ, why, as if living in the world, do ye make distinctions? "
< 1 min8/16
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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849
If then you be dead with Christ, or if you be not of this world, why do you act as if you were in it? practising the ceremonies of the law, as if you still expected Christ; all which are hurtful to you. (St. Jerome) In your baptism you died with Jesus Christ to all legal observances, and should not therefore suffer any carnal laws to be imposed upon you, as if you were still living in this first state of the world. (Bible de Vence) These things have an appearance of humility, if you abstain from them through mortification, and not through any necessity, as if they were unclean. But if we look upon them, and reject them as impure, and despise those who do not follow our example, then these things, so far from being useful, become prejudicial. (Grotius) Why do you yet decree in this manner? (Witham)
1 min9/16
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John Cassian

AD 435
This is what the apostle said: “You make observations of the months and of the times and of the years.” Or again: “Do not touch, do not taste, do not pick up.” And there is no doubt that this is said about the superstitions of the law. To plunge into them is to be an adulterer from Christ.
< 1 min10/16
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John Chrysostom

AD 407
You are not in the world, Paul says. How is it you are subject to its elements? And note how he pokes fun at them, “touch not, handle not, taste not,” as though they were cowards and keeping themselves clear of some great matters, “all which things are to perish with the using.” … So that even though they appear to be wise, let us turn away from them. For one may seem to be a religious person, and modest, and to have a contempt for the body…. They dishonor the flesh, Paul writes, depriving it and stripping it of its liberty, not allowing them to rule it with their will. But God has honored the flesh.
1 min11/16
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John Chrysostom

AD 407
To be a virgin it is not enough just to be unmarried. There must be spiritual chastity, and I mean by chastity not only the absence of wicked and shameful desire, the absence of ornaments and superfluous cares, but also being unsoiled by life’s cares. Without that, what good is there in physical purity? … [Those who do not understand this belong] to the very weak who crawl along the earth. It was impossible to uplift souls so disposed all at once to the argument on behalf of virginity. One who has been so excited by worldly things and so admiring of the present life will think … that what is worthy of heaven and close to the angelic state [the call to virginity] is deserving of disgrace. How would such a one tolerate advice promoting this course? And then is it surprising if Paul has adopted the same strategy of argument in the case of something that has been permitted when he does the same thing in the case of what has been forbidden and is contrary to law? For instance: dietary laws,...
2 mins12/16
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John Chrysostom

AD 407
He puts that in the middle, and on either side, expressions of greater vehemence. If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, he says, why as though living in the world do ye subject yourselves to ordinances? This is not the consequence, for what ought to have been said is, how as though living are you subject to those elements? But letting this pass, what says he?
< 1 min13/16
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Severian of Gabala

AD 425
These prohibitions about eating and drinking that you hear from the Greeks are based on their mistaken conviction that you should not partake of anything living. But all this has been given for consumption and nourishment. So, don’t pay attention to what has been given in accordance with their teaching. .
< 1 min14/16
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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220
When Paul blames those who claim to have had visions of angels, on the basis of which they teach that people are to abstain from meat … he does not mean to criticize the mandates of the Jewish law, as if he had been speaking at the instigation of superstitious angels. His intention, rather, is only to condemn those who do not accept Christ as the One who has true authority over all such things.
< 1 min15/16
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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220
For he says in another passage also "How is it that you conduct yourselves as if you were even now living in the world? "
< 1 min16/16
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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20

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