Colossians 2:21

Handle not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men?

Again reference is made to the great Magna Carta of the Christian religion in the Gospel of Matthew, where the Saviour equated human traditions with the precepts of men, saying, "In vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men" (Matthew 15:9). Paul was confronted at Colossae with some of the same punctilious attention to human traditions as that which marked the conduct of the Pharisees and drew from the Saviour himself the denunciation just quoted. See Matthew 15:9 with comments in this series. It is futile to inquire just what traditions Paul referred to. We do not know. His words apply to all "precepts and doctrines of men," including those which are being received, preached and practiced in our times. All alike are condemned. Worshipers indulging such things are worshipping "in vain," according to the Lord himself.