Colossians 2:22 says that the strict rules people set up about what to handle, taste and touch are temporary, because everything they govern wears out once it is used. Paul is pointing out that rules built on human opinion belong to the same passing world as the things they regulate. The verse is part of a letter from the apostle Paul to the church in Colossae, a city in what is now western Turkey, and it addresses believers who were being pressured to follow a set of religious regulations.
(all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men?
Colossians 2:22 (WEB)
What Colossians 2:22 Means
The phrase “all of which perish with use” is a short, plain observation. Food is eaten and consumed, objects wear down when touched, and the physical things a rule forbids handling are all moving toward decay. Paul is noting that the whole system of restrictions is attached to material things that do not last, so the rules themselves share that short lifespan.
The second part of the verse names the source of these rules: “the precepts and doctrines of men.” Paul is not condemning all teaching or all structure in the church. He is contrasting human instructions with the truth of Christ, which he has just described as the Head from whom the whole body grows. The verse does not promise that every restriction is worthless in every form. It warns against placing human commands at the center of spiritual life and treating them as the path to God.
The Context of Colossians 2:22
Paul wrote Colossians around the early 60s AD, most likely from prison, and he addressed a congregation he had not personally founded but whose faith he had heard about through Epaphras. The letter pushes back against teachers who were presenting a mix of ritual rules, angel worship, and ascetic discipline as the key to spiritual maturity. Paul’s central claim across the letter is that Christ is sufficient and complete.
The verses just before this one tell the believers that they have died with Christ to the basic principles of the world. Verse 20 asks why they would subject themselves to ordinances as though they still belonged to that old way of life. Verse 21 quotes the sort of prohibition the false teachers were promoting. Read in that setting, Colossians 2:22 is Paul’s explanation of why such prohibitions have no real power over people who belong to Christ.
Key Phrases in Colossians 2:22
Colossians 2:20
If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances…
(WEB)
This verse sets up the question Paul answers in verse 22. It explains that believers have died with Christ to the elements of the world, which is why submitting to outside rules as though still living in that world makes little sense.
Matthew 15:9
And in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine rules made by men.’”
(WEB)
Jesus quotes Isaiah to warn that worship based on human commands is empty. Paul’s concern about “the precepts and doctrines of men” in Colossians echoes this same warning against treating human teaching as though it were God’s word.
A Short Prayer From Colossians 2:22
Lord, you know how easily I look for certainty in lists of rules, and how tempted I am to think that keeping them will make me closer to you. Teach me to ask where each teaching comes from and whether it leads me to Christ. Free me from fearing things that were never meant to hold my heart, and keep my attention on the Head of the body, from whom all true growth comes. Help me to live in the freedom you have given, with gratitude and humility. Amen.
