Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Colossians 2:21

"Handle not, nor taste, nor touch" — Colossians 2:21 (ASV)

The “rules” Paul had in mind are such decrees as “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” The reference is to the dietary restrictions the errorists imposed as a means of attaining salvation. Some may have been reenactments of the Mosaic law; others were doubtless prohibitions stemming from pagan asceticism. There is a descending order in the terms, the climax being reached in the last word—i.e., “Don’t even touch.”