Colossians 2:20

(KJV) Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
(1611 KJV) Wherefore if yee bee dead with Christ fro the rudiments of the world: why, as though liuing in the world, are ye subiect to ordinances?
(1587 Geneva Bible) Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ fro the ordinances of the world, why, as though ye liued in ye world, are ye burdened with traditions?
(1526 Tyndale) Wherfore if ye be deed with Christ fro ordinaunces of the worlde why as though ye yet lived in the worlde are ye ledde with tradicios of them that saye?

Counterfeit Versions
(1881 RV) If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances,
(1901 ASV) If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances,
(AMP) If then you have died with Christ to material ways of looking at things and have escaped from the world’s crude and elemental notions and teachings of externalism, why do you live as if you still belong to the world? [Why do you submit to rules and regulations?—such as]
(CEB) If you died with Christ to the way the world thinks and acts, why do you submit to rules and regulations as though you were living in the world?
(CEV) You died with Christ. Now the forces of the universe don’t have any power over you. Why do you live as if you had to obey such rules as,

(CSB) If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations:

(Douay Rheims - 1899 American Edition) If then you be dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you yet decree as though living in the world?
(ERV) You died with Christ and were made free from the powers that influence this world. So why do you act as if you still belong to the world? I mean, why do you follow rules like these:
(ESV) If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—
(GNB) You have died with Christ and are set free from the ruling spirits of the universe. Why, then, do you live as though you belonged to this world? Why do you obey such rules as
(HCSB) If you died with the Messiah to the elemental forces of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations:
(JB PHILLIPS) So if, through your faith in Christ, you are dead to the principles of this world’s life, why, as if you were still part and parcel of this world-wide system, do you take the slightest notice of these purely human prohibitions—“
(LB) Since you died, as it were, with Christ and this has set you free from following the world’s ideas of how to be saved—by doing good and obeying various rules—why do you keep right on following them anyway, still bound by such rules as
(THE MESSAGE) So, then, if with Christ you’ve put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it?
(NASV) If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
(NCV) Since you died with Christ and were made free from the ruling spirits of the world, why do you act as if you still belong to this world by following rules like these:
(NET) If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit to them as though you lived in the world?
(NIRV) The people of the world believe certain basic things. You died with Christ as far as things like that are concerned. So why do you act as if you still belong to the world? Here are the rules you follow.
(NIV) Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:
(NLV) You have died with Christ and become dead to those old ways. Then why do you follow the old ways of worship? Why do you obey man-made rules?
(NLT) You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as,
(RSV) If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations,
(VOICE) Listen, if you have died with the Anointed One to the elemental spirits of the cosmos, then why are you submitting yourselves to its rules as if you still belonged to this world?
(NAB-Roman Catholic) If you died with Christ to the elemental powers of the world, why do you submit to regulations as if you were still living in the world?
(NWT-Jehovah’s Witnesses) If you died together with Christ with respect to the elementary things of the world, why do you live as if still part of the world by further subjecting yourselves to the decrees:

Textus Receptus - Traditional Text
ει ουν απεθανετε συν τω χριστω απο των στοιχειων του κοσμου τι ως ζωντες εν κοσμω δογματιζεσθε

Hort-Westcott - Critical Text
ει απεθανετε συν χριστω απο των στοιχειων του κοσμου τι ως ζωντες εν κοσμω δογματιζεσθε

Corrupted Manuscripts
This verse is corrupted in the following manuscripts:
Aleph 01 - Sinaiticus - Nineteenth Century Counterfeit (original)
A 02 - Alexandrinus - Fifth century
B 03 - Vaticanus - Fourth century
C 04 - Ephraemi Rescriptus - Fifth century
D 06 - Paris: Claromontanus - Sixth century
K 018 - Ninth century
L 020 - Ninth century
P 025 - Ninth century

Manuscripts which agree with the Textus Receptus for this verse
Byzantine Text (450-1450 A.D.)
Aleph 01 - Sinaiticus - Nineteenth Century Counterfeit (corrected)

Published Critical Greek Texts with Corruptions
Omit “wherefore” at beginning of statement
Greisbach, Johann - 1805
Lachmann, Karl - 1842
Tischendorf, Constantine - 1869
Tregelles, Samuel - 1857
Alford, Henry - 1849 revised in 1871
Wordsworth, Christopher - 1856 revised in 1870
Westcott and Hort - 1881
Weiss, Bernhard - 1894
Nestle - 1927 as revised in seventeenth edition in 1941
Nestle-Aland - 1979 - Twenty Sixth Edition
Nestle-Aland - 1993 - Twenty Seventh Edition
United Bible Societies - 1983 - Fourth Edition
Von Soden, Freiherr - 1902
Hodges and Farstad - Majority Text 1982 as corrected in 1985

Affected Teaching
(Col 2:19 KJV) And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.  If one begins to think they can use angels or anything or anyone else as a mediator, they will begin to set Christ aside and it is He that upholds the body of Christ, which is the body of believers. Just as the human body is held together by ligaments and other joints and requires nourishment to grow and be healthy, so the body of Christ must exist the same way. The Lord Jesus Christ nourishes the body and that results in spiritual growth. When the Lord Jesus Christ is replaced and someone else is made the focus, whatever that focus is can never nourish the body as Christ can and that results in becoming weaker and eventually getting to the point of being so weak, it becomes useless. The Lord Jesus causes every part of the body to function properly. Believers have different callings and different ministries but the goal is always the same and that is building up the body. Christ supplies all the necessary strength to every believer to keep the body strong and functioning properly.

Paul then connects the truth of Verse 19 to 20 by means of the word “wherefore” which itself is basically a question. The word “wherefore” carries with it the meaning of “for which reason or for what reason?” Paul is asking them a very strong question. If they are embracing Christ as their Savior, then what would be the reason they are subjecting themselves to something like the ceremonial law since Christ has delivered the believer from having to keep the law for salvation. He wants to get them to think about their actions and to assess if keeping the law or being involved in the pagan aspects of worldly religion will in any way increase their salvation? The Colossians were falling prey to some aspects of pagan religion such as the worship of angels and Paul wanted to cut them off from any involvement in such false religions because they have no place in Christianity.

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