<p>2:21 <i>Handle not, nor taste, nor touch</i>- These legal concerns were about external contamination. But the focus of Colossians has been that the gift of the Spirit affects the human spirit, the mind, the heart. This is the focus of true Christianity. Contamination of the heart cannot occur through eating or touching ritually unclean things. &ldquo;Touch&rdquo; in Greek can mean simply &lsquo;association&rsquo;, having &lsquo;to do with&rsquo; someone. In this case, Paul is categorically condemning the whole concept of &lsquo;guilt by association&rsquo; which has been the root cause of so much division between believers. Not handling touching nor tasting is alluding to Eve&rsquo;s perception that she was not to touch nor taste the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:3). Eve had put a fence around the command not to eat of the fruit; she had added &lsquo;neither shall you touch it&rsquo;. And it had not saved her from sin; indeed, her primitive legalism was not mixed with faith in God&rsquo;s grace, and it led her to spiritual catastrophe. The Judaist legalism and fences around the law were leading them in just the same way.</p>