<p>2:16 <i>Let no one therefore judge you in food, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day</i>- But people do judge us. We can only not allow them to judge us by not letting their judgments affect us. This is a valuable principle; for the judgment of others seriously impacts upon our emotional and spiritual state. We are not to allow the judgments of others to do this, because we believe that there is only one final judge. Believing that God and His Son are our only judges is therefore of immense practical import. A similar situation is to be found in 1 Tim. 4:12 (cp. 1 Cor. 16:11), where Timothy is told to let nobody despise him. People did despise him- but he is told to disallow them from doing so by not taking it to heart, holding on to his value before God. And Paul tells Titus the same (Tit. 2:15). Likewise in 1 Jn. 3:7 we are told to let no man deceive us- although they will try, for as John notes, there are many deceivers in the world. Here in Col. 2:18, the same is taught- the Colossians were not to let anyone deceive them.</p>