"Colossians 2:20-22 Wherefore you died with Messiah from the elements of the world system, why, as though living in the world system, are ye subject to ordinances:  (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?" (DLT: torahtimes.org).

the elements: or elemental spirits.   The basic problem with the Colossian heretics was that they were teaching their own opinions of worship and propriety as the commandments of God.  Yeshua made the same critique of the Pharisees who objected to the disciples who did not wash their hands before they ate because the Torah had no such regulation.   It is the aim of demonic forces to teach mere opinions and traditions as if they were the commandments of God.   It is the world system which creates fear in the unbeliever to obey these traditions.  By so doing, Satan seeks to divert people away from the things they can learn through God's commandments which give the foundational principles of the good news and Yeshua's death and resurrection.

 

you died: Paul means to connect the idea of repentance to Yeshua's death.  If we embrace his death for forgiveness, then we die to sin.  We should no longer desire to sin.   Sin keeps men in fear of the opinions and traditions of others.  If one is released from the fear of tradition, then one is free to serve God as he commands.  One who realizes that Messiah's death bought a full pardon does not fear to obey God's commandments.   A person who does not understand Messiah's death is seeking for God to acquit him of wrongdoing on other grounds, and does not want to just love God back in the light of the pardon.   Since this person does not feel forgiven, they are always looking for the magic practice, tradition, or philosophy that will soothe their guilt and make them feel more righteous.  One way of doing this in the modern day is to assert that God considers them righteous when they are not, or that God has made them inwardly righteous, when it is clear that this is untrue.   So Christians are still fearing the theological traditions of men and failing to see the good news of Messiah because of it. (DLC: torahtimes.org)

Daniel's Literal Translation and Commentary: (http://www.torahtimes.org/translation/col0220.html)