Those "Rudiments." Colossians 2:20. There are fundamental principles in an assembly of God’s people governed by the Head. Each true believer is willing to be guided by the Lord to serve in the assembly, using the gifts God has given each one for the benefit of all. We have experienced His love and grace and trust His guidance by faith. When these principles are practiced, they work, and the parts of the body function in harmony to produce the spiritual fruits that God intends.
The world system also has its "rudiments," which are basic principles used to keep people under its influence. The beliefs of the ungodly spread widely; almost anyone can select what they want to believe as long as it suits them. "Do your own thing" is one of these; "There are all kinds of ways to heaven" is another. "Each one has a right to believe what he wants"; that is a common influence. "Don't let anyone tell you there is only one way to God." Those are "rudiments"—fundamental principles; "One Way" seems very strange to them.
They argue that it is arrogant to claim you now know you have eternal life, and they refuse to accept the Bible as the only way God reveals His light. "Your truth is yours, and my truth is different"; the world system has no universal standard. "You only believe that because when you were young, it was expected of you." "Rudiments" consist of shifting opinions designed to fit what most people want to hear. Dogmatic opinions are presented as truth only until that particular fad passes.
You must be christened for God to know your name; that is what I believe. Some people cannot accept that there is an omniscient God whom they must personally receive. "I take the bread and wine, that my sins can all be forgiven." They will not accept the truth that Jesus is the only way to heaven.
A child of God is not bound by the world and should not rely on the false ideas and rules humans create. The unchanging standard of righteousness that God requires is rooted not in human words but in the word of God. Even our nation’s laws originally stem from the laws God gave on Mount Sinai. Those "rudiments of the world" cannot save anyone's soul or make them acceptable to God.
Believers in Christ have “died with Christ” and are freed from their sins and the consequences that will come to those who reject the Savior. We are also released from the ritualistic rules and observances put in place by men, not God, which keep people in bondage. Outward acts of self-denial that involve physical rituals were merely shadows and types. Religious Jews turned them into a complex system of traditions they forced on those who followed Judaism.