Col
2:13-14 – "Didn’t Christ Nail the Law to the Cross?"
by Michael Bugg
On the
contrary, it is our trespasses against the Torah that Yeshua has nailed
to His execution stake. But because our sins have been crucified
by God's grace, does that mean that we should go out and sin more?
And you, being dead in
your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with
him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of
ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the
way, nailing it to his cross.
Here, the key phrase to
understanding v. 14 comes at the end of v. 13, “having forgiven you all your
trespasses.”
The “handwriting of
ordinances that was against us, which were contrary to us” which were nailed
to the cross referred to the nailing of a placard above a condemned criminal’s
head, stating his crime (cf. John 19:19f).Here,
Sha’ul is not referring to nailing the Torah
to the cross as a means of annulling it, but nailing the ordinances of it that
we have sinned against (which amounts to all of them; Jas. 2:10) to Yeshua’s
cross. All of our trespasses are
punished in Him, so that we, the real criminals, might go free.But does this mean that the Torah is annulled?Because our sins are nailed to the cross, should we sin the more?“God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer
therein?” (
Rom.
6:2).
