silly Pope only JESUS FORGIVES

In the news the pope said that abolrtion is now forgiveable for a year. I guess this concerns me. First of all who is the pope that he can declare what sin God forgives. I mean Is there a sin the bible said that is not forgiven? Lets look at this

¹³ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.¹

How many sins has God forgiven? ALL

Forgiveness illustrating reconciliation

‘Having forgiven you all trespasses’ (v. 13). Without Christ’s death and the work of regeneration the hearts of men are spiritually dead ‘in … trespasses’. This speaks of fallen man’s ‘deviation from righteousness and truth’ (W E Vine) which renders sinners dead to God as the ‘sons of disobedience’ and ‘the children of wrath’ (Eph. 2:1–3). The cross is God’s solution to man’s alienation and depravity. At Calvary Jesus Christ purchased forgiveness with his blood (1:20) for all trespasses and sins, and now through him there is found reconciliation that brings peace with God.

Atonement illustrating righteousness

‘Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us … having nailed it to the cross (v. 15). The fourth reason why believers are complete in Christ is because Christ’s righteousness is imputed to them; the righteousness of Christ is their covering. In verses 14–15 we have Christ’s work on the cross described in technical detail. It is not the simple message ‘God loves you and Christ died for you’ (which is true and glorious), but a deeper revelation of the behind-the-scenes process that Jesus Christ undertook to save us. Paul felt that it was time that the Colossian believers heard about this as it has a bearing on Christ’s greatness. The ‘handwriting of requirements’ (v. 14) is like a certificate of debt (an invoice or a document telling us we owe something to God). The law condemns us for our failure, but when Jesus died he took that certificate with him so that he could write across it with his own blood, ‘Cancelled, debt paid’. John Piper asks, ‘How was this damning record nailed to the cross? Parchment was not nailed to the cross. Christ was. So Christ became my damning record of bad (and good) deeds. He endured my damnation’. By his substitutionary atoning death at Calvary, Jesus Christ completely obliterated the law’s demands towards the sinner. Thus we have the words of Isaiah 53:6: ‘The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all’.

Verse 14 tells us that Jesus cancelled the record of debts that are against us. If you are ever in debt and can’t pay up, you will know just what trouble you are in because your creditor will pursue you until you do. The bailiffs may be sent to track you down and extract by any means what you owe until your debt is cleared. Our sins are to God like a bad debt. It took the death of Jesus to pay the debt and to fulfil the law’s demands. The hymn Rock of Ages by Augustus Toplady echoes this gospel truth:

Not the labours of my hands

Can fulfil thy law’s demands;

Could my zeal no respite know,

Could my tears for ever flow,

All for sin could not atone:

Thou must save, and thou alone.

Christ wiped the slate clean; the blood and the pain of the cross were part of the process of atonement. Our debt was cancelled because Christ fulfilled the ‘rigid requirements and regulations which condemned us all’ (W. Hendriksen). The law is silenced because Christ has died as a substitute for sinners. God through Christ has forgiven our sins and the legal case against us is closed (Rom. 8:1–3).

In verse 15 we read that Christ ‘disarmed principalities and powers’. Satan and his forces were dealt a powerful blow of defeat at Calvary. These dark powers gathered against him as he hung on the cross. They thought victory was theirs, but he turned the tables on them and stripped them of their power to accuse and to control. There was no doubt that Satan and his cohorts gathered together to attack the soul of Christ when he was enduring the judgement due to sin. They fiercely assaulted him for three hours. But he triumphed over them. Many think that Paul is using the imagery of a Roman victory parade with the phrase ‘he made a public spectacle of them’, such as when the imperial army marched with their captives chained behind them as trophies before the citizens of Rome. So verse 15 speaks of the resurrection of Christ, when he broke the chains of death and hell and by his resurrection made captivity captive, displaying to the whole of creation that he is Lord.²

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses [Col. 2:13].

Salvation is not the improvement of the old nature; it is the impartation of a new nature.

Remember that Paul had to deal with two systems of Greek philosophy which were very popular in his day. They were diametrically opposed to each other, but they both came out at the same end of the horn. One philosophy was Stoicism, and the other was Epicureanism.

The Stoic taught that man was to live nobly and that death could not matter. The idea was to hold the appetites in check and to become indifferent to changing conditions. In effect they said, “Be not uplifted by good fortune nor cast down by adversity.” They believed that man is more then circumstances and that the soul is greater than the universe. It was a brave philosophy, you see. But the problem was how to live it. It was like the people who say that they are living by the Sermon on the Mount when actually they are many miles from it.

The Epicurean taught that all is uncertain. “We know not whence we came; we know not whither we go. We only know that after a brief life we disappear from this scene, and it is vain to deny ourselves any present joy in view of the possible future ill. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

The interesting thing to observe is that both these systems attempted to deal with the flesh—that is, the old nature that you and I have—not the meat on our bones. The old nature works through our old habits, old desires, old testings and temptations. How are we going to bring that under control?

There are all kinds of gimmicks and systems that are set before us today to enable us to live the Christian life. I know people who have been to Bible conferences where the Christian life is taught, and at home they have a drawer filled with notebooks. But they are not doing so well in living the Christian life. Why not? Because we need to recognize this one important thing that Paul is saying here: we are joined to the living Christ. Now, if you are joined to Him, my friend, you are going to live as if you are. How close are you to Him? Do you walk with Him? Do you turn to Him in all the emergencies of this life? Is He the One who is the very center of your life?

3. As Paul turns now to the error of legality, we will again find that the answer is to come to the Word of God and through it to come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

A glory gilds the sacred page,

Majestic like the sun.

It sheds a light on every age;

It gives but borrows none.³

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 [Col. 2:14].

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us.” This old flesh of ours has been condemned. When Christ died, He died for you and me; He paid the penalty for our sin.

When the Lord Jesus died, Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross: “This is Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews” (see John 19:19). He was being publicly executed on the grounds that He had led in a rebellion. This was, of course, not true, but that was the charge against Him. When the people standing there read that sign they understood that He had been disloyal to Caesar in that He had made Himself to be a king. To them that was the reason He was dying on a cross.

But when God looked upon that cross, He saw an altar on which the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world was offered. God saw another inscription there high above the inscription that man had written. “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.” What did God write on that cross? He wrote the ordinances—He wrote the Ten Commandments. He wrote a law which I cannot keep, ordinances which I am guilty of breaking. When Christ died there, He did not die because He broke them; He was sinless. But it was because I broke them, because I am a sinner, and because you are. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

Therefore, my friend, if God has saved you and raised you from the dead and joined you to a living Christ, why should you go back to a law that you couldn’t keep in the first place? You can’t even keep the law today in your own power and in your own strength. You see, the law was given to discipline the old nature. But now the believer is given a new nature, and the law has been removed as a way of life.

Let me give you an illustration. A man once came to me and said, “I’ll give you $100 if you will show me where the Sabbath day has been changed.” I answered, “I don’t think it has been changed. Saturday is Saturday, it is the seventh day of the week, and it is the Sabbath day. I realize our calendar has been adjusted and can be off a few days, but we won’t even consider that point. The seventh day is still Saturday and is still the Sabbath day.” He got a gleam in his eye and said, “Then why don’t you keep the Sababth day if it hasn’t been changed?” I answered, “The day hasn’t changed, but I have been changed. I’ve been given a new creation. We celebrate the first day because that is the day He rose from the grave.” That is what it means when he says that the ordinances which were against us have been nailed to His cross.⁴

Draw on Your Spiritual Provisions (Col. 2:11–15)

Remember that the false teaching that threatened the Colossian church was made up of several elements: Oriental mysticism, astrology, philosophy, and Jewish legalism. It is the latter element that Paul dealt with in this section of his letter. Apparently, the false teachers insisted that their converts submit to circumcision and obey the Old Testament Law.

Gnostic legalism was not quite the same as the brand of legalism practiced by the Judaizers whom Paul refuted in his Epistle to the Galatians. The Jewish teachers that Paul attacked in Galatians insisted that circumcision and obedience to the Law were necessary for salvation. (See Acts 15 for some background on this problem.) Gnostic legalism said that the Jewish Law would help the believers become more spiritual. If they were circumcised, and if they watched their diets and observed the holy days, then they would become part of the “spiritual elite” in the church. Unfortunately, we have people with similar ideas in our churches today.

Paul made it clear that the Christian is not subject in any way to the Old Testament legal system, nor can it do him any good spiritually. Jesus Christ alone is sufficient for our every spiritual need, for all of God’s fullness is in Him. We are identified with Jesus Christ because He is the Head of the body (Col. 1:18) and we are the members of the body (1 Cor. 12:12–13). Paul explained our fourfold identification with Jesus Christ that makes it not only unnecessary, but sinful for us to get involved in any kind of legalism.

Circumcised in Him (v. 11). Circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant with the Jewish people (Gen. 17:9–14). Though it was a physical operation, it had a spiritual significance. The trouble was that the Jewish people depended on the physical and not the spiritual. A mere physical operation could never convey spiritual grace (Rom. 2:25–29). Often in the Old Testament, God warned His people to turn from their sins and experience a spiritual circumcision of the heart (Deut. 10:16; 30:6; Jer. 4:4; 6:10; Ezek. 44:7). People make the same mistake today when they depend on some religious ritual to save them—such as baptism or the Lord’s Supper.

It is not necessary for the believer to submit to circumcision, because he has already experienced a spiritual circumcision through his identification with Jesus Christ. But there is a contrast here between Jewish circumcision and the believer’s spiritual circumcision in Christ:

Jews

Believers

external surgery	internal—the heart
only part of the body	the whole “body of sins”
done by hands	done without hands
no spiritual help in conquering sin	enables them to overcome sin

When Jesus Christ died and rose again, He won a complete and final victory over sin. He not only died for our sins (salvation), but He “died unto sin” (sanctification; see Rom. 6:10ff). What the Law could not do, Jesus Christ accomplished for us. The old nature (“the body of the sins of the flesh”) was put off—rendered inoperative—so that we need no longer be enslaved to its desires. The old sinful nature is not eradicated, for we can still sin (1 John 1:5–2:6). But the power has been broken as we yield to Christ and walk in the power of the Spirit.

Alive in Him (vv. 12–13). Here Paul used the illustration of baptism. Keep in mind that in the New Testament, the word baptize has both a literal and a figurative meaning. The literal meaning is “to dip, to immerse.” The figurative meaning is “to be identified with.” For example, the Jewish nation was “baptized unto Moses” when it went through the Red Sea (1 Cor. 10:1–2). There was no water involved in this baptism, because they went over on dry land. In this experience, the nation was identified with Moses.

Paul used the word baptism in a figurative sense in this section of his letter—for no amount of material water could bury a person with Christ or make him alive in Christ. Water baptism by immersion is a picture of this spiritual experience. When a person is saved, he is immediately baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12–13) and identified with the Head, Jesus Christ. This identification means that whatever happened to Christ also happened to us. When He died, we died with Him. When He was buried, we were buried. When He arose again, we arose with Him—and we left the graveclothes of the old life behind (Col. 3:1–14).

All of this took place “through the faith of the operation of God” (Col. 2:12). It was the power of God that changed us, not the power of water. The Spirit of God identified us with Jesus Christ, and we were buried with Him, raised with Him, and made alive with Him! (The Greek verbs are very expressive: co-buried, co-raised, and co-made alive.) Because God raised His Son from the dead, we have eternal life.

The practical application is clear: since we are identified with Christ, and He is the fullness of God, what more do we need? We have experienced the energy of God through faith in Christ, so why turn to the deadness of the Law? God has forgiven us all our trespasses (Col. 2:13b) so that we have a perfect standing before Him.

Free from the Law in Him (v. 14). Jesus not only took our sins to the cross (1 Peter 2:24), but He also took the Law to the cross and nailed it there, forever out of the way. The Law was certainly against us, because it was impossible for us to meet its holy demands. Even though God never gave the Ten Commandments to the Gentiles, the righteous demands of the Law—God’s holy standards—were “written in their hearts” (Rom. 2:12–16).

When He shed His blood for sinners, Jesus Christ canceled the huge debt that was against sinners because of their disobedience to God’s holy Law. In Bible days, financial records were often kept on parchment, and the writing could be washed off. This is the picture Paul painted.

How could the holy God be just in canceling a debt? In this way His Son paid the full debt when He died on the cross. If a judge sets a man free who is guilty of a crime, the judge cheapens the law and leaves the injured party without restitution. God paid sin’s debt when He gave His Son on the cross, and He upheld the holiness of His own Law.

But Jesus Christ did even more than cancel the debt: He took the Law that condemned us and set it aside so that we are no longer under its dominion. We are “delivered from the Law” (Rom. 7:6). We “are not under the Law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). This does not mean that we are lawless, because the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us as we walk in the power of the Spirit (Rom. 8:4). Our relationship with Jesus Christ enables us to obey God out of love, not out of slavish fear.

Victorious in Him (v. 15). Jesus not only dealt with sin and the Law on the cross, but He also dealt with Satan. Speaking about His crucifixion, Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). The death of Christ on the cross looked like a great victory for Satan, but it turned out to be a great defeat from which Satan cannot recover.

Jesus had three great victories on the cross. First, He “disarmed the powers and authorities” (Col. 2:15, niv), stripping Satan and his army of whatever weapons they held. Satan cannot harm the believer who will not harm himself. It is when we cease to watch and pray (as did Peter) that Satan can use his weapons against us.

Second, Jesus “made a public spectacle” (Col. 2:15, niv) of the enemy, exposing Satan’s deceit and vileness. In His death, resurrection, and ascension, Christ vindicated God and vanquished the devil.

His third victory is found in the word triumph. Whenever a Roman general won a great victory on foreign soil, took many captives and much loot, and gained new territory for Rome, he was honored by an official parade known as “the Roman triumph.” Paul alluded to this practice in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (see 2 Cor. 2:14). Jesus Christ won a complete victory, and He returned to glory in a great triumphal procession (Eph. 4:8ff). In this, He disgraced and defeated Satan.

You and I share in His victory over the devil. We need not worry about the elemental forces that govern the planets and try to influence men’s lives. The satanic armies of principalities and powers are defeated and disgraced! As we claim the victory of Christ, use the equipment He has provided for us (Eph. 6:10ff), and trust Him, we are free from the influence of the devil.

What a wonderful position and provision we have in Christ! Are we living up to it by faith?⁵

10. And ye are complete in him. God did this in connection with Christ. This is both complete and permanent. Having been completely filled in the past, we are in a state of fullness now. All we need is in Christ (1 Cor 1:30). We do not need the emptiness of the Gnostics, since we have the fullness of Christ. We seek no other source of grace and truth; we show no allegiance to anyone else; and we submit to no other authority. Christ is the Head; He is the source of life; and He is sovereign over life.

11. Circumcised. This points to conversion (Rom 4:1; 2:28–29; Phil 3:3). The character of this circumcision is spiritual and not physical. It is without hands; inward and not outward. The extent of this circumcision is the whole body, not just one organ. The author of this circumcision is Christ, not Moses. This circumcision that Paul speaks of is not a rite, but a reality. Putting off the body … the flesh. Stripping and casting aside as a filthy garment. The flesh is removed from the throne, and the Christian is set free from his sinful nature. The evil nature is not eradicated (1 Jn 1:8), but its power is broken. Christ is now on the throne; but the flesh lurks about and tries to usurp the throne. Our physical members are to be instruments not of unrighteousness unto sin, but of righteousness unto God (Rom 6:11–14).

12. Buried with him in baptism. Jointly entombed with Christ; sharing in His experience. Baptism is not a magic rite, but an act of obedience in confessing our faith. Baptism symbolizes our experience of death to the old life and resurrection to the new life (Rom 6:3–5). Baptism is an outward expression of an inward experience. Through the faith. Without saving faith, baptism is an empty, meaningless ceremony. Through faith we receive Christ (Jn 1:12–13) and experience the new birth.

13. And you, being dead. Devoid of the life of God, a totally depraved nature (Eph 2:1; 5:6, 11). Hath he quickened. Made alive in union with Christ. Having forgiven you all trespasses. Graciously pardoning and cancelling the debt (cf. Lk 7:42).

14. Blotting out. Erased, wiped away, obliterated, cancelled the note. This explains the forgiveness. The handwriting of ordinances. The handwritten document consisting of ordinances. The bond here is the certification of debt, the instrument of condemnation, the indictment drawn up against a prisoner, and a signed confession of indebtedness. Three expressions describe the law: (1) it is written in ordinances, expressed in decrees and commandments; (2) it was against us, had a valid claim on us; (3) it was contrary to us, because we couldn’t meet the claim. Paul states that bond was: (1) blotted out; (2) taken out of the way; (3) and nailed to His cross. This was once-for-all removal (2 Cor 5:21; Eph 2:15–16; Gal 3:13). In the East, a bond is cancelled by nailing it to the post. Our bond of guilt was nailed to His cross.⁶

The sins that have plagued you are written on a list. Santa Claus makes a list and checks it twice in order to find out who’s naughty and nice. Our Father, on the other hand, makes a list and checks it once. Then He nails it to the Cross, where the blood of His Son covers it completely. The list of our sins, shortcomings, and stupidity is blotted out in totality by the blood of the Son of God.

Many Christians aren’t healthy because they fail to understand this foundational and profoundly simple truth. They know they’re forgiven—but they can’t believe the one who hurt them is. “You can’t ignore the abuse, the trauma, and the anxiety that have been inflicted upon you,” they are told. “It must be dealt with.” Wait a minute! It has been dealt with by Jesus’ blood on the Cross. He hung on the Cross of Calvary dying for the very sin that bugs us in others. Therefore, for us to say, “We must dig it up and talk it through,” makes a mockery of what Christ did on Calvary. “It is finished,” He cried. It’s done. It’s paid for. So be forgiven and forgive one another.⁷

he heart of all this is: having forgiven us all our trespasses. The forgiveness of sins is the powerful reality that makes possible deliverance from the domain of darkness and transference to the kingdom of Christ (see 1:13, 14). It is the reality that makes people who were dead in trespasses alive. It is what turns alienation into reconciliation (1:21, 22).

Do not overlook the word ‘all’. The heart of the new life we have been given is the forgiveness of all the trespasses. The essence of our old dead existence being discarded is the forgiveness of all our trespasses. Some of us are more aware of our trespasses than others. Some of us have more sensitive consciences. But in Christ the truth is: ALL FORGIVEN.

A small but significant point: at the end of 2:13 Paul shifts from speaking of ‘you’ (Gentiles) to ‘us’. While the language ‘uncircumcision’ and ‘a circumcision made without hands’ of verses 11–13a was particularly fitting for his gentile readers (‘you’), the forgiveness of all ‘our’ trespasses is something Paul and other Jewish believers in Jesus share with the faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae (1:2).

All of this (2:11–13) is what Paul meant when he said ‘you have been filled in him’ (2:10). He does not for a moment mean to encourage spiritual complacency by this. You are to walk in him, to be built in him, to be established in your faith in him (2:6, 7). You are to continue in this faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard (1:23). The point now is the completeness of what has been given to us in Christ. The fullness of life (as all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, 2:3) is in him. I am not sure what you are looking for in life, but what you should be looking for is what has been given to you in Christ, in the death of Christ and his resurrection. That is why you must see to it that no one takes you captive away from Christ (2:8).

Verses 14 and 15 now, elaborate the other two truths about Christ that were briefly stated in verses 9 and 10, and show us why in him we are filled. Verse 14 spells out the point of the whole fullness of deity dwelling bodily in Christ (2:9). Verse 15 then spells out how it is that he is the head of all rule and authority (2:10).⁸

To defeat death, God made us alive; to deliver us from sin, he made us alive with Christ. Because God raised Christ, those who belong to Christ are raised as well. The penalty of sin and its power over believers were miraculously destroyed by Christ on the cross. Through faith in Christ, believers are acquitted, or found not guilty, before God, their judge. How did this happen? The answer is simple: He forgave all our sins. If our sinful nature caused us to be dead, then that sinful nature had to be dealt with before God could make us alive. The word “forgave” is in the past tense, referring to Christ’s work on the cross. God’s forgiveness opens the way for believers to experience new life in Christ.

2:14 In forgiving all our sins, Christ canceled the record that contained the charges against us. This record was like a handwritten ledger of our trespasses against the law. Humanity could not pay the debt for these offenses, so God wiped out the record of our sin for us by nailing it to Christ’s cross. In so doing, our debts were canceled; what stood against us can no longer hinder us. Christ set us free by his sacrificial death on the cross.

2:15 Not only did Christ’s death on the cross pay humanity’s debt to God, his death also meant his triumph over the evil rulers and authorities. Who are these? Several suggestions have been made, including (1) demonic powers, (2) the gods of the powerful nations, (3) the government of Rome, or even (4) angels (highly regarded by the heretical teachers). Since Paul did not identify who these powers and authorities were, it could be any one of them, or all four. What Christ disarmed on the cross was any embodiment of rebellion in the world—whether that be Satan and his demons, false idols of pagan religions (as in 2:16), evil world governments, or even God’s good angels when they become the object of worship (as in the Colossian heresy).

This “disarming” occurred when Jesus died on the cross. The word for “disarmed” is literally “stripped,” as in stripping a defeated enemy of armor on the battlefield. The powers and authorities of this evil world stripped Christ of his clothing and popularity, made a public spectacle of him on the cross, and triumphed over him by putting him to death. Ironically, the victory belonged to Christ. Actually he shamed them publicly by his victory.

2:16 Because Christ had canceled the written code (2:14) and had disarmed evil powers (2:15), believers have been set free from legalistic rules about what they eat or drink or what festivals they observe. Although it is most likely that Paul was referring to Jewish laws about diet and festival observances, pagan food laws and celebrations, or a combination of the two, cannot be excluded as a possibility. Paul’s point was that the believers should not give up their freedom for legalism. They must not let anyone condemn them by saying that certain actions would exclude them from God’s people. If the Colossians submitted to any of the regulations imposed by the false teachers, they would be saying that evil powers still held authority over them. They needed to remember that Christ had set them free.⁹

2:13 dead in your transgressions. See notes on Eph 2:1, 5. So bound in the sphere of sin, the world (Eph 2:12), the flesh (Ro 8:8), and the devil (1Jn 5:19) as to be unable to respond to spiritual stimuli; totally devoid of spiritual life. Paul further defines this condition of the unsaved in 1Co 2:14; Eph 4:17–19; Tit 3:3. He made you alive together with Him. See notes on Eph 2:1, 5. Only through union with Jesus Christ (vv. 10–12) can those hopelessly dead in their sins receive eternal life (cf. Eph 2:5). Note that God takes the initiative and exerts the life-giving power to awaken and unite sinners with His Son; the spiritually dead have no ability to make themselves alive (cf. Ro 4:17; 2Co 1:9). forgiven us all our transgressions. Cf. 1:14. God’s free (Ro 3:24) and complete (Ro 5:20; Eph 1:7) forgiveness of guilty sinners who put their faith in Jesus Christ is the most important reality in Scripture (cf. Pss 32:1; 130:3, 4; Is 1:18; 55:7; Mic 7:18; Mt 26:28; Ac 10:43; 13:38, 39; Tit 3:4–7; Heb 8:12).

2:14 canceled out the certificate of debt. This refers to the handwritten certificate of debt by which a debtor acknowledged his indebtedness. All people (Ro 3:23) owe God an unpayable debt for violating His law (Gal 3:10; Jas 2:10; cf. Mt 18:23–27), and are thus under sentence of death (Ro 6:23). Paul graphically compares God’s forgiveness of believers’ sins to wiping ink off a parchment. Through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, God has totally erased our certificate of indebtedness and made our forgiveness complete. nailed it to the cross. This is another metaphor for forgiveness. The list of the crimes of a crucified criminal was nailed to the cross with that criminal to declare the violations he was being punished for (as in the case of Jesus, as noted in Mt 27:37). Believers’ sins were all put to Christ’s account, nailed to His cross as He paid the penalty in their place for them all, thus satisfying the just wrath of God against crimes requiring punishment in full.¹⁰

1 The New King James Version. (1982). (Col 2:12–14). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

2 McNaughton, I. S. (2006). Opening up Colossians and Philemon (pp. 46–49). Leominster: Day One Publications.

3 McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Philippians/Colossians) (electronic ed., Vol. 48, pp. 157–158). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

4 McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (Philippians/Colossians) (electronic ed., Vol. 48, pp. 158–159). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

5 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, pp. 126–128). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

6 Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (pp. 2461–2462). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

7 Courson, J. (2003). Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (p. 1315). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

8 Woodhouse, J. (2011). Colossians and Philemon: So Walk in Him (pp. 138–139). Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus.

9 Barton, B., Comfort, P., Osborne, G., Taylor, L. K., & Veerman, D. (2001). Life Application New Testament Commentary (pp. 879–880). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale.

10 MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Col 2:13–14). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.