Colossians 2.14b-The Jewish Christian's Condemnation from the Mosaic Law Was Eradicated By the Cross of Jesus Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday January 10, 2016
Colossians: Colossians 2:14b-The Jewish Christian’s Condemnation from the Mosaic Law Was Eradicated By the Cross of Jesus Christ
Lesson # 55
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (NASB95)
“And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” defines specifically for the reader how the Father caused the cancellation of the certificate of debt which was a written code of laws for the Jew which condemned the Jew because they were sinners by nature and practice and God is holy.
Therefore, when Paul says that the Father resolved the Jewish Christian’s problem prior to their conversion of being condemned by the Mosaic Law, he is asserting that the Father took away this condemnation through the substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of His Son on the cross.
“He has taken it out of the way” is composed of the following: (1) intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “it” (2) verb airō (αἴρω), “He has taken” (3) preposition ek (ἐκ), “out of the way” (4) adjective mesos (μέσος), “out of the way.”
The verb airō means “to take away, to remove, to eliminate, to eradicate” and is used in relation to the condemnation the Jewish Christians were under prior to their conversion because they were sinners by nature and practice and God is holy.
This word refers to the fact that the Father “eradicated” or “eliminated” this condemnation through the substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross.
The adjective mesos means “the partition” and is used in relation to the condemnation incurred by the Jewish Christian prior to their conversion as a result of not being able to perfectly obey the Law God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai and it is also used in relation to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, this adjective denotes that this condemnation was the partition separating sinners and God who is holy.
The adjective mesos is the object of the preposition ek which functions as a marker of separation indicating that the Father eradicated this condemnation from the Law which served as a partition between unregenerate Jews and a holy God.
“Having nailed it to the cross” is composed of the following: (1) verb prosēloō (προσηλόω), “having nailed to” (2) intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “it” (3) noun stauros (σταυρός), “ cross.”
The verb prosēloō pertains to causing something to be fixed in place by means of nails and here it is used in a metaphorically or figurative sense for the substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the cross.
The verb prosēloō is a participle of means which indicates that it is identifying how the Father eradicated and removed this condemnation from the Law.
Colossians 2:8 Don’t stop making it your habit of watching out for anyone belonging to a group who would seek to take each and every one of you captive through empty, deceitful philosophy based upon the tradition produced by human beings, based upon the elementary teachings promoted by the cosmic system, which are by no means based upon to the teaching originating from Christ. 9 The reason for this command is that in Him, the totality of attributes which compose the divine nature permanently dwell in bodily form. 10 Also, by means of your union and identification with Him, each and every one of you as an eternal spiritual truth exist in the state of being made complete, who is, as an eternal spiritual truth existing in the state of being the head over each and every ruler and authority. 11 Furthermore, because of your faith in Him, each and every one of you was circumcised by means of a circumcision which was not performed by human beings, by means of the removal of your body composed of that which is flesh, by means of this circumcision which is specifically your identification with the Christ. 12 Specifically each and every one of you were buried with Him by means of the baptism which is essential and superior. Correspondingly, by means of which each and every one of you were raised together with Him by means of your faith in God the Father’s exertion of power who caused Him to enter into the state of being raised out from the dead ones. 13 In other words, even though each and every one of you existed in the state of being spiritually dead ones because of your transgressions, specifically because of the uncircumcision which is your flesh, He caused each and every one of you to be made alive together with Him. Simultaneously for His own glory, He graciously forgave each and every one of our transgressions for the benefit of each and every one of us. 14 Specifically, He caused the cancellation of that which was against each and every one of us, namely a certificate of debt which is according to a written code of laws, which was continually existing in the state of being opposed to each and every one of us. To be more explicit, He eradicated it, removing this partition by causing it to be nailed to the cross. (Author’s translation)
The apostle Paul identifies specifically for the faithful Christians in Colossae how the Father graciously forgave Jewish Christians like himself each and every one of their transgressions which he asserts at the end of Colossians 2:13.
It is important when interpreting Paul’s statements here in Colossians 2:14 that when he speaks of “us” he is referring to Jewish Christians like himself and not both Jew and Gentile Christians and this is indicated by several factors.
First the Colossian Christian community was Gentile whereas Paul was of course Jewish.
The reference to “uncircumcision” in Colossians 2:13 is a reference to this fact that the Colossians were Gentiles since this is a term the Jews used for the Gentiles.
This interpretation is further substantiated by the fact that Paul asserts in Colossians 2:14 that the Father cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees which were against the Jew and were hostile to the Jews.
The Mosaic Law was given to the Jews and not the Gentiles according to Romans 9:1-5 and the book of Exodus.
Some would argue that the reference to the Law here in Colossians 2:14 can also be a reference to the law or Ten Commandments which is written on the hearts of every human being both Jew and Gentile and is referred to by Paul in Romans 2:14-15.
However, when Paul is referring to a certificate of debt, he makes clear that in Colossians 2:14 that it is a written code of laws.
The Jews exclusively and not the Gentiles received from God in writing through Moses the written law.
The reason why Paul makes the switch to Jewish Christians from Gentile Christians here in Colossians 2:13-14 is that he is attacking the Essene branch of Judaism whose misapplication and misinterpretation of the Mosaic Law was the source of the heresy in Colossae.
So the question would be obvious to Paul’s Gentile Christians readers.
If the Jews were condemned by God for not obeying perfectly the Law, why would these Gentile Colossian believers submit to the teaching of the Judaizers who sought to have them submit to the various commands and prohibitions in the Law?
If keeping the Law never resulted in a Jew being declared justified by God, why would these Gentile Colossian believers seek to keep the Law to live the Christian way of life?
Paul defines specifically for the reader in Colossians 2:14 how the Father caused the cancellation of the certificate of debt which was a written code of laws for the Jew which condemned the Jew by asserting that the Father has taken this condemnation from the Law out of the way by having nailing it to the cross.
Therefore, when Paul says that the Father resolved the Jewish Christian’s problem prior to their conversion of being condemned by the Mosaic Law, he is asserting that the Father took away this condemnation through the substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of His Son on the cross.
The Father eradicated this condemnation through the substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross.
This condemnation was done away with completely by the Son’s work on the cross.
Paul describes this condemnation from the Law as the partition separating sinners and God who is holy.
This condemnation was separating the unregenerate Jew and a holy God.
Paul then asserts that God the Father caused the eradication of this partition by means of His Son Jesus Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.
So in Colossians 2:14 when Paul asserts that the Father caused the eradication of the Jewish Christian’s condemnation from the Law by causing it to be nailed to the cross, he is referring to the spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the cross, which served to propitiate the Father.
This work of propitiation reconciled a holy God to sinful humanity.
Propitiation is the Godward side of salvation whereby the voluntary substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ satisfied the righteous demands of a holy God that the sins of the entire world-past, present and future be judged (Romans 3:21-26; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10).