Colossians 2:14, commentary and pictures

The verse speaks of canceling the ceremonial system of rules with its sacrifices, offerings and temple services that stood against people. Those rites were symbols pointing to Christ as the sacrificial Lamb and priest, and they remained in force only until they met their fulfillment in His death. At the cross they were taken away and lost their force, so the old Jewish ceremonies ended and must no longer control Christianity. It does not speak of wiping out the moral law of the Ten Commandments written in stone, which was never against humanity and remains binding and perpetual. In particular the Sabbath was not nailed to the cross but remains unchanged as the seventh day, and the cross itself proves that God's law is unchangeable because Christ died to meet the demands of the broken law in order to save the sinner.

What Was Nailed

The handwriting of ordinances that was against us and contrary to us is the ceremonial, ritual law of ordinances, with its sacrifices and offerings and temple services and customs regulating Jewish sacrifices and offerings. That law was made up of symbols and types pointing to Christ, to His sacrifice as the Lamb of God that takes away sin and the Lamb without blemish, and to His priesthood, with Him as its foundation. Every ceremony and sacrifice in that system prefigured His death.

It was in force only until type met antitype and shadow reached substance in Christ's death. With that greater and wholly perfect sacrifice all sacrificial offerings were to cease, being blotted out, taken out of the way, nailed to the cross, abolished, made null and void and losing their force. This fulfills the law and does not destroy it.

At the cross the divinely appointed ceremonies and sacrifices of the Jewish religion were rendered valueless, the old customs and ceremonies passed away, and the Jewish laws and ceremonies ended so they must no longer mould Christianity or control how the gospel is preached. Christ's death canceled the ordinances that stood against humanity, tore the veil, removed the partition between God and people, opened the way into God's presence through His blood, and abolished the enmity so both Jew and Gentile may come to God through faith and share in the living bread. The yoke that Gentile converts were not to be made to bear was this ceremonial law, not the Ten Commandments. Though the Jews were slow to discern its end and insisted Christianity stay connected with Jewish laws, ceremonies, restrictions and national peculiarities, providence was opening the way beyond them.

What Was Not Nailed

The handwriting blotted out is not the moral law of the Ten Commandments engraved in stone with the finger of God, for that law could never be blotted out and was never against men but remains binding and perpetual, and Christ's mission was to uphold it. The ritual law of sacrifices and ordinances was made up of symbols pointing to Christ, His sacrifice as the Lamb of God that takes away sin, and His priesthood, to be performed until type met antitype in His death when all sacrificial offerings were to cease. The ceremonial law regulating Jewish sacrifices and offerings ended at Christ's death when what stood against us was removed, but this is no declaration that God's moral law was abolished.

In particular the Sabbath commandment was not nailed to the cross, for if it had been abolished there the other nine commandments would have been abolished as well and could also be broken, so the verse does not authorize breaking any of the Ten Commandments. The Sabbath remains unchanged as the seventh day, with the unchanged fourth commandment forever holding its claim upon men as a perpetual covenant to be obeyed. It stands written on the stone tablets in the heavenly sanctuary and ark as given to Moses, and was not changed by God from the seventh day to the first. This contrasts with the pope's change of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first and with replacing it by a humanly instituted day, which leaves the law violated rather than canceled.

Christ made the Sabbath and left it in force at His death, and it remained sacred after His death. The disciples were still to keep it sacred forty years after the crucifixion, praying that their flight from Jerusalem would not fall on the Sabbath. The fourth commandment was not made null and void by the cross but holds its claim on the human family as long as the heavens and the earth remain, and the cross confirms the unchanging authority of every precept including the seventh-day Sabbath.

To use the verse to prove the moral law abolished or crucified with Christ and no longer valid blends two broad and clearly distinct systems and perverts Scripture. That claim is a fatal error and a lie of Satan to destroy the force of the Ten Commandments and make the whole law of no effect. Satan, who began rebellion in heaven against God's law and continues that warfare, seeks to subvert and void God's law by blinding minds to put the moral law in the place of the ceremonial law, making the moral law engraven on stone appear to be the law abolished at the cross. The cross proves the opposite, that God's law is unchangeable and immutable as the foundation of His government in heaven and on earth. Christ died not to abolish it but to provide a way to save the sinner by meeting the demands of the broken law, God's justice remains active, and the curse pronounced on transgressors will rebound on those who teach or practice lawlessness.

Encouragement and Christian Living

Colossians 2:14 belongs to a treasure house of encouragement to the believer, holding one of the rich, full, abundant and assuring promises of God to be received. It shows what Christ is to believers, calling them not to turn from Christ to humanity for help but to appreciate Jesus so that the salvation of God is seen. It also calls them to know what they may be to Him as His helping hand. The wider passage of Colossians 2:12-17 holds up the true moral standard of the gospel and must not be perverted. It calls for knowing what kind of crop is sown, whether tares or wheat, because what is sown is reaped. Only in the deepest sense of ruin is sincere love for Christ learned and proper gratitude cherished to Him who gave His life.

There is decided danger to any soul in pursuing a wrong course and harming the flock of God by precept or example. Living most closely to the example given in the life of Christ means walking in greatest humility and humbleness of mind. Christ's death brought the Jewish ceremonial observances spoken of in Colossians 2:14-17 to their end, for when type met antitype at the cross those ceremonies lost their force and no longer applied to God's people. Restoring them as religious requirements replaces inward cleansing and heart religion with outward performances and confuses the mind.