/ @whisperinghope2u
Elder Andy David, Elder Jacqueline Gordon, Elder Vaughn Joseph
How often have we seen these texts, especially Colossians 2:14, misused as an argument against the law and keeping the Sabbath?
To help understand these texts, two main interpretations have been proposed by Seventh-day Adventists: First, the “handwriting” nailed to the cross is the list of charges leveled “against us,” similar to the writing Pilate hung on Jesus’ cross (Matt. 27:37; John 19:19, 20). Or, second, the ceremonial law written by Moses (see Deut. 31:24–26) was nailed to the cross.
When we look at the verse in its larger context, we can see that it is clearly talking about the ceremonial law.
Paul also refers to “circumcision made without hands” (Col. 2:11), that is, “of the heart” (Rom. 2:28, 29; compare Deut. 30:16), in apparent contrast to fleshly circumcision, which was one of the most important stipulations of the ceremonial law (Lev. 12:3; compare Exod. 12:48).
Paul then connects this inward change with “putting off the body of the sins of the flesh” and with baptism by immersion. With this baptism, we identify ourselves with Christ’s death and resurrection (Col. 2:11, 12).
This conversion experience is then likened to having been “dead in trespasses” and “made . . . alive” with Christ, who “forgave us all our trespasses” (Col. 2:13, NRSV).
The word “ordinances” (Col. 2:14) refers to legal decrees, whether secular (Luke 2:1, Acts 17:7) or ecclesiastical (Acts 16:4). This Greek word’s only other occurrence in Paul’s writings refers to the ceremonial law, which formed a wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:14, 15).
Because Paul has already referred to the forgiveness of sins and the inner change symbolized by baptism, it is unlikely he would return to that topic again with a different metaphor not used anywhere else in Scripture. Rather, Paul seems to be emphasizing a similar point as made in Ephesians: that the Gentile believers in Colossae need not worry about keeping the ceremonial law, including circumcision, nor about the purity laws that went with such a commitment (compare Acts 10:28, 34, 35).
Clearly, Paul was not suggesting that the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross, not when elsewhere he defines sin as violation of the Ten Commandments (Rom. 7:7).
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