reformed blogging.

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, having cancelled 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. - Colossians 2:13-14

In the quoted passage Paul speaks to the Church in Colossae, reminding them of their pre-Christian state. He writes so that the believers might not be taken captive through worldly philosophy or empty deception but rather that they might be taken captive by Christ. To this end Paul speaks of the gospel, namely, that they were dead in transgressions and uncircumcision, that they were utterly hopeless, for what can a dead man do? But while in such a state of spiritual deadness God made them alive together with Him. We, as Christians, share in this work of God’s grace. For all apart from Christ are dead in sin. Yet, while in such a sad and pathetic state He made us “alive together with Him.”

And how could a just God do such a thing to those who were in transgressions, those who were defiled, impure, who are described as uncircumcised in the flesh? For God to give life to one undeserving would be unjust if there is no forgiveness. But God made us alive, “having forgiven us all our transgressions.” Thus, as Paul says in Romans, God, through Christ, is both “just and justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

The next question arises: how did God forgive us all our transgressions, for such is no small feat. Paul responds: “having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us.” Those decrees against us, which condemned us for our transgressions, God canceled so that we no longer are indebted to Him. For these decrees were “hostile to us” and showed us to be, by nature, “children of wrath.” And here I would like to dwell for a short while. It is difficult to imagine that which is taking place in the mentioned passage: namely, that God cancels out our debt. To anyone who understands the holiness of God as well as the sinfulness of sin, it is a hard thing to believe that our sins, which are many, can be removed at all. And God has not only forgiven us of our wrong-doing towards Him, but He has completely put aside that which was owed to Him by us. Thus, what was once a dividing wall between us and God has been removed and no longer stands. What, then, exists that will keep us from God but repentance and faith? And once God has forgiven us, what do we owe but praise? For our debt has been canceled. It is not as though Christ has simply paid a debt which we can again fall into, but through Christ our debt has been put aside! Therefore those who are in Christ Jesus have every right to come before God with confidence.

There are, however, those who yet remain wondering how a just God can simply let sin go. Wouldn’t this be akin to pardoning a serial killer? How has our debt been canceled? How has it been taken away? God canceled it “having nailed it to the cross.” Here, every mouth is stopped. For it is not as though God simply forgot about our sins and swept them under the rug, for anything resulting from that would be no grace at all but unrighteousness, and God cannot be unjust. But we see here that God nailed them to the cross. What does that mean? How can sin, something intangible, be nailed to a cross? We would be left in darkness unless we saw through Scripture what this means. For in the Gospels we see Christ, the Son of God nailed to a cross. The only way that any man has a right standing before God is through Christ, our substitute. Because Christ was nailed to the cross, and He did so as our sin are our transgressions justly forgiven. Here we see the complete atonement of Christ, that all was accomplished on the cross. For it was not merely as an example that Christ died, but He accomplished something on the cross, through which we have forgiveness, and righteousness before God. It was because our transgressions were nailed to the cross that we are set free and forgiven and not only that, but made alive together with God. And on this truth do we as Christians stand, and on this truth do we gain full assurance of our salvation, that Christ paid our penalty.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. - Romans 5:6