Colossians
2:13-14 states:
“And even when you were dead in
transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life
along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; 14 obliterating the
bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also
removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross.”
This tells us that our sins were
forgiven when the “bond against us, with its legal claims that were opposed to
us” was “obliterated” and “removed from our midst,” and it was done when Christ
was nailed to the cross. The word “obliterating” is the Greek εξαλειψας, an aorist participle of εξαλειφω, used five ties in the NT, which means
“blotted out” or “wiped away” (Ac 3:19; Ap 3:5; 7:17; 21:4).
The phrase “bond . . . with its legal
claims” is the Greek χειρογραφον τοις δογμασιν, which
literally is, “handwriting of ordinances.” While “handwriting” is a
hapaxlegomena, it is probably an allusion to the law written by God’s own
fingers (e.g., Exodus 31:18: “When the Lord has finished speaking to
Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the commandments, the
stone tablets inscribed by God’s own finger”).
The word “ordinances” is the Greek δογμα, which appears five times in the NT and
refers to a legal decree (cf. Lk 2;1; Ac 16:4; 17:7; Ep 2:15; Cl 2:14).
Especially important here is the companion verse, Ephesians 2:15:
“. . . through his flesh, abolishing
the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself
one new person in place of the two . . . “
The clause “abolishing the law with
its commandments and legal claims” is the Greek τον νομον
των εντολων
εν δογμασιν
καταργησας. The word καταργησας is an aorist participle from καταργεω, which means, “to nullify, cancel, destroy,
abolish, do away with.” So we have the same teaching as Colossians 2:13-15. The
Law, the Commandments, both have legal claims against us, that is, they convict
us of sin. But they were, “abolished, cancelled, nullified” at the time Christ
offered his flesh on the cross.
When something has “legal” claims
against us, there are only two ways to mitigate its claims:
1) to obey the legal claims to the
fullest thereby satisfying the law’s demands.
2) to nullify the legal claims by
nullifying the legal entity in which they exist.
Since no one after Adam could
completely fulfill the law’s legal claims, the God-Man, Christ, fulfilled them,
and by that obedience, which was consummated on the cross (Gal 3;13), Christ
nullified the legal claims of the law against humanity and replaced that
covenant with its own covenant, the New Covenant.
We see the same truth in St. Paul’s
other teachings [in Rom 3:19-20; 4:13-16; 5:20; 6:14-15; 7:6-7] (Robert
Sungenis, Supersessionism is Irrevocable: Facing the Ambiguities,
Compromises, and Heresies in Recent Catholic Documents Regarding the “Old
Covenant” [State Lina, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing,
Inc., 2024], 434-35; comment in square brackets added for clarification)