Friday, March 29, 2024

Robert Sungenis (RC) on Colossians 2:13-14 and Supersessionism

  

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)