Dear Brethren,

MEDITATION

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross

Colossians 2:13-14

OBSERVATION AND INTERPRETATION

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh…

1. While we are dead in our sins, the Lord Jesus has made us alive together with Him
2. He does so by forgiving all our trespasses

a. We are reminded of what God said to Adam in the Garden (Genesis 2:16-17)
b. To sin against God results in death
c. To be forgiven by God leads to life

Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us …

1. The handwriting of requirements

a. This does not refer to the law that came through Moses
b. This refers to our debt-certificate for violating God’s law

2. The Lord Jesus has actually

a. Wiped out this debt-certificate
b. Taken this debt-certificate out of the way, or removed it from our midst

3. He has done so by nailing it to the cross
4. That our sin and its debts are nailed to the cross is

a. Not merely metaphorical
b. But absolutely Christological (2 Corinthians 5:21)

APPLICATION TO LIFE AND MINISTRY

1. That we were dead in sin is a ‘post-Fall normal-reality’
2. That we are made alive together with Christ is an ‘one grace after another-reality’
3. Let us attempt to better grasp Ontological Christology – ‘who Christ in Himself is’
4. Let us never take for granted Functional Christology – ‘who Christ is for us’

Prayerfully
Tomas Zatel