CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

September 28, 2008

25424 Aldine-Westfield, Spring, TX. 77373

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NAILED TO THE CROSS

“He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us, he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14).

I was recently told by a sister about a brother who told her that we no longer need to study for we have learned it all. A classmate of mine from Sunset told me about a place where he preached. An elder would come up to him and say, “That’s just the way I heard it when I was growing up.” Over and over, week after week, he would say the same thing. Then one Sunday he came and said, “That’s NOT the way I heard it growing up.” In preacher talk, that lesson became a “moving” sermon, literally.

Some think that they have “heard it all” and there is no need to study. One of the problems with ancient Israel, according to Hosea, is that the people thought they heard it all and were destroyed because of a lack of knowledge. I pray that I will never be a person who does not study anymore; there is so much more to learn. I learn from those who I have much in common and those I have little in common. We should never become like the politician who has stated that everyone agrees with him and anyone who doesn’t is in the pockets of some multinational company.

There are some texts in scripture that we have read and have drawn conclusions, some based on our theology. We read the text and draw a conclusion that looks good without raising questions about it. Some who do are quickly labeled. The above text is one such text.

When we read it, many draw the conclusion that what was “nailed to the cross” was the Old Testament laws. This comes from our view of scripture, divided into two parts. We are New Testament Christians and so to emphasize that, we see the Old Testament being nailed to the cross so that we can state that we no longer live under that covenant. We have talked about the idea of New Testament Christians in past articles, particularly the Bible of the first century church being the Old Testament. That should call into question this view. Colossians 2:16-17 appears to be a reference to the Hebrew scriptures with the mention of festivals, Sabbaths, and a shadow of the things to come. Well here are some thoughts.

We know very little about the church at Colossae. We do not know who established it, when it was started, and the culture surround Colossae. For instance, was there a Jewish synagogue there? There is no indication one way or another. Colossae was located in the Lycus Valley with two other towns, one being Laodicea. They were on a major east/west road through Asia Minor or modern day Turkey. Further to the east was Galatia where some ten to twelve years early, Paul faced conflict with some Jews who wanted Christians to live under the Law of Moses. This was probably before the church in Colossae began. The issue was settled in the Jerusalem conference of Acts 15 and doesn’t appear to be a major problem after this in the Gentile churches.

Paul wrote Colossians from a Roman prison along with three other letters. Philemon appears to be in this area as well because the letter carrier, Tychicus, was coming with the former runaway slave of Philemon’s, Onesimus (4:7-9). Whether Philemon was in Colossae or in the region around isn’t clear. The letter was also a circular letter, to be exchanged with the letter to Laodicea.

In theological circles, the underlying problem with this church is known as the Colossian heresy. What that is though is not clear either. Any number of ideas have been suggested including a return of those who wanted to make Christians live under the Law. But this is not the only suggestion. Another is that the problem in Colossae was a very early form of Gnosticism (1). This heresy became a full-blown problem in the second and third centuries but I believe it arose out of Asia Minor. As I said, Colossae was located on a major road from east to west. Along with trade came religions from both directions. It appears that Asia Minor is where various religions met. We must understand that this syncretism would be typical for these people. They would adopt parts that they like. Various temples would be built to various gods from various areas like Persia, Greece, and Egypt. Jewish influences could also be seen to some extent. Another religion was that of the Emperor cult or the worship of the Roman emperor. At first it was building a temple to the dead emperor but then developed into worship of the living one. All of this has to be taken into account when reading Colossians.

We often read such things as human traditions, New Moon celebrations and festivals and Sabbaths as Jewish, and of course they are. This has led some to suggest that at least part of the heresy of Colossae involved some type of Judaism. Maybe so. Other than the Sabbath, many religions had similar ideas, and given the syncretism of the area, I could see some adopting the idea of the Sabbath much like the Seven Day Adventist of today.

Let’s look at some translations of part of this text to see if we can get a clearer picture. We will look at the phrase, “having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness” (TNIV)

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us” (KJV)

“having canceled out the certificate of debt, consisting of decrees against us” (NASB)

“canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow” (NCV)

“God wiped out the charges that were against us for disobeying the Law of Moses” (CEV)

“having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us” (NIV)

“that record that contained the charges against us” (NLT)

“having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us” (NKJV)

“that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross” (The Message)

“erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands” (NRSV)

Other than the Contemporary English Version, we are left with defining what the record or decrees were. Many follow the CEV by interpreting it as the Law of Moses. But is this the case? It is interesting to note that the word for “law” does not occur in the letter (2). We know in a previous letter that is earlier than Colossians, that Paul saw the law as holy, righteous and good (Romans 7:12-14). Add to that is the fact that the Bible of these churches was the Old Testament. With this in mind, the idea that it was the Law of Moses appears to be a stretch.

Another problem deals with the word translated as “record,” “written code,” or “legal indebtedness.” This Greek word appears only once in the New Testament which makes it difficult to understand. “In the 19^th Century the word turned up in the sands of Egypt inscribed on papyri” (3). It refers to an I.O.U. or a certificate of debt incurred by a person. It looks like The Message has captured the idea best in the above translations followed by TNIV.

So what does the text mean? We are part of a great cosmic battle between powers and authorities (2:15) or “elemental spiritual forces” (2:8). We were in debt to and under the power of those forces but the sacrificial death of Jesus, along with His resurrection, canceled or erased the debt and defeated the forces that had power over us. Jesus then led these forces prisoners in a triumphant parade by the cross (2:15). Paul uses the example of a victorious Caesar leading his army into Rome after a defeat of its enemies. “The cross was a triumph not because it destroyed three-fifths of God’s word, rather the Cross was victorious because it was there that Christ won the cosmic battle” (4).

This is something to think about. While it is easy to draw conclusions based on a reading of the text with words that we connect to the Old Testament, we also need to understand that we might be affected by our own dispensational theology of dividing the Bible into two parts. Now I can live with either view though I think the above is more accurate based on the questions asked of the text itself. What we need to understand is that there are often more than one view to difficult texts and we need not become rigid in our understanding but continue to study, read, and listen to what others say (5).

George B. Mearns

(1) This comes from Colossians 1:15-20 where Paul discusses the deity of Jesus, a major conflict with Gnosticism which saw that a holy God could not possibly become sinful flesh. Colossians 2:8 speaks of deceptive philosophy, or a special knowledge, which is the meaning of Gnosticism; one must have a special understanding to know God. Then there is the worship of angels (2:18), another major thought in Gnostic teachings.

(2) Bobby Valentine, What was nailed to the Cross?, 7/16/2008, http://stoned-campbelldisciple.blogspot.com