“He canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross». Colossians 2:14, GNT
I REMEMBER that, when I was a boy, there was a notebook in my father’s shop that was used to keep track of customers’ debts. Every so often the debts were reviewed and those who owed him had to settle their debt. Although that happened in the 1980s, the method dates back to time immemorial. For instance, in Philemon 1:18 Paul says that Onesimus’s debt should be put on his account.
That record of debts was known as a cheirographon, a Greek word that literally means «handwritten». There are many documents of such sort in papyruses. A first century text refers to a wine buyer, who signed a purchase receipt stating, «Merchandise for which I have signed a receipt [cheirographon].»* When the debt was paid, an X was placed on the bill, that is, on the cheirographon.
Paul, who enjoyed presenting the gospel using people’s everyday language and expressions, takes the metaphor of the cheirographon and applies it to our spiritual lives. In Colossians 2:14, the apostle stated that God «canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross» (GNT). Some Christians think the «bond written in ordinances» (ASV) or «charge of our legal indebtedness» (NIV) was the law itself, and they conclude that Jesus nailed the law to the cross. However, Paul is not talking about the law, but about «the record of the charges against us» (NLT).
Our sins had left our numbers in the red before God; we had accumulated an unpayable debt, and day after day that record gave proof of our inability to pay. Then Christ came, took the bill our sins had generated, and nailed it to the cross; in other words, He placed a mark on it that showed our debt had been paid, our balance owed went down to zero. Christ crucified our sins; He buried them, He took them away from our lives, and opened before us the possibility of beginning a new life in Him.
Your account as a debtor was great, the charges written down in the notebook were staggering and needed to be paid off; but because of Christ’s death your debt has been forgiven, your sins have been blotted out, the record against you was completely annulled.
www.meditacionesdiarias.com
http://www.faceboock.com/meditacionesdiariass
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.meditacionesdiarias.mobile
Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2023
“I AM WITH YOU”
From: J. VLADIMIR POLANCO
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Avineyda Hernández
