Colossians 2:14 Meaning and Explanation
“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Guilt tends to feel like paperwork that never gets filed away. Colossians 2:14 answers that feeling with a scene: a document with our names on it, handled, cancelled, carried off, and nailed up in public. Paul writes to people who were being pressed to secure their standing by other means, and the picture settles where their security actually rests.
Paul pictures forgiveness as a written charge against us being wiped away. God erased the record that stood in accusation, removed it from between us and himself, and fastened it to the cross of Christ.
The Context of Colossians 2:14
Paul writes to believers at Colosse and Laodicea whom he has never met in person (verses 1-5), warning them against being spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men (verse 8). Verses 9-15 form one long sentence about what God has done in Christ: fulness dwelling bodily, completeness in him, circumcision made without hands, burial and rising in baptism, quickening together with him, and forgiveness of all trespasses. Verse 14 hangs on that forgiveness in verse 13. Verse 15 continues with principalities and powers spoiled and led in triumph, and verses 16-23 apply the whole to the pressures the Colossians faced.
What Does Colossians 2:14 Mean?
Four movements sit in one short verse. 'Blotting out' describes erasing writing from a surface so the text no longer reads. 'The handwriting of ordinances' names a document, something written down, carrying legal weight. Paul says twice what it did: it 'was against us' and it 'was contrary to us', language of accusation and opposition rather than of neutral record keeping. 'Took it out of the way' clears it from the space between two parties. 'Nailing it to his cross' makes the disposal public, since a charge fixed to the place of execution has already been settled. Each verb has God as its actor, and the cross is where the action lands.
The verse explains how the forgiveness announced in verse 13 was accomplished. People dead in trespasses are quickened together with Christ, and the ground of that pardon is a cancelled charge. What stood written was a true account, which is why its removal required a death rather than a quiet dismissal. The commandments God gave were good, and the record of our failure under them carried a verdict we had no answer for. Paul keeps the debt real and places its settlement at the cross. Verse 15 then shows the consequence in the wider world, since powers that traded on that record lost the document they were holding.
The image of a written accusation runs back through Scripture. Zechariah 3 shows Joshua the high priest accused while standing before the angel of the LORD, and the answer arrives as a change of clothing granted by God. The Gospels record a written charge fastened above Jesus at the crucifixion (John 19:19-22), and Paul's picture of a document nailed to the cross sits close to that memory. What hangs there in Colossians is our own indictment, absorbed in his death. Christ's obedience and his offering of himself are what make the erasure honest, so the cancelled writing is a fruit of the cross rather than a bare declaration.
Colossians 2:14 in the Original Language
cheirographon (χειρόγραφον), 'handwriting' -- a handwritten document, used in the ancient world for a note of debt signed by the debtor's own hand. The word carries the sense of an obligation formally acknowledged, which is why blotting it out reads as cancelling a bond.
Bible Verses Related to Colossians 2:14
“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;”
- Colossians 2:13
“Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;”
- Ephesians 2:15
“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”
- Isaiah 43:25
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”
- Galatians 3:13
Where Colossians 2:14 Echoes in Scripture
Isaiah 43:25 has God saying that he blots out transgressions for his own sake and will not remember sins, and Psalm 51:1 asks him to do exactly that. Colossians 2:14 uses the same verbal picture and tells where the blotting happened. Peter's promise in Acts 3:19 joins the two, calling people to repent and be converted so that sins may be blotted out. The vocabulary of erased writing carries from prophet to psalmist to apostle.
How to Apply Colossians 2:14 Today
Old accusations have a way of reappearing at three in the morning. Colossians 2:14 gives us something specific to answer them with, since the charge was handled at a particular place by a particular act. Naming a failure honestly in confession fits this verse well, because writing has to be read before it can be erased. The verse also steadies us when people press us toward extra securities, as verses 16-23 describe. We can receive God's gifts gladly, keep walking in Christ as verse 6 urges, and stop trying to pay a bill that has already been settled.
Reflection & Prayer
Which line on our old record still feels like it is written in permanent ink? A prayer: Father, you blotted out the charge that stood against me and nailed it to the cross of your Son. Teach me to bring what I hide into that light, to thank you for what it cost, and to live today as one whose account you have handled.