J. L. Terveen Colossians 2
15
christological touchstone of Pauls whole argument in Col. 2:8-15. Only in union "with
him/Christ," who was dead and made alive by God, can anyone experience the gracious
wonder of the vanquishing of personal spiritual deadness and the consequent raising to
life. Close intimate personal union "with" Christ is the unique and indispensable ground
of the miracle of God giving life to the dead.
Paul touches once more on the cause of spiritual death, including himself now
this time as he refers a second time to "trespasses." The causally understood
participle
calls attention to the grounds for Gods miraculous giving of
life, namely his gracious forgiving of the very trespasses that alienate people from God.
The "remission" idea in
transitions Paul smoothly into his next metaphor in
2:14 where he then takes up a consideration of what has transpired regarding mankinds
sin debt in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Cancelling the Legal Bond of Sin-Debt. Picking up on the idea of sins, in 2:14
Paul delves for his fourth major metaphor in 2:11-15 into the legal world to speak of
those sins in light of a debt record or bond. The NT hapax
referred to a
signed note of debt, a promissory note signed by the debtor. That Paul speaks of it as
being "wiped out" and destroyed by being "nailed to the cross" suggests that
understanding it as the Mosaic Law as such leads in the wrong direction. The contextual
framework of Pauls extended metaphor in 2:14 indicates rather that
depicts a record of sins, violations of the legal regulations
contained within
the Mosaic Law and moral law of God. It is this record of sins not the Law itself that
is erased. Gods moral and written law itself remains intact and valid. Paul makes the
accusatory and condemnatory character of this bond of indebtedness doubly clear, stating