Steve7150 wrote:Paidion,
Doesn't Col 2.14 essentially say he paid for our sins? It says he cancelled the certificate of debt that was against us. In different words it seems like the same thing as paying for our sins.
Steve, I think that translation is misleading. With what justification can δογμα (dogma) be translated as "debt"? I know the ESV, Murdoch, and the HCSB do so, but most translators render it as "ordinances." Others translate it as "decrees."
Here are some other verses which contain the word (in the NKJV):
Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days that a
decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
Acts 16:4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the
decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.
Acts 17:7 "Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the
decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus."
Ephesians 2:15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in
ordinances , so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.
Now consider the verse in question in Young's Literal Translation:
Colossians 2:14 having blotted out the handwriting in the
ordinances that is against us, that was contrary to us, and he hath taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross;
Indeed, doesn't this verse suggest the same type of abolition of the Mosaic law as in Ephesians 2:15 above? The handwriting of these Mosaic decrees, that is, the written law of Moses, was abolished by Christ as far as their application to His disciples is concerned. Christ's disciples were thereafter under the law of Christ.
I don't think the verse has anything to do with the cancellation of a debt.