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;
All Commentaries on Colossians 2:14 Go To Colossians 2
John Chrysostom
AD 407
See to it that we do not again become debtors to the old contract. Christ came once; he found the certificate of our ancestral indebtedness which Adam wrote and signed. Adam contracted the debt; by our subsequent sins we increased the amount owed. In this contract are written a curse, and sin, and death and the condemnation of the law. Christ took all these away and pardoned them. St. Paul cries out and says: “The decree of our sins which was against us, he has taken it completely away, nailing it to the cross.” He did not say “erasing the decree,” nor did he say “blotting it out,” but “nailing it to the cross,” so that no trace of it might remain. This is why he did not erase it but tore it to pieces.
