Colossians 2:14

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances, etc.] Various are the senses interpreters give of these words; some think by the handwriting is meant the covenant God made with Adam, (<010217>Genesis 2:17), which being broken, obliged him and all his posterity to the penalty of death, but is cancelled and abolished by Christ; others, the agreement which the Israelites made with God at Mount Sinai, when they said, “all that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient”, (<022407>Exodus 24:7); which was as it were setting their hands, and laying themselves under obligation to obedience, and, in case of failure, to the penalty of the law; others, God's book of remembrance of the sins of men, out…”

“Blotting out--Greek, "Having wiped out"; coincident in time with "having forgiven you" (Col 2:13); hereby having cancelled the law's indictment against you. The law (including especially the moral law, wherein lay the chief difficulty in obeying) is abrogated to the believer, as far as it was a compulsory, accusing code, and as far as "righteousness" (justification) and "life" were sought for by it. It can only produce outward works, not inward obedience of the will, which in the believer flows from the Holy Spirit in Him (Rom 3:21; Rom 7:2, Rom 7:4; Gal 2:19). the handwriting of ordinances--rather, "IN ordinances" (see on Eph 2:15); "the law of commandments contained in ordinances." "The…”

“Blotting out the handwriting - The word rendered handwriting means something written by the hand, a manuscript; and here, probably, the writings of the Mosaic law, or the law appointing many ordinances or observances in religion. The allusion is probably to a written contract, in which we bind ourselves to do any work, or to make a payment, and which remains in force against us until the bond is cancelled. That might be done, either by blotting out the names, or by drawing lines through it, or, as appears to have been practiced in the East, by driving a nail through it. The Jewish ceremonial law is here represented as such a contract, binding those under it to its observance, until it was…”

“Having blotted out - in consequence of his gracious decrees, that Christ should come into the world to save sinners, and that whosoever believeth on him should have everlasting life. The handwriting against us - Where a debt is contracted, it is usually testified by some handwriting; and when the debt is forgiven, the handwriting is destroyed, either by blotting it out, by taking it away, or by tearing it. The apostle expresses in all these three ways, God's destroying the handwriting which was contrary to us, or at enmity with us. This was not properly our sins themselves, (they were the debt,) but their guilt and cry before God. Colossians 2:15”

“2:14 the record of the charges against us: The Greek phrase suggests an IOU that we have all signed. Since we are unable to pay what we owe, it stands against us. The law of God required obedience that people are unable to give, but God has forgiven our debt through the work of Christ (2:13).”

“Blotting: Num 5:23; Neh 4:5; Psa 51:1, Psa 51:9; Isa 43:25, Isa 44:22; Act 3:19 the handwriting: Col 2:20; Est 3:12, Est 8:8; Dan 5:7, Dan 5:8; Luk 1:6; Gal 4:1-4; Eph 2:14-16; Heb 7:18; Heb 8:13, Heb 9:9, Heb 9:10, Heb 10:8, Heb 10:9 took: Isa 57:14; Th2 2:7 Colossians 2:15”