Limitless Word
wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;
Colossians 2:14 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV 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;
  • BSB having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!
  • NKJV having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
  • NASB having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
  • NLT He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

God cancelled the record of debt against us and nailed it to the cross. Our condemnation was paid and removed by Christ's death.

Overview

The 'handwriting in ordinances which was against us' is the record of our guilt under God's law. God 'wiped out' this charge and took 'it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.' The legal debt that condemned us was discharged in Christ's crucifixion, leaving believers free from accusation.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • Isa 44:22I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.
  • Eph 2:14–16For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition,
  • Isa 43:25I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
  • Heb 8:13In that he says, “A new covenant”, he has made the first old. But that which is becoming old and grows aged is near to vanishing away.
  • 1 Pet 2:24who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
  • Col 2:20If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,
  • Heb 7:18For there is an annulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and uselessness
  • Heb 10:8–9Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law),
  • Heb 9:9–10which is a symbol of the present age, where gifts and sacrifices are offered that are incapable, concerning the conscience, of making the worshiper perfect;
  • Acts 3:19“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,
  • Isa 57:14He will say, “Build up, build up, prepare the way! Remove the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.”
  • Gal 4:1–4But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all;
  • Ps 51:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
  • Ps 51:9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.
  • Luke 1:6They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.
  • Num 5:23“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness.
  • 2 Th 2:7For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains now, until he is taken out of the way.
  • Esth 8:8Write also to the Jews, as it pleases you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring; for the writing which is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may not be reversed by any man.”
  • Dan 5:7–8The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whoever shall read this writing, and show me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
  • Esth 3:12Then the king’s scribes were called in on the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month; and all that Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps, and to the governors who were over every province, and to the princes of every people, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus, and it was sealed with the king’s ring.
  • Neh 4:5don’t cover their iniquity, and don’t let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Colossians videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Colossians 2:14YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ColossiansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The image of the invisible God, firstborn over creation, in whom all things hold together and all the fullness of God dwells bodily — supreme over every power.

How Colossians 2:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.