13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 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;
Colossians 2: 13, 14 (King James Version)
What was this “handwriting of ordinances” that was nailed to the cross. The Greek word for “handwriting” is χειρόγραφον (cheirographon, Strong’s G5498). This verse is the only place in the Bible where this word appears. This has led to various explanations of what cheirographon refers to.
The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) says this about the “handwriting of ordinances:”
“The handwriting” (alluding to the Decalogue, the representative of the law, written by the hand of God) is the whole law, the obligatory bond, under which all lay; the Jews primarily were under the bond, but they in this respect were the representative people of the world (Ro 3:19); and in their inability to keep the law was involved the inability of the Gentiles also, in whose hearts “the work of the law was written” (Ro 2:15); and as they did not keep this, they were condemned by it.”[1]
They apply cheirographon to the Ten Commandments. The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary is not willing to go so far. Concerning the “handwriting of ordinances,” it states:
“Some commentators hold that the apostle is telling the Colossian church that their regeneration through the resurrection power of God, the restoration within them of His image, was carried out by God’s blotting out, or canceling, the indebtedness of the bond they were due to fulfill. Others see a more general reference to the Mosaic law, especially as interpreted by the Jews. The latter view seems to be more in harmony with the succeeding context. The similarity with the language of Eph. 2:15 and the parallel nature of these two epistles suggest strongly that the “handwriting of ordinances” is the same as the “law of commandments contained in ordinances” (see on Eph. 2:15).”[2]
They include the Feasts of the LORD in this “handwriting of ordinances.”
Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, who received his doctorate at The Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was a professor at the Theological Seminary at Andrews University for many years had a different opinion of the word cheirographon. He wrote,
“The wiping out of the moral and/or ceremonial law would hardly provide Christians with the divine assurance of forgiveness. Guilt is not removed by destroying law codes. The latter would only leave mankind without moral principles.”[3]
So, what did Dr. Bacchiocchi believe that cheirographon represented? “Its usage in apocalyptic literature indicates the cheirographon is the ‘record-book of sins’ or a ‘certificate of sin-indebtedness’ but not the moral or ceremonial law.”[4] At the time Dr. Bacchiocchi wrote this he believed that the Feasts of the LORD had been nailed to the cross and did not need to be observed any longer.
Nobody believes that the Sabbath or the Feasts of the LORD were a “record-book of sins.” When we look at the context of Colossians 2 we can see that Paul was not speaking about the Sabbath or the Feasts of the Lord. Paul gives a warning in verse 8: “8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” The Sabbath and the Feasts of the Lord are not a “tradition of men” or “not after Christ.” On the contrary, they both were commanded by God and point directly to Christ and the plan of salvation.
In verse 16 Paul says, “16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” In the context of verse 8 this would suggest that the problem was not the observance of the Sabbath and the Feasts of the LORD but how they were being observed. The context in the subsequent verses suggests the same thing. “18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.” This sounds like the precursors to monasticism and praying to saints.
Paul did not stop there. He continued on:
20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Colossians 2: 20 – 22 (KJV)
What we are seeing in Colossians 2 is that the people were following the “tradition of men” and “the commandments and doctrines of men” when they were observing the Sabbath and the Feasts of the LORD. In other words, they were worshiping on these days in ways that God had not commanded and in fact were probably contrary to God’s commands. Their problem was not that they were observing the Sabbath and the Feasts of the LORD, it was how they were observing these days.
So, what then was the meaning of cheirographon? What is the “record-book of sins?” The priests in Israel did not keep a book in which they recorded the sins of the people. However, there was a way in which the sins of the people were recorded. When they brought their sin offerings the blood was sprinkled on the horns of the altar. With the trespass offerings the blood was sprinkled around the altar. The blood of each lamb has its own unique DNA fingerprint. This means that the blood of one person’s sin offering would have a different DNA fingerprint than the blood of another person’s sin offering. In this way the blood of each different lamb was a record of the sins of the individual who sacrificed that lamb.
When Christ died on the cross, He made the need for animal sacrifices no longer necessary. Daniel 9: 27 (KJV) says, “27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” He was the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” Revelation 13: 8 (KJV). His death on the cross allowed Him to remove “handwriting of ordinances that was against us.” We see then that there is nothing in Colossians 2 to indicate that the Sabbath or the Feasts of the LORD were nailed to the cross.
What about those who sin and do not confess their sins? John 3: 17, 18 (KJV) answers this question:
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Those who did not confess their sins did not offer a sacrifice and, therefore, did not have the blood of the lamb placed on the horns of the altar as a record of their sin. The Day of Atonement represents the cleansing of the sanctuary. On this day the sins of the people were symbolically transferred to the scapegoat who was taken out into the wilderness never to return. Those who never confessed their sins continued to bear them and were condemned already.
By the same token we cannot have our sins removed if we do not confess them. “9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1: 9 (KJV). That is what Paul is referring to in Colossians 2 when he is speaking about cheirographon. When we confess our sins and Jesus forgives our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness, He is “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us.”
[1] Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 377). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[2] Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1980). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 7, p. 204). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
[3] Samuele Bacchiocchi, The Sabbath in the New Testament (Berrien Springs, MI: Biblical Perspectives, 1988), 111.
[4] Samuele Bacchiocchi, The Sabbath in the New Testament (Berrien Springs, MI: Biblical Perspectives, 1988), 111.
Posted: January 27, 2024 · Leave a Comment
Cheirographon
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
14 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;
Colossians 2: 13, 14 (King James Version)
What was this “handwriting of ordinances” that was nailed to the cross. The Greek word for “handwriting” is χειρόγραφον (cheirographon, Strong’s G5498). This verse is the only place in the Bible where this word appears. This has led to various explanations of what cheirographon refers to.
The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) says this about the “handwriting of ordinances:”
“The handwriting” (alluding to the Decalogue, the representative of the law, written by the hand of God) is the whole law, the obligatory bond, under which all lay; the Jews primarily were under the bond, but they in this respect were the representative people of the world (Ro 3:19); and in their inability to keep the law was involved the inability of the Gentiles also, in whose hearts “the work of the law was written” (Ro 2:15); and as they did not keep this, they were condemned by it.”[1]
They apply cheirographon to the Ten Commandments. The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary is not willing to go so far. Concerning the “handwriting of ordinances,” it states:
“Some commentators hold that the apostle is telling the Colossian church that their regeneration through the resurrection power of God, the restoration within them of His image, was carried out by God’s blotting out, or canceling, the indebtedness of the bond they were due to fulfill. Others see a more general reference to the Mosaic law, especially as interpreted by the Jews. The latter view seems to be more in harmony with the succeeding context. The similarity with the language of Eph. 2:15 and the parallel nature of these two epistles suggest strongly that the “handwriting of ordinances” is the same as the “law of commandments contained in ordinances” (see on Eph. 2:15).”[2]
They include the Feasts of the LORD in this “handwriting of ordinances.”
Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, who received his doctorate at The Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was a professor at the Theological Seminary at Andrews University for many years had a different opinion of the word cheirographon. He wrote,
“The wiping out of the moral and/or ceremonial law would hardly provide Christians with the divine assurance of forgiveness. Guilt is not removed by destroying law codes. The latter would only leave mankind without moral principles.”[3]
So, what did Dr. Bacchiocchi believe that cheirographon represented? “Its usage in apocalyptic literature indicates the cheirographon is the ‘record-book of sins’ or a ‘certificate of sin-indebtedness’ but not the moral or ceremonial law.”[4] At the time Dr. Bacchiocchi wrote this he believed that the Feasts of the LORD had been nailed to the cross and did not need to be observed any longer.
Nobody believes that the Sabbath or the Feasts of the LORD were a “record-book of sins.” When we look at the context of Colossians 2 we can see that Paul was not speaking about the Sabbath or the Feasts of the Lord. Paul gives a warning in verse 8: “8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” The Sabbath and the Feasts of the Lord are not a “tradition of men” or “not after Christ.” On the contrary, they both were commanded by God and point directly to Christ and the plan of salvation.
In verse 16 Paul says, “16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” In the context of verse 8 this would suggest that the problem was not the observance of the Sabbath and the Feasts of the LORD but how they were being observed. The context in the subsequent verses suggests the same thing. “18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.” This sounds like the precursors to monasticism and praying to saints.
Paul did not stop there. He continued on:
20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Colossians 2: 20 – 22 (KJV)
What we are seeing in Colossians 2 is that the people were following the “tradition of men” and “the commandments and doctrines of men” when they were observing the Sabbath and the Feasts of the LORD. In other words, they were worshiping on these days in ways that God had not commanded and in fact were probably contrary to God’s commands. Their problem was not that they were observing the Sabbath and the Feasts of the LORD, it was how they were observing these days.
So, what then was the meaning of cheirographon? What is the “record-book of sins?” The priests in Israel did not keep a book in which they recorded the sins of the people. However, there was a way in which the sins of the people were recorded. When they brought their sin offerings the blood was sprinkled on the horns of the altar. With the trespass offerings the blood was sprinkled around the altar. The blood of each lamb has its own unique DNA fingerprint. This means that the blood of one person’s sin offering would have a different DNA fingerprint than the blood of another person’s sin offering. In this way the blood of each different lamb was a record of the sins of the individual who sacrificed that lamb.
When Christ died on the cross, He made the need for animal sacrifices no longer necessary. Daniel 9: 27 (KJV) says, “27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” He was the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” Revelation 13: 8 (KJV). His death on the cross allowed Him to remove “handwriting of ordinances that was against us.” We see then that there is nothing in Colossians 2 to indicate that the Sabbath or the Feasts of the LORD were nailed to the cross.
What about those who sin and do not confess their sins? John 3: 17, 18 (KJV) answers this question:
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Those who did not confess their sins did not offer a sacrifice and, therefore, did not have the blood of the lamb placed on the horns of the altar as a record of their sin. The Day of Atonement represents the cleansing of the sanctuary. On this day the sins of the people were symbolically transferred to the scapegoat who was taken out into the wilderness never to return. Those who never confessed their sins continued to bear them and were condemned already.
By the same token we cannot have our sins removed if we do not confess them. “9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1: 9 (KJV). That is what Paul is referring to in Colossians 2 when he is speaking about cheirographon. When we confess our sins and Jesus forgives our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness, He is “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us.”
[1] Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 377). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[2] Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1980). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 7, p. 204). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
[3] Samuele Bacchiocchi, The Sabbath in the New Testament (Berrien Springs, MI: Biblical Perspectives, 1988), 111.
[4] Samuele Bacchiocchi, The Sabbath in the New Testament (Berrien Springs, MI: Biblical Perspectives, 1988), 111.
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