colossians 2:13-14 Canceling the Record of Dept
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the midst, nailing it to the cross.
Colossians 2: 13 - 14 - An interpretation of a Secret
In our interpretation we particularly deal with three things, with the "opposing handwriting", with "he also took it from the middle or midst" and with the term "nailed it to the cross". The handwriting is not a record of debt, as modern translations have translated it.
The verse belongs to the very difficult texts. What Paul actually means here when he writes about this handwriting could not be fully understood in the past centuries, because this verse points especially to the Last Days. Of course it has always been valid, because the opposing handwriting "which was against us", as Martin Luther translated, was nailed to the cross by God himself. That, too, is a mystery. But only in our days does this verse come to bear, and so we dare a prophetic word.
The handwriting, Greek Cheirógraphon - Χειρογραφον, is an Hapax Legomenon, a word that occurs only once in the Bible and refers to the Last Days.
Paul says that the handwriting was removed from the middle and nailed to the cross. What kind of handwriting was that? The German translation of the Elberfelder and the English translation of King James seems to us to have succeeded here, because it expresses that someone had written something by hand. The content of this paper consisted of statutes, but what kind of it? They are sentences that derive from the law, but in the true sense are not the laws themselves. We come to the content of the handwriting somewhat later.
Let us go to verse 1 of the same chapter, Paul begins with the words: "For I want you to know what a great battle I have for you and those in Laodicea and so many have not seen my face in the flesh." Paul is in battle, the Greek word describing a contest associated with fear and anxiety, costing a great deal of effort and effort to try to lead the church in the right direction. Paul courageously goes ahead and exhorts the church and at the same time gives the reasons for his remarks: But this I say, that no one may deceive you with persuasive words.
As we have already shown in the script, The Structure of the Bible, the Letter to the Colossians and the Epistle to Laodicea belong very closely together when it comes to the prophetic interpretation of the texts. We think that all exegetes agree that Revelation is pure prophecy. If Paul now mentions the church of Laodicea five times in the Epistle to the Colossians, then this Epistle must also have a prophetic dimension, which is already indicated by the Hapax Legomenon, the word "handwriting".
What is this fight that Paul is waging? The apostle worries that someone could be led away as prey, through philosophy and vain deceit. He assures the Colossians and also the church of Laodicea that both churches should read the letters of the others that the words formulated in the handwriting had long been nailed to the cross.
What occupied us, the authors, was this: Why was the handwritten or signed document in the middle? And the question that immediately followed: What kind of middle is that? The Greek word for middle is Mesos. It is the same word as in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, there it must read correctly: For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only now is he who restrains until he is from the midst.
The fact that the texts from Colossians 2, 14 and 2. Thessalonians 2, 7 are closely connected is now to be pointed out.
In the script about the Antichrist we have already explained the second chapter of the 2nd Thessalonians and made it clear that he who stops can only be one, and that is our Lord. It is Jesus who restrains the son of destruction, because he is the one who is in the middle, in the midst of his church, surrounded by the believers. This is also what is to be expressed in Genesis 2: I - God the Father - want to make him - God the Son - a helper - the church - which is around him. But the Lord is no longer in the midst of Laodiceans, but is standing outside the door. What do we find now in the middle?
Imagine that:There is a handwritten letter, somewhat yellowed, on the table. Did the cleaning lady find him when she did the basic cleaning? The whole church around the table and nobody dares to open the document. They all sit there rooted to the ground, their eyes on the letter. Who wrote it and what does it say? And then that, too, a troublemaker. He keeps knocking on the door. There is depressed silence, the sister stands up and taps on quiet soles to the front door, looks through the spy. She is pale with fright, staggers away from the door and hurries to her place and her position. It knocks again, she shrugs.
It sees this of one of our brothers. He gets up and goes to her. Quietly it whispers. Then he straightens up and goes back, walks towards the middle and takes the letter from the table and into his hand. Then he turns to the gathering, hesitantly opens the letter and trembles, you can see it clearly. His eyes slowly wander over words that accelerate his breathing. What is written in this letter now?
Wordlessly Brother Colosse sits down in his place and hands over the letter to the next person. Now Brother Laos is reading his lines. The head lowers and the letter also falls to his knees. Listen, the silence is still calling, screaming for redemption, there is another knock at the door. Laos begins in minor: Let him in!
The doorkeeper rises hastily and strives for the door. Today you can hear it for the first time, as the key turns in the lock and the door also moves back and forth in the hinge. Researched footsteps come closer, cross the room, until they arrive in the middle. He turns back, his eyes wander around.
He opens his mouth and asks one question: ...
And what question is asked? When we have found the answer in the scripture, then we know the nature of the document and what the content of such a letter is.
We should definitely tell the things that happened in the days before. In an elaboration of the Torah of the Messiah, we dealt with the fifth law formulated in Genesis 18: If they have one thing, it comes to me, and I judge between one and the other, and make known to them the statutes of God and His law(s). We read the chapter carefully and examined various terms. We were particularly interested in the circumstances and how this law came about. The story begins with Jethro the father-in-law announcing himself to Moses and letting him know that he and Zipporah and his sons had come with him.
We asked ourselves the question: Why do Zioporah, Gersom and Eliezer are living with Jethro and not with Moses? The second verse gave us the key word. Let us read the text first: And Jethro the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, heard all that God had done to Moses and to Israel his people, that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. And Jethro the father-in-law of Moses took Zipporah the wife of Moses after the sending home, and her two sons.
Moses and Zipporah did not live together for a while, why? We examined the word home-sending. Luther's text of 1912 says she was sent back, so it is in most other translations. Only the International Standard version says: she had been sent away. Why was Zipporah sent away, the Hebrew word for home-sending is Shilluach and means first of all dismissal. Had Moses dismissed Zipporah? Isn't it rather the case that a woman's husband can't resign because they're not in the same employer-employee relationship? Zipporah was not a maid. Now we are looking at another translation possibility of the word Shilluach, it means divorce and refers in particular to a document. And thirdly, the word Shilluach also refers to the marriage money, i.e. the dowry or dowry for the woman, in this case related to Zipporah. Who was this woman? Let us take a closer look at her name. The Hebrew word is צפורה and is translated as (small) bird. What species of bird is the name Zipporah? In the script, Three Wondrous Birds, from Psalm 102, 7-8, we described what we found out about this bird. Zipporah describes a sparrow.
All three birds metaphorically stand for the believers of the three circular routes of the Post Route of Asia Minor, as confirmed by the teaching letters of the New Testament. And so Zipporah represents the woman of the third round. Moses had given his sparrow the letter of divorce, but why?
Let us return to the scene where the Lord was finally let in and asks the crucial question that we have held back until this point, until things have at least become a little clearer for the reader. Jesus asks the crucial question as formulated in Isaiah:
"Where is your mother's divorce letter with which I dismissed her?"
This is the opposing handwriting, as it is called. But why was Laodicea dismissed? The reader can certainly imagine the reason for the dismissal. Nevertheless, let us see what is written in the divorce letter: "Behold, for your transgressions you are sold, and for your transgressions your mother is dismissed." Who is the mother? The answer is: From a Christian perspective it is Rome, from a Jewish perspective it is Israel of the Old Testament. To whom is Laodicea sold? God has brought her to Babylon again, that is Rome for both the Jews and the Nations. In the sixth book, the role of the little prophets, it says: "For now you will go out of the city and dwell in the field and come as far as Babylon. There you will be saved, there the Lord will deliver you from the hand of your enemies." Micah 4:10 And in chapter 6 we read: "Hear ye mountains - that is, hear ye rulers, the law of the Lord." The lawsuit is a contest, which Paul now fights with Antipater, because he desires that which does not belong to him. He wants to seduce Laodicea to fornication through religious philosophy and deceit.
Jesus is now in the church. Why did he come anyway, when he had filed for divorce? Let us hear what the Lord says to Laodicea: "Why did I come, and no man was there? Did I call and no one answered?" His people do not answer, the consequences are: "Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, make rivers a desert: their fish stink, because there is no water, and they die of thirst." Isaiah 50: 2
So where's the letter of divorce? We are told to the Colossians: ... he also took them from the middle by nailing them to the cross. The opposing handwriting was nailed to the cross by God the Father, because the Son could not have done it. If the nailing took place 2000 years ago, then on the figurative level the handwriting can only speak of the Lord himself. And that exactly seems to us to be the deeper meaning. If we look at the letters to the Colossians and to Laodicea together, then the Lord should be in the middle, but he is standing outside the door. Because he took upon himself the guilt mentioned in the divorce document, made himself the culprit of the quarrel, he was nailed to the cross. The message to Laodicea is: "I love you". Let the rival go and return to me, for I have returned to you and stand at your door.
When in the Torah Moses a man gave the woman a letter of divorce, the woman had to leave the house immediately. But in Revelation 3 we see that the Lord had not sent her away, because he took the guilt upon himself. With this Jesus not only complied with the law, but because he was the first husband to die, he can now marry his first love again as a risen man.
So Paul cannot speak of the law, if he mentions the handwriting that contradicts us, because the law is good, it cannot be nailed to the cross either. Whoever spreads such nonsense has not understood the law. But we can also attest William Kelly that he missed the point. Of course, the Colossians were in danger of believing another gospel in which the law was also observed. But with no word is the word law, Greek Nomos, used in the letter to the Colossians. In general, the letter is about things that look similar. They derive it from the law, from the elements of the world, from Greek philosophy. But all this has nothing, but also nothing at all, to do with Christ and his people. Paul clearly formulated it when he wrote: But I say this, that no one may deceive you and lead you away as spoils:
1. persuasive words;2 Philosophy;3. vain deceit;4. according to the tradition of men;5. according to the elements of the world.
Paul prophetically describes our time and with it syncretism, i.e. people are to be led into a unity religion from all possible ideas to a peaceful world and world community. And that they try to persuade us with many words can be seen in their campaigns, which in the end bring them into law form and thus seduce many.