Colossians 2:14-17: The Law Nailed to the Cross
Short answer: The law of commandments contained in ordinances is the written record of God's requirements that stood against us as a record of debt. In Colossians 2:14-17 Paul says God wiped out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us and nailed it to the cross. In Ephesians 2:15 he says Christ abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, to create one new man. This does not mean God's moral character changed or that believers may sin freely. It means the old covenant's written code, its ceremonial regulations, its dietary rules, festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths, no longer stands as the legal basis on which God judges his people. Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes, so the shadow has given way to the substance, who is Christ himself.
What the handwriting in ordinances actually was
Paul's phrase in Colossians 2:14 is a picture drawn from the ancient world of debt. A handwritten note listed what a person owed, and that note functioned as a legal claim against him. Paul applies that image to the law. The law of commandments contained in ordinances was written, it was specific, and it stood against us because we had not kept it. It was not merely advice; it was a binding record.
Notice that Paul says the handwriting was against us. The problem was not that God's commands were evil. As Romans 7:12 puts it, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, righteous, and good. The problem was that a written code can only condemn sinners; it cannot produce the obedience it demands. The record of debt was real, and it was ours.
Paul's answer is not that God ignored the debt. Colossians 2:14 says he wiped it out, took it out of the way, and nailed it to the cross. The cross is where the record was canceled, not overlooked. That is why the passage moves immediately into Christ's triumph over rulers and authorities.
Ephesians 2:15 and the hostility between Jew and Gentile
Ephesians 2:15 says Christ abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace. Here the focus falls on the dividing wall between Israel and the nations. The law's ordinances had marked Israel out as distinct, and that distinction had become a source of mutual hostility.
Paul is not saying that God's moral will was abolished. He is saying that the code which separated Jew from Gentile has been set aside in Christ. The two are now one new man. What once divided them has been removed in Christ's flesh, not by legislation but by crucifixion and resurrection.
This is why the same letter can speak of grace through faith and also of good works prepared beforehand. The abolition Paul describes is the abolition of the dividing code, not of God's call to holiness. The Gentiles who were far off have been brought near, and the wall is gone.
Hebrews 9 and the ordinances of the first covenant
Hebrews 9:1 says the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and an earthly sanctuary. The whole apparatus of tabernacle worship, priesthood, sacrifices, washings, and calendar was a system of ordinances. Hebrews goes on to call these regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. They were real, God-given, and temporary.
This matters because some read Colossians 2:14 as though Paul were inventing a category. He was not. The old covenant genuinely consisted of ordinances, and Hebrews treats them as a shadow. The earthly sanctuary, the blood of goats and calves, the repeated offerings, all pointed beyond themselves to a greater priest and a better sacrifice.
When Paul says the handwriting in ordinances was nailed to the cross, he is saying that the shadow has reached its goal. The substance belongs to Christ. The old system did not fail; it finished its appointed task when the one it foreshadowed arrived.
Why the law was added, and until when
Galatians 3:19 asks why the law was given at all, and answers that it was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. The law was temporary by design. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator, and it served until the promised offspring arrived.
Paul then describes the law as a guardian or tutor until Christ came. Its purpose was to confine and to expose, not to give life. It showed sin for what it was and kept God's people looking forward to the coming Redeemer. When faith came, the guardian's role ended.
This is the logic behind Colossians 2:14. The written code was not wrong; it was provisional. It did its work, and when Christ came, it was taken out of the way in the manner of a canceled debt. The law was never intended to be the permanent basis of justification.
Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness
Romans 10:4 says, For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. The word is not that Christ set aside the law's moral content, but that he is the goal to which it pointed. Righteousness before God is now found in him, received by faith, not earned by law-keeping.
This connects directly to Colossians 2. If Christ is the fulfillment, then the record of debt cannot also be the basis of our standing. If it were, faith would be pointless and the cross would be unnecessary. Paul's whole argument depends on the fact that the two cannot coexist as grounds of acceptance.
None of this makes the law meaningless. It remains holy and good, and it still shows us the character of God. But it no longer condemns those who are in Christ, because its claim against them was settled at the cross and its ceremonial regulations have served their purpose.
Should anyone judge you by food, festival, or Sabbath?
Colossians 2:16 draws the practical conclusion: let no one judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These were the ordinances of the old covenant calendar and diet. Paul says they were a shadow of the things to come, but the body is Christ's.
This does not authorize careless living. It forbids treating old covenant regulations as the test of standing before God. A believer may still rest one day in seven, eat with gratitude, and observe seasons of devotion. What they may not do is make such things the measure by which others are judged before God.
Colossians 2:18 goes on to warn against false humility and angel worship, and verse 20 asks why, if we died with Christ, we submit to regulations. The issue is not whether rules exist but whether they have authority over the conscience. Under the new covenant, Christ does.
How this shapes ordinary Christian obedience
If the written code was nailed to the cross, then obedience is no longer a performance that secures acceptance. It is the fruit of a life already accepted in Christ. The believer obeys because he has been joined to the one who fulfilled the law, not in order to produce a record that can be presented to God.
This frees the conscience from endless scrupulosity about ceremonies while binding it to the moral will of God. The same Paul who says the law of commandments contained in ordinances was abolished also says that the one who loves has fulfilled the law. Holiness is not relaxed; its motive is transformed.
It also produces humility toward those who differ on matters of diet, calendar, and custom. If Christ is the substance, lesser disagreements lose their power to divide. Paul's aim in Ephesians 2:15 was peace, one new man, and that peace is still the proper fruit of the cross.
How the shadow-and-substance distinction guards the gospel
Some fear that saying the ordinances were abolished will lead to lawlessness. Paul anticipated that charge in Romans 6 and rejected it. The question is not whether God wants holiness, but where righteousness is found. If it is found in Christ, then adding law-keeping as a second ground destroys the first.
Others fear that keeping the ordinances was never intended to end. But Galatians 3:19 says the law was added until the offspring should come. Hebrews 9 calls the regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. The temporary character of the old covenant is written into the New Testament itself.
The shadow-and-substance distinction keeps the gospel clear. The law shows us our debt, the cross cancels it, and Christ becomes our righteousness. That is why Paul can say the handwriting was nailed to the cross and, in the same letter, call the Colossians to walk worthy of the Lord.
Pastoral care for those troubled by old covenant regulations
Many sincere believers carry a heavy conscience because they have been taught that certain festivals, foods, or days are still required. Colossians 2:16 speaks directly to that fear: let no one judge you. The judge in view is not Christ; it is a human teacher imposing a standard the cross has already met.
Others go the opposite way and treat freedom as indifference. Paul's answer to both is Christ. The one who died and rose is the head over every ruler and authority, and he is the substance the shadows pointed toward. Freedom from the code is not freedom from the Lord.
Where faithful Christians differ about how to apply old covenant practices today, they should do so with charity and without condemning one another. The cross settled the debt. Everything else must be held in that light.
Biblical fidelity check
What the passage establishes is that the written record of debt against us was canceled at the cross and that the old covenant's ordinances no longer stand as the basis of judgment. Colossians 2:14 says the handwriting was wiped out, taken out of the way, and nailed to the cross. Ephesians 2:15 says the law of commandments contained in ordinances was abolished to create one new man. It does not establish that God's moral character changed, that sin is now acceptable, or that every commandment in Scripture is nullified.
A common misreading treats these verses as a blanket cancellation of all law, so that believers may live as they please. That is wrong because Paul himself, in the same letters, commands holiness, warns against sin, and calls the law holy. The abolished code is the old covenant's written regulations that divided Jew and Gentile and condemned sinners; the moral will of God, fulfilled in love, remains. The passage also does not say the fourth commandment is abolished as a creation ordinance, so Christians have differed about its ongoing application. What is clear is that Christ, not the written code, is now the ground of acceptance.
Other passages that speak to Colossians 2:14-17
Colossians 2:14-17 sits within a letter that exalts Christ, and the surrounding chapters repay careful reading. Start with Colossians 2: Fullness and Freedom in Christ for the chapter's argument about union with Christ and the cancellation of debt. Then read Colossians 1: Paul's Prayer and Christ's Supremacy to see the Christology that makes the cross decisive. What Does Colossians 1:23 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application helps connect the reconciling work of Christ with steadfast faith. Finally, What Does Colossians 3:1 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application shows where the letter goes next: since you were raised with Christ, seek the things above.
Frequently asked questions
What is the law of commandments contained in ordinances?
It is the written code of the old covenant, including its ceremonial, dietary, and calendar regulations, which stood as a record of debt against sinners. Ephesians 2:15 calls it the law of commandments contained in ordinances, and Colossians 2:14 calls it the handwriting in ordinances which was against us. It was holy and God-given, but it could only expose sin and could not give life. When Christ came, the substance to which it pointed, its condemning claim against his people was removed at the cross.
Does Colossians 2:14 mean the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross?
The verse says the handwriting in ordinances was against us and was nailed to the cross. Paul's focus is the written record of debt, the old covenant code that condemned and divided. The New Testament consistently treats the moral will of God as enduring, and Paul calls the law holy in Romans 7:12. What ended was the law's role as the basis of judgment, not God's call to love him and neighbor. Faithful Christians have differed about how the Sabbath command applies, but all agree Christ is now our righteousness.
If the ordinances were abolished, why does Paul still command holiness?
Because obedience flows from a new standing rather than establishing it. Colossians 3 tells those raised with Christ to put to death what is earthly and to put on love. The cross settled the debt, so the believer obeys out of gratitude and union with Christ, not to assemble a record that can be presented to God. Freedom from the condemning code is not freedom to sin; it is freedom to serve the one who fulfilled the law on our behalf.
