“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” — Colossians 2:13-15

One of the most powerful pictures of Christ’s victory is found in Colossians 2:13-15. This portion of scripture contains the absolutely glorious truth about what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross for us. It is good to know the depths of the abyss we were in so we can appreciate the magnitude of what Christ did for us on the cross. And that’s what Paul does here.

Dead, Condemned, and Helpless

Paul begins by telling us the state of every man and woman apart from Christ, and this may be the most poignant description of the unregenerated state. A sick person can seek a doctor, a sleeper can be awakened, a blind man can be guided—but a dead person? Helpless and hopeless apart from Christ. Paul says, “you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,” as much as a dead person is unresponsive to their name being called or to touch. That means every one of us at birth is a spiritual corpse – blind to the reality of the glory and beauty of Christ. That deadness is the result of “all our sins”. Secondly, we were not only dead but we also stood legally condemned by the lengthy “charge of our legal indebtedness.”

Every one of us at birth is a spiritual corpse – blind to the reality of the glory and beauty of Christ.

The good news is that God made us alive with Christ. We have been made alive, forgiven and given Christ’s righteousness, but something even more glorious happened. All these glorious realities didn’t happen apart from Christ – that will not satisfy our souls. We were made alive with Christ. We have received Christ himself into us. We are bound inseparably to him. But what of the charges that still stood against us?

The Record Against Us Was Nailed to the Cross

Next, we’re told what God did with that legal charge that stood against us in the courtroom of heaven. These were not mere malicious and unfounded accusations; they were proven. Each of the commandments rightly cried out that we had broken them. Jesus, he nailed that list to the cross. Think of it this way: when Christ was put on the cross, “the list of his commandments which you had not obeyed” (TLB) was put into his hands by God. As the nails drove through his hands into the wooden cross, they drove through that list of broken commandments as well. If you put a piece of paper through a paper shredder, what remains of it? Nothing, and that is what remains of the legal document that stood against us – nothing. Or as Phillips paraphrases it, “Christ has utterly wiped out the damning evidence of broken laws and commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it over his own head on the cross.” That means when the authorities of the day hung a charge over Jesus’ head, we, too, in him, had the charge over us hung to the cross and annulled there. That record was not just nailed; it was utterly removed.

When Christ was put on the cross, ‘the list of his commandments which you had not obeyed’ was put into his hands by God.

He Took It Away

The RSV says “he set this aside”. This is a legal term, and I have heard it used when a higher appeals court sets aside a faulty judgment from a lower court as being defective and therefore not legally binding. That record of sins that stood against us in the prosecution file, when Jesus nailed it to his cross, he put it away. When Satan, the accuser of the brethren, wants to bring a charge against anyone, their own sins are the legal basis for his accusations. By the work of Christ on the cross, that file containing our sins cannot be found; it has been set aside. How far has he put it away? “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:2). It cannot be found. He deleted it all, and they cannot be retrieved.

By the work of Christ on the cross, that file containing our sins cannot be found; it has been set aside.
 

He Forgave Us All Our Sins

What is the effect of our being made alive together with Christ, of our legal charge being expunged and taken away? It means our sins are forgiven. It means whatever resentment or wrath that God justly had against us because of our sins, he has consciously, voluntarily and intentionally decided to let go; he harbours no anger toward us. This is so because the righteous requirements of the law have been fulfilled by Christ; the debt has been fully paid, the record of sins is taken away, and the slate is wiped clean. We are not guilty anymore.

The Enemy Disarmed and Defeated

These glorious truths we are talking about didn’t leave the kingdom of darkness unaffected. The bible says, he “disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” To disarm is to take away weapon(s) from an entity. What weapons did the powers and authorities possess that Jesus stripped them of and removed their ability to damn us?

It is a glorious paradox that the rulers of this age thought they were shaming the Christ, stripping him of his garments and dividing it by lots, but the reverse was what was truly happening: they were the ones being stripped. Jesus didn’t go to a remote or obscure part of Israel and die there; he was killed in Jerusalem on the hill of Golgotha, where everyone could see him. They taught he was being shamed, but Paul says, “he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Elsewhere he says, if the rulers of this age–the spiritual powers of darkness and their earthly representatives–understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8). They were self-destructing, but they did not know it.

It is a glorious paradox that the rulers of this age thought they were shaming the Christ… but the reverse was what was truly happening: they were the ones being stripped.
 

Against the believer, what weapons do demonic spirits therefore now have? They are disarmed. What Satan can use to bring an accusation against anyone before God is the record of their sins. In the book of Zechariah 3, the filthy garment on Zechariah was what gave Satan the grounds to stand and accuse the prophet. The angel said, “Take off his filthy clothes.” He also said, “See, I have taken away your sin and I will put rich garments on you.” Once this was done, the enemy was disarmed, and there was no ground for his accusations. When Balak, the human representative of the unseen enemy hired Balaam, to curse Israel, he was told, God had “not beheld misfortune (sin) in Jacob; nor has he seen trouble in Israel.”  Therefore, “there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel” (Numbers 23: 21, 23). Once there is no transgression, there is no weapon. In our case, the sins have been taken away by the sacrifice of Christ; our sins have been punished. We can’t be accused of them. Therefore, the accuser has lost his weapons. “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died” (Romans 8:33-34).

Once there is no transgression, there is no weapon.

Freedom from the Fear of Death

O the fear of death! What control anyone who dangles it holds over the fearful one. The writer of Hebrews says that “by going through death as a man,” Jesus destroyed “him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” The effect of that on believers is that he “set free those who lived their whole lives a prey to the fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14). The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, and all of it has been satisfied and punished on the cross, therefore we are free, free from the fear of dying. Death for us is sleep and a transition into an eternity with God.

Live free; the enemy has got nothing on you.

Walk In This Light

This finished work of Christ should give you joy. While Christian joy is also a command, it has its basis in what Christ has accomplished. Because of this victory, your life is hidden with Christ. When accusations come, remember: the case is closed, the debt is paid, and the enemy is disarmed. Live your life as someone whom Christ has set free from the tyranny of the devil and his cohorts. Live free; the enemy has got nothing on you. He has been disarmed.

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