The Pulpit Commentary — Colossians — Section 135

element here that was so _prevalent in the East. They had committed personal trespass against a personal Lawgiver, and. thus were thrown into a stato of deadness. Their deadness thro~gh tres_Pal!ses )s. associated with the uncircumcision of their flesh. The_y had not the sign of c1rcumc1s1on on them. .And so they had that deadness which in circumcisio:n is r~presented as being p~t awaJ>:, !:lei?~ dead, God quickened them together with Christ, gave them the reality of cu·curnc1s1on or the reality correspond- ing to the coming up out of the waters of baptism. 'l'his presupposed the oxercise of forgiveness toward them. They (and not only they) had been forgiven their trespasses. And thus, the cause of deadness being removed, they could be quickened. (1) How cirCttmcision can be dispensed with. "Having blotted out the bond written in ordinances th~~ Wll;> against us, ';,hich was ~on~rary to us: and he bath taken it out of the way, nailmg 1t to the cross. Our obhgat1on to keep the Law of God (so we are constituted) is compared to a bond. It is as though we bad subscribed it with our own band. The word is handwriting. Jn the case of the Jews it was in the form of well-known ordinances (of which circumcision was one). In the case of the Gentiles the public sense of right also found expression in ordinances. The bond was against us in this sense, that it contained obligation which had to be met by us. It was not only against us in that sense (which it was from its very nature), but in its actual incidence on us in our fallen condition it was contrary to us. It could, as it were, be brought into a court of law to effect our conviction. There it was with our autograph. We had not met our obligation and had no manner of meeting it. What Christ did with the bond was to cancel it. His pen, as it were, was drawn through it. Or the writing was erased that it could never again be brought as evidence against us. To make it moro emphatic, it is added that he took it out of the way (so that it could never again be fo11ncl). "He took it out of the midst," it is literally, so that it could never be produced between us and God. .And to make it still more emphatic, it is added that he nailed it to bis cross. It was so affixed to the cross that when he was crucified it was treated similariy and completely made an end of. His crucifixion was a meeting the bond, discharging all onr obligations to the broken Law. There is thus, therefore, no bond that can be produced for our conviction, but there is a discharged bond which can be produced for our julitification. (2) How the hel,p of intermediate agents can be dis- pensed with. "Having put off from himself the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." The principalities and powers were those that sought to thwart Christ in his great undertaking, to prevent the salvation•of men. They began to gather around him at his temptation. Especially at the close did they obtain power. These evil principalities and powers clung to him like a garment. It was only by his thus allowing them to come into close contact with him that they could for ever be put off from men, It is said, regarding Hercules, the most celebrated of all heroes of mythology, that he came by his end by putting on a robe that had been steeped in the blood of Nessus, whom he himself had shot with a poisoned arrow. When it became warm round him the poison penetrated into his system. He attempted to wrench it off, but it tore away his flesh. .And he hastened his end by placing himself on a burning pile. It was sin that made the principalities and the powers like a poisoned clinging robe. But he put them off from himself. So complete was his victory that he held them up publicly to view as spoils. This triumph he obtained on the cross. It was there that the principalities and the powers bad him at a terrible disadvantage. They had, as it were, powor given them against him. But he, trusting in God, threw them off. And thus the symbol of weakness became the symbol of triumph.-H. F. Vers. 16-23.-T,liree errors. I. LEGALISM. "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day: which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ's." There is a detailed reference here to Jewish institutions. Eating ( rather than meat) was encom- passed with regulatior.s. There was a distinction drawn between clean and unclean animals. Certain parts of animals (the fat, the blood) were not to be eaten. God's rights (firstborn, por~ione of the priests) were not to be _infringed in eating. There was not so much binding down in regard to drinking. Priests were forbidden the use of wine before ministering in the tabernacle; and the Nazaritc vow included entire absti• err. n. 1-23.] THE EPISTLE TO 'rllE UOLOSSIANS. 129