Read this again and again, allowing these words to sink in deeply: “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and thus stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” Paul adds that God triumphed “over them by the cross (Colossians 2: 13-16, NIV).”
So, the law or written code with all its regulations, all its do and do not statements has been canceled by the cross, more specifically by what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
Note that God tells us the law was “against us” literally standing and speaking against us like a prosecutor before a judge and jury. Imagine a prosecutor suddenly and totally being incapable of bringing a case against a guilty party. This is the gift of Jesus Christ to us. He has given us the ultimate freedom, freedom from regulations and from condemnation.
That’s the main reason Paul rebukes those Christians who want to put themselves back under regulations, back under rules for “good” behavior. He warns them that they will never be able to meet every expectation that the written code demands of them.
I reiterate here: Don’t seek to please God through obedience to rules. Please God by believing in His gift, the gift of His Son and His Holy Spirit.
Grace Partakers 