The Substitutionary Sacrifice of Iesous

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross."  Col. 2:14

Here is a direct statement on the efficacy of the work of the Iesous.  It is uncompromising in its articulation of the meaning of the Gospel.  It is so skillfully crafted and theologically astute that we dare not tamper with its elegant structure.  You and I are well aware of attempts to deconstruct the high Christology of Paul and serve up some specious and reduced Christology for our spiritual consumption.

As one of the main contributors to the documents that comprise the New Testament canon Paul does not back down from his philosophical contemporaries and seek out a synergistic alliance with their doctrines or beliefs.  He does not not play to their hubris.  He knows that his message is intrinsically different, and therefore has no real counterpart or affinity with anything extant in his day.

He told the Community at Rome that he was not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation.  Paul wanted the Colossian saints to know that God has done something of eternal value for them through the Iesous.  Paul tells them that God has removed or blotted out the legal document that condemned them as incorrigible sinners.  The legal opinion that stated that they deserved eternal banishment from the presence of God has been swept away by God himself through the Iesous.

So terrible was this document that it was covert and not immediately knowable to us.  The legal opinion that condemned us was nailed to the Cross of the Iesous.  He was truly the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world.  He was the impeccable innocent One who suffered the penalty of God's judgement on our behalf.

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