Daily Manna · Day 98 · April 8
Nailed to the Cross
“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 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;”
Paul's picture in these verses is something most people would recognise: a signed note promising to pay a debt. He calls it "the handwriting of ordinances that was against us." The Greek word is cheirographon, which means a written promise to pay, in the debtor's own hand. It was the ancient version of an IOU, and its power came from being in your own handwriting, so you could not argue with it. Notice that Paul does not call the record false. He says it was "contrary to us," and he never once says it was wrong.
So what can be done with a record that is true? You cannot disprove it, and you cannot lose it in a drawer. Paul says God did three things with it. He was "blotting out" the writing, a word for wiping ink off the page. He "took it out of the way." And He finished by "nailing it to his cross." All four Gospels tell us that a written charge was fixed to the cross of Jesus. Paul puts your charge on the same nail, in public, where it is read out and cancelled at the same moment.
The verse before is blunter than we usually allow. It never calls you merely struggling. It says you were "dead in your sins," and that God "quickened" you, an old word for made alive.
That leaves an open question, and it points somewhere we would rather not look. If a true record can be nailed up and finished, what about the true record you are still keeping about somebody else? You have never said it out loud, but they know it exists, and every conversation with them runs through it.
Nobody is telling you to have that conversation this week. You may not be ready, and it may not be safe. But the choice exists, and it is worth knowing that it does. A record that is accurate in every line can be closed by the person holding it. You have seen it done, because God did it for you. He held a true record against you, and He nailed it to the cross. The same mercy that closed your account can, in time, help you close theirs.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 98 is What Patience Is For (Romans 2:4).