Question:
Please explain Colossians 2:14. Does it teach that the Lord’s Supper is not to be observed and that baptism is done away—that all these were nailed to the cross?
Answer:
The apostle says only those things against us and are contrary to us are nailed to the cross. In the eighth verse, he tells us, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Those things of the world, those of men, are not the things by which we are saved. They are the things that are to be put away. They are the things which have brought us into bondage. In Christ dwells all fulness; in Him is true circumcision, the cutting off of sin. In Him, we are baptized (verse 12), and we show our faith in Him by baptism, and by that baptism, we show the world that we have “put off the old man” with all his workings. By His power, we are raised or made to walk in the “newness of life.” We can rejoice that He has blotted out all those things that would bring us into bondage and nailed them to His cross forever. He has wrought all this so that we may obey Him in perfect freedom of spirit, keeping the things He has given instead of being bound about by the rules and ordinances of men. That would include not only the traditions of men but also all those Jewish types, shadows, and traditions that were done away when Christ came.
