The Finished Work of Jesus

I met some new friends this week who challenged me to meditate on a few verses daily. To decree them and lean into them for their full power in my life. When we apply the Word of God to our lives, it’s incredibly powerful. The Sword of the Spirit is, after all, our greatest and only offensive weapon we’ve been given to wield against the schemes of the enemy.

As I’ve read Colossians 2 in multiple translations, the debt we owe is really jumping off the page. And not just our debt but those of our forefathers. These can take the form of generational curses and when ancestors get involved in the occult of any form, it can cause legal spiritual demands upon the generations that follow.

This passage in Colossians discusses the “certificate of debt” that is used with hostility against us. But what is more, it shows us that Jesus has taken that certificate of debt, set it aside, and completely removed it from our case by nailing it to the cross. The more we press into the finished work of Jesus Christ, the more we claim the liberties He has afforded us.

I’ve been so deeply encouraged and set free by pressing into this passage. It’s not easy. Some of the language and concepts can feel challenging, especially if you’re exhausted and weary. But pressing in to the finished work of Jesus on the cross is worth it. As I was challenged to do this, I want to now challenge you to do the same. Come before the Lord and decree these truths over your own heart and the generations that follow you. Then trust that Jesus canceled the debt over you and nailed it to the cross. And walk in a whole new level of freedom.

 I’ll share it here with you in the Amplified Version because it seems to do the most thorough job of translating the deeper meaning. Click here to read Colossians 2 in 4 different translations, side by side. I love reading different translations parallel to each other to get the fullest understanding I can. Enjoy.

In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but by the [spiritual] circumcision of Christ in the stripping off of the body of the flesh [the sinful carnal nature], ¹² having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God, [as displayed] when He raised Christ from the dead. ¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (worldliness, manner of life), God made you alive together with Christ, having [freely] forgiven us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled out the ^[a]certificate of debt consisting of ^[b]legal demands [which were in force] against us and which were hostile to us. And this certificate He has set aside and completely removed by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities [those supernatural forces of evil operating against us], He made a public example of them [exhibiting them as captives in His triumphal procession], having triumphed over them through ^[c]the cross.

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Footnotes

1. Colossians 2:14 This term refers to a debtor’s handwritten note acknowledging the debt.
2. Colossians 2:14 I.e. the requirements found in the Mosaic Law which were violated. The debt is the punishment due for the violator’s sins. Gentiles were never directly liable to the Law, but as Paul explains in Rom 2:12-16, God holds them responsible for violating the principles of the Law that they acknowledge of their own volition.
3. Colossians 2:15 Lit it or Him.

Colossians 2:11-15, AMP