Colossians 2:15 portrays the fighting that took place at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. Evil men had put Christ on the cross. By His crucifixion Christ labored to accomplish redemption. God the Father was also working to judge sin and to nail the law to the cross. At the same time, the rulers and authorities were busy in the attempt to frustrate the work of God and Christ. The reference to triumph in verse 15 implies fighting. It indicates that a war was raging. While Christ was accomplishing redemption and God was dealing with the law and with the negative things, the rulers and authorities came to interfere. They pressed in close to God and Christ. But at that very juncture, God stripped them off, triumphed over them, and made a display of them openly, putting them to an open shame.
Colossians 2:15 is a small window through which we behold a marvelous sight. At the time of Christ’s crucifixion, a battle was raging between God and the rulers and authorities. But God stripped them off and triumphed over them.
Paul’s concept in these verses is that the law and the angels have been set aside through the cross. The law was nailed to the cross, and the evil angels have been stripped off by means of the cross. Therefore, in God’s economy in His salvation there is room neither for the law nor for the angelic rulers. How wrong the Colossians were in following ordinances and in worshipping angels! The law with its ordinances, including the keeping of the Sabbath, had been nailed to the cross. The Colossians were altogether wrong in allowing these things to pervade the church. Furthermore, in the cross God overcame the angelic rulers and put them to shame. What a blunder to be led astray to worship angels!
If we see the vision conveyed in these verses, many problems will be solved. For example, no one will be able to convince us to go back to the observance of the seventh day Sabbath. No one will be able to persuade us to be subject to the ordinances God has nailed to the cross. To follow such ordinances is to be blind and in darkness. It is to be ignorant of the Bible or to know it only superficially. Those who advocate Sabbath keeping may appeal to certain verses in the Old Testament. They may try to argue that both the Lord Jesus and Paul went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. However, 2:14 and 16 make it clear that the ordinances, including the observance of the Sabbath, have been abolished. Those who advocate the observance of the Sabbath have never touched the depths of the Scripture. They do not realize that through the cross the ordinances have been abolished. Furthermore, the rulers and authorities who gathered around God and Christ in displeasure at what was taking place on the cross have been defeated. When these evil angels surrounded God and Christ, God overcame them and stripped them off. Therefore, the law has been nailed to the cross, and the rulers and the authorities have been stripped off from God. What remains now is God’s redeemed people who are in a position to be enlivened by Him. Now that the law and the angels have been set aside, God has a clear ground and a peaceful environment for the enlivening of His chosen ones. He now has a proper atmosphere to carry out the pleasant task of enlivening the very ones He chose in eternity past. He delights to put His life into them and to make them alive.
The Colossians needed to see such a vision, and we also need to see it today. Because they lacked this vision, the Colossians were trying to keep the law and were worshipping angels. How foolish!
The aspects of the economy of God’s salvation in 2:13-15 are presented in a good sequence. In the economy of His salvation God enlivens us, nails the law to the cross, and strips off the evil rulers and authorities. The law is a frustration, and the rulers and authorities are troublesome. Because God has removed the law and the angels, we, His chosen people, are alone with Him. We are no longer bothered by terms, conditions, or requirements. God is here to enliven us, and we are here to be enlivened by Him. We should forget the law and the angels and allow God to put Himself into us as life.
The law that was used to expose our sinfulness has been nailed to the cross. Furthermore, the angels have been stripped off from God and Christ. Have you ever realized that at the time of the crucifixion God and Christ were so busy? Have you ever seen that the evil rulers and authorities were swarming around God and Christ and that a warfare was raging at the cross? I believe that few Christians have seen these things. Praise the Lord that by triumphing over the angelic powers and stripping them off, God has cleared the ground to enliven His chosen people.
Because of the subtlety of the enemy, the believers at Colosse were returning to the ordinances of the law and even were worshipping angels. What a great heresy! The principle is the same among Christians today. Christians may follow various ordinances, and those in Catholicism may even worship angels. Those who do not worship angels may still greatly admire them and unconsciously aspire to be like angels. Many sisters especially desire a type of angelic spirituality. But in principle to admire angels is to adore them, to worship them. I can testify that in me there is no place for angels. God has the ground to contact me in Christ. The law and the angels are not between me and Him.
The environment and the atmosphere are very suitable for God to contact us. Furthermore, God is not here to judge us, for He has already judged us on the cross. He is not even here to deal with us, because He has dealt with us already. God is here to accomplish one thing—to enliven us by imparting life into us. As the life-giving Spirit, the Triune God is giving life to us. In the meetings of the church life, we are being enlivened. Concerning this, the law and the angels have no place. We should remind the rulers and authorities that at Calvary God stripped them off and triumphed over them. Based upon God’s victory, we can order them to flee. What we need today is not the law or the angels, but the enlivening One, the life-giving One. This is the economy of God’s salvation.