Exegesis:
I believe that the Bible is the source of truth. If it contradicts my ideas, then it must be my ideas that are wrong.
In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said “Think not that I am come to destroy the law“. This makes me doubt that the law was done away with. I will read the scriptures with an open mind to see what they really say about the matter.
In Colossians 2:14, the word “handwriting” is a translation of the Greek word “cheirographon” (χειρόγραφον). That word appears only once in the Bible (KJV), so I can’t compare its usage there. But it also appears in other contemporary documents, and while those documents aren’t reliable scripture, they can provide an indication of how people used the word.
Based on other writings from the time (Tobit 5:3 Tobit 9:5; Plutarch, mor., p. 829 a. de vitand. aere al. 4, 3; Artemidorus Daldianus, oneir. 3, 40), the Outline of Biblical Usage and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon each say that “cheirographon” can mean:
a note of hand, or writing in which one acknowledges that money has either been deposited with him or lent to him by another, to be returned at an appointed time.
So if “handwriting” actually means a written record of debt, an IOU, what does Colossians 2:14 mean?
In “nailing it to his cross“, “it” obviously refers to this IOU, and “blotting out” obviously refers to getting rid of the IOU. So what the verse means is that Jesus’s death caused our IOU’s to be cancelled.
And that interpretation makes sense and is consistent with the rest of the Bible. Many other scriptures say that Jesus offered his life to pay our debt. In fact, that is the central doctrine of Christianity. Romans 6:23 says that “The wages of sin is death” while Romans 3:23 confirms that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God“.
So, it really wasn’t the Law that was done away with, it was the debt of our penalty for violating that law that was destroyed by Christ’s sacrifice.
There are two matters here:
1. χειρόγραφον (cheirographon)
The pivotal word here is χειρόγραφον which is given the following meanings:
Thayer: a handwriting; what one has written with his own hand (Polybius 30, 8, 4; Dionysius Halicarnassus 5, 8; others); specifically, a note of hand, or writing in which one acknowledges that money has either been deposited with him or lent to him by another, to he returned at an appointed time (Tobit 5:3 Tobit 9:5; Plutarch, mor., p. 829 a. de vitand. aere al. 4, 3; Artemidorus Daldianus, oneir. 3, 40); metaphorically, applied in Colossians 2:14 ((where R. V. bond)) to the Mosaic law, which shews men to be chargeable with offences for which they must pay the penalty.
BDB: a handwritten document, specifically, a certificate of indebtedness, account, record of debts.
2. What does “it” refer to?
Col 2:13b, 14 says (NASB)
having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Thus, it is quite clear that what was “cancelled” and nailed to the cross is our indebtedness of sin.
Note, the “it” that was cancelled cannot be the “ordinances” because that word is plural and the “it” is singular. Therefore, what was cancelled is the handwriting of debt, that is debt of sin [which is defined by the ordinances) – a common metaphor in the NT, Rom 4:3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 22, 23, 24, 2 Cor 5:19, Gal 3:6, James 2:23.
Ellicott reaches the same conclusion:
(14) Blotting out the handwriting—i.e., cancelling the bond which stood against us in its ordinances. The “handwriting” is the bond, exacting payment or penalty in default. (Comp. Philemon 1:19, “I Paul have written it with mine own hand; I will repay it.”) What this bond is we see by Ephesians 2:15, which speaks of “the law of commandments in ordinances,” there called “the enmity slain by the cross.” … The metaphor, however, here is different, and especially notable as the first anticipation of those many metaphors of later theology, from Tertullian downwards, in which the idea of a debt to God, paid for us by the blood of Christ, as “a satisfaction,” is brought out. The Law is a bond, “Do this and thou shalt live.” “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” On failure to do our part it “stands against us.” But God for Christ’s sake forgives our transgressions and cancels the bond. It is a striking metaphor, full of graphic expressiveness; it is misleading only when (as in some later theologies) we hold it to be not only the truth, but the whole truth, forgetting that legal and forensic metaphors can but imperfectly represent inner spiritual realities.
Nailing it to his cross.—At this point the idea of atonement comes in. Hitherto we have heard simply of free forgiveness and love of God. Now the bond is viewed, not as cancelled by a simple act of divine mercy, but as absolutely destroyed by Christ, by “nailing it to His cross.”
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It is true we are under grace. The question one might ask is if the law has been nailed to the cross and done away with – then why do we need grace?