Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Colossians 2:14

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

Seest thou how great His earnestness that the bond should be done away? To wit, we all were under sin and punishment. He Himself, through suffering punishment, did away with both the sin and the punishment, and He was punished on the Cross. To the Cross then He affixed it; as having power, He tore it asunder. What bond? He means either that which they said to Moses, namely, "All that God hath said will we do, and be obedient" (Ex. xxiv. …

Homily on Colossians 6 ↗

Ephrem the Syrian

At the Birth of the Son the king was enrolling all men for the tribute-money, that they might be debtors to Him: the King came forth to us Who blotted out our bills, and wrote another bill in His own Name that He might be our debtor.

Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh, Hymn 4 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Since he said that He forgave us, lest you think that He nevertheless left them to exist somewhere and be visible, he says: no, not so; He completely blotted them out, wiped them clean. By "handwriting" we shall understand either the covenant which the people, as it were, personally concluded with Moses, saying: all that God has said we will do and we will obey (cf. Ex. 19:8) — or the condition which God set for Adam, saying: on the day you eat of it, you shall die (Gen. 2:17). …

Commentary on Colossians ↗

Western Saints

Ambrose of Milan

But Christ, who was sold, is held by the assumption of the condition, not by the price of guilt, because He Himself did not commit sin. Therefore, He contracted our debt, not His own money; He took away the handwriting, removed the lender, stripped off the debtor: He alone paid what was owed by all. It was not lawful for us to escape from servitude. He undertook this for us, to repel the servitude of the world, restore the freedom of paradise, and bestow a new grace of His fellowship in honor. This is by way of mystery.

On Joseph the Patriarch ↗

Thomas Aquinas

He says, having canceled the bond which stood against us. This bond or written decree can be understood in two ways. In one way it is the Old Law: "By abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two" (Eph 2:15). This is its meaning when he is here speaking in reference to the Jews, as if to say: and you... God made alive. Again, a written bond is a warranty usually employed in contracts. And whoever violates God's bond is subject to a debt of punishment. …

Commentary on Colossians ↗

Hippolytus of Rome

In order, then, to show the time when He is to come whom the blessed Daniel desired to see, he says, "And after seven weeks there are other threescore and two weeks," which period embraces the space of 434 years. For after the return of the people from Babylon under the leadership of Jesus the son of Josedech, and Ezra the scribe, and Zerubbabel the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of David, there were 434 years unto the coming of Christ, in order that the Priest of priests might be manifested in the world, and that He who taketh away …

Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments ↗