Colossians 2:13-19

¹³ “And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, ¹⁴ having canceled 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. ¹⁵ When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. ¹⁶ Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day— ¹⁷ things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Take care that no one keeps defrauding you of your prize by delighting in humility and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding firmly to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.”

Paul is summarizing the two sides of the Gospel. The first side is what Christ did: His death, burial, and resurrection for our sins. The other side is what happens to us when we believe. When we trust in Jesus, we too are crucified, buried, and raised through our union with Him. Our old, dead selves are eradicated and replaced with a brand-new creation. The result of this salvation is also freedom from the law.

All our wrongdoings: The Gospel offer is total forgiveness, not a mere covering of sin. Our sins have been removed perfectly by the perfect sacrifice of Christ (see also Hebrews 10:14). This means all sins past, present, and future are completely gone.

Canceled the certificate of debt: The law revealed 613 things that we owed God. God canceled this debt so that we no longer owed Him anything. This action disarmed the rulers and authorities, the Jewish leaders, because it removed their weapon: The law. Because they have been disarmed, believers are to not let anyone judge them for not keeping external regulations and observing specific days that are only a shadow of what is to come. The law was only a shadow of Christ, the reality. Christians, therefore, have no reason to blend Gospel and law. The Gospel is our ticket out of law-based indebtedness. 

Defraud you of your prize: The Gospel is a prize and ought to be guarded. Paul did not want people to pollute the Gospel through self-abasement. These types of practices have an appearance of wisdom, but actually have nothing to do with the Gospel. This means that reality does not always match our experiences such as visions and other spiritual encounters. We may experience something that makes us think that we need more of God. But this does not mean we are witnessing truth. Jesus is our truth and when we believe in Him, we have everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4). 

Grows with a growth which is from God: Christians often feel that they need to grow more in their relationship with God. In order to accomplish this, we often perform outward works in order to somehow cause the growth. But Paul does not want Christians to carry the burden of growing themselves as if they could accomplish this. Only God can grow His children and He does so through grace, not man-made religious principles. He is helping us get to know Him and this relationship is what causes true growth. The more we rest in Christ’s finished work, the more we are open to growing.