Colossians 2:14

Having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.

Bond written in ordinances ... This is a reference to the Decalogue and to the entire Law of Moses. Widespread denial of this is and inaccurate. Peake's skilled exegesis on this question is pertinent:

Distinction between moral and ceremonial Law has no meaning in Paul. The Law is a unity and is done away as a whole. For Paul, the hostile character of the Law is peculiarly associated with the moral side of it. The Law which slew him is represented by the 10th Commandment, and the ministry of death was engraved on tables of stone?[38]

Written in ordinances ... as in this verse, signifies the tables of stone inscribed by the finger of God. As Wallace pointed out, it is deplorable that "By omission of `handwriting of ordinances' the revisionists break this connection."[39] The words certainly belong as a sure testimony that the Decalogue is here indicated.

Taken it out of the way ... nailing it to the cross ... These terms indicate the absolute cancellation and abrogation of the Law of Moses. Also, the fact should not be lost sight of that the heresy at Colossae was deeply involved with the Law of Moses, practically all of this chapter being particularly applicable to it.

The special application of this verse, as inclusive of the moral part of the Law of Moses, was discussed thus by Macknight:

The moral precepts of the Law of Moses are called the Chirograph, or handwriting of ordinances, because the most essential of these precepts were written by the hand of God on two tables of stone; and the rest Moses was directed to write in a book.[40]

Sabbatarians make two profound mistakes: (1) in their understanding of the sabbath day commandment as in any sense a part of the moral law, and (2) in their insistence that the moral portion of the Law of Moses is still in effect; whereas nothing could be more emphatic than the New Testament declarations that the Law, not part of it, but all of it, has been changed, abrogated, taken away, nailed to the cross, etc.

[38] A. S. Peake, op. cit., p. 527.

[39] Foy E. Wallace, Jr., op. cit., p. 449.

[40] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 534.