Certificate of debt (5498) (cheirographon from cheir = hand + grapho = write) is literally handwriting or a handwritten document and then a written record of a debt such as a promissory note. A document is written in one's own hand as a proof of obligation, e.g., a note of indebtedness. The word means primarily a bond written by a person pledging himself to make certain payments.
Friberg writes that figuratively in the only NT use in Colossians 2:14 cheirographon refers not to
the law itself, but to the record of charges (for breaking God's law), which stood against us and which God symbolically removed by "nailing it to the cross," handwritten account, record of debts (Friberg, T., Friberg, B., & Miller, N. F. Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament. Baker Academic)
Thayer writes that cheirographon means...
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
TDNT writes that in Colossians 2:14 cheirographon means
a “promissory note.” God cancels the bond that lies to our charge. This bond is not a compact with the devil, as in some patristic exegesis. It is the debt that we have incurred with God. The forgiveness of sins (Col 2:13-note) through identification with Christ in his vicarious death and resurrection means that this note is cancelled; God has set it aside and nailed it to the cross. (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans)
For example, in Philemon we find an "IOU" Paul writing
I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand, I will repay it (not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self as well). (Philemon 1:19)
The idea is that of list of our crimes or moral debt before God, a debt no imperfect person can completely pay. But it can be taken out of the way, by payment from a perfect man, Jesus Christ.
Cheirographon then described a note or bond written by hand thus obligating the writer to fulfill the debt that is written out. In other words it is analogous to an "IOU" signed by hand and obligating the signer to repay the debt. Paul's idea seems to be that the sins of mankind had piled up a list of "I.O.U.'s" so large that they could never be repaid. Paul uses cheirographon not as the law itself, but as the record of charges for breaking God's law and which therefore stood against us.
When a criminal was crucified, the charges against him were written down and nailed to his cross. In this case, the charges against Christ encompassed the whole Law of God because Christ was dying for all the sins of all the world (Gal 3:10,13). In the OT, when presented with God's Law, the Jews had agreed to obey (e.g., Ex 19:8, 24:3,24:7). In the New Testament we find the Gentiles while not the written Law, did have the unwritten law in their hearts and the voice of conscience speaking within (Ro 2:14, 15-note). Men were in debt to God because of their sins and they knew it. There was a self-confessed indictment against them, a charge-list which, as it were, they themselves had signed and admitted as accurate. The debt was impossible to pay, but God dealt with it; he had blotted it out and cancelled the bond by nailing it to the cross. This is a vivid way of saying that because Christ was nailed to the cross, our debt has been completely forgiven.
Barnes adds that Paul's
allusion is probably to a written contract, in which we bind ourselves to do any work, or to make a payment, and which remains in force against us until the bond is cancelled. That might be done, either by blotting out the names, or by drawing lines through it, or, as appears to have been practiced in the East, by driving a nail through it.
Martin Luther told once how Satan laid heavy condemnation on him because of his sins. Luther told Satan to list them all, and even reminded him of some he had forgotten. Then he told Satan to write across the whole list "paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ," and Luther rejoiced in the payment Jesus made. We all need an attitude like that of Luther and must keep the list on the cross. Saints get into trouble when they take the list down from the cross and carry it around, forgetting that it was all settled on the almighty cross.
Here Paul describes the "certificate of debt" that was filed against us in the "courtroom of heaven". In other words, because of our sin and rebellion, the laws of God had become a "deadly witness" against us and we were in such deep debt to God that there was no way out.
We owed a debt we could never repay.
He paid a debt He did not owe!
Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?
by Isaac Watts (Click to play)
But drops of grief can ne'er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give myself away,
'Tis all that I can do!
CONSISTING OF DECREES AGAINST US AND WHICH WAS HOSTILE TO US: kath hemon...tois dogmasin o en (3SIAI) hupenantion hemin:
this note with its legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us) (Amp)
God wiped out the charges that were against us for disobeying the Law of Moses (CEV)
Against us (kath' hemon) in the sense that we could not keep these decrees. The "certificate of debt" signifies a claim of unpaid debt but "against us" indicates that it therefore signifies a debt warranting punishment. This hand writing was against us and contrary to us for it threatened our eternal ruin.
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