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Bible Dictionaries
Bond
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (Colossians 2:14)
The point here lies in the word χειρόγραφον. For ‘bond’ in the sense of δοῦλος, see 1 Corinthians 12:13 etc., and in that of σύνδεσμος (ligament in surgery [very often]), see Colossians 2:19, etc. Colossians 2:14 is the only instance in the NT of the word χειρόγραφον, though there are other compounds with χειρ (χειραγωγέω Acts 9:8; χειραγωγούς, Acts 13:11; χειροποίητος, Ephesians 2:11, and ἀχειροποίητος Colossians 2:11; χειροτονέω, Acts 14:23). This synthetic compound means originally ‘handwriting’ or ‘autograph,’ and occurs in this sense in Polybius (xxx. 8. 4), Dion. Hal. (v. 8), etc. Its technical use is for ‘a note of hand, a bond or obligation, as having the “sign manual” of the debtor or contractor’ (Lightfoot, Col.3, 1879, in loc.); so To 5:3 ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ τὸ χειρόγραφον. See also Plut. (Mor. p. 829 A) and Artem. (Oneir. iii. 40). Its position as a κοινή word is greatly strengthened by the papyri, where it is very common (Deissmann, Bible Studies, Eng. translation , 1901, p. 247). Some of these bonds in papyri texts are crossed out with the Greek cross-letter X, thus cancelling the note (cf. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East2, 1911, p. 336f.). A number of these ‘crossed-out’ bonds are in the papyri lists at Berlin, Heidelberg, and elsewhere. This was the method of official as well as private cancellation (see the Florentine Papyrus [a.d. 85], where the Governor of Egypt ordered the bond to be ‘crossed out’ [χιασθῆναι]). There is no evidence for the notion that these bonds were cancelled by hanging on nails (perforation). There are examples of inscribed leaden rolls being perforated and hung on nails, but not for cancellation by the nails (Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 273f.). St. Paul piles up his metaphors, as he often does, by the use of ἐξαλείψας (‘blotting Out’; cf. χιάζω ‘cross out’), ἧρκεν ἐκ τοῦ μέσου (‘take out of the midst’; note change to indicative and perfect for notion of permanent removal). Dibelius (Handbuch zum NT, ‘Kolosser,’ 1912, p. 81) cites Epictetus’ use of αἶρε ἔξω, αἶρε ἐκ τοῦ μέσου as synonymous. As to προσηλώσας τῷ σταυρῷ (‘nailing to the cross’), E. Haupt (Meyer-Haupt, Kom. Kol., 1902, in loc.) points out that with St. Paul it is not the cancelling by nailing, but the nailing to the cross that is dominant. These three metaphors all accentuate the main idea of the cancellation of the debt.
What the bond is in Colossians 2:14 scholars are not agreed. Probably the general notion of law is correct, since Gentiles as well as Jews seem to be included, rather than the Mosaic Law or the narrower notion of the purely ceremonial law. The addition of τοῖς δόγμασιν, difficult as to syntax, points to formulated commandment (Peake, Expositor’s Greek Testament , ‘Colossians,’ 1903, in loc.) of some kind (cf. Ephesians 2:15), though ‘the moral assent of the conscience’ (Lightfoot, in loc.) is surely involved also. No stress is to be laid on the fact of the law being written or not written (the autograph idea in χειρόγραφον) by the sinner, though, if the primary reference be to the Jews, they might be said to have signed the contract in giving assent to the law as represented in Deuteronomy 27:14-26. The central idea is that the bond of moral obligation which was against us (καθʼ ἡμῶν and ὃ ἦν ὑπεναντίον ἡμῖν) has been removed by the death of Christ on the Cross. It has been cancelled (crossed out) and hung up for all to see (nailed to the cross) as an obligation from which we are now free. It is a bold picture of grace versus works as the method of salvation. Christ has paid the debt and destroyed the note against us. Cf. St. Paul’s offer to pay Philemon for the debt of Onesimus (Philemon 1:18 f.),
A. T. Robertson.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Bond'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/b/bond.html. 1906-1918.
