Colossians goes green!

Posted 03 Nov 2015

Colossians 02 – Higher Life in Christ – Scene 02 – Nailed

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Bible Cartoon: Colossians 02 – Higher Life in Christ – Scene 02 – Nailed

I have just completed my very first Bible Cartoon for the New Testament book Colossians, which shows Jesus nailing the written code (the Law) to the cross. It is a very literal version of what the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Colosse!

The apostle Paul was concerned that false teachers were convincing the Christian believers in Colosse to go back into Jewish ritual & legal observances rather than to continue in the truth of salvation that is entirely by faith in Jesus the Christ. Jesus had already won salvation & freedom from sin for the Colossians (& EVERY believer in Him!) but false teachers where appealing to the Colossian Christians & trying to convince them that they had to adhere to Jewish ritual & legal observances in order to be “truly” saved. That is contrary to the words & actions of Jesus, who offers salvation as a FREE GIFT, by his own substitutionary death on the cross. The gift is free to us (we jus have to believe & confess that Jesus is Lord) but it was VERY costly to Jesus Himself.

Legalism is (unfortunately) alive, well & very much a problem for believers today too. Many people (even some Christians!) struggle with the idea of “salvation as a FREE gift from Jesus.” Our human pride tries to assert that either we do not qualify for salvation (who does? You can’t qualify by your own actions! It’s a free gift) & they try to do things, or not do things, in order to “work themselves up to” a salvation (in works & actions) that can not possibly save them. It takes great humility to recognise & realise that I/we need a saviour. But I/we do!

God gave the Law to Moses & the Hebrew people (see Exodus) in order to point out that it is impossible to live a human life that adheres to every point of the law. The law condemns us because we can not possibly keep it. The law (& trying to adhere to it) points out that it is impossible for anyone to live a sinless life BY THEIR OWN EFFORTS. That is why we need a saviour. Jesus saves us from the effect of life within our own wrong-doing (the wages of sin is death) & is the ONLY means by which we can be saved from our sins. It is our unrepented wrong-doing which separates us from God in heaven.

Thank goodness God sent his son Jesus to die for us, & created a way in which ALL of our sins can be nailed to the cross (just like the written code) & our record wiped clean. That is salvation, brought about by Jesus’ death on the cross. That is what my Bible Cartoon shows.

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