Complete Provision

God, through the cross, has dealt with the problem of guilt. He has made complete provision for the past:

“He forgave us all our sins” (Colossians 2:13, NIV)

Through the death of Jesus Christ on our behalf—through our Representative, who carried our guilt and paid our penalty—God is able to forgive every one of our sinful acts without compromising His own justice, because His justice has been satisfied by the death of Christ. We need to understand that all our past sinful acts, no matter how numerous or how serious, have been forgiven when we put our faith in Jesus.

God not only has made complete provision for the past, but also has made complete provision for the future, “having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross” (verse 14, NIV).

The written code is the law of Moses. On the cross, Jesus did away with the law of Moses as a means of obtaining righteousness with God. As long as the law was the requirement for righteousness, every time we broke even one of the most minor requirements, we were guilty before God. But when the law was taken out of the way, provision was made for us to live free from guilt because our faith is now reckoned to us as righteousness. As Paul wrote:

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4, NASB)

Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes—Jew or Gentile, Catholic or Protestant, it makes no difference. He is the end of the law as a means to achieve righteousness with God. We are not required to keep the law in order to be righteous.