<p>2:14 In the context of baptism and warning believers not to return to the Law, Paul argues &ldquo;If ye be dead with Christ (in baptism) from the rudiments of the (Jewish) world, why, as though living in the (Jewish) world, (i.e. under the Law) are ye subject to (Mosaic) ordinances...?&rdquo; (:20). The Law was &ldquo;against us... contrary to us&rdquo; (Col. 2:14) &ndash; hence it being called an adversary/Satan. The natural Jews under the Mosaic Law, as opposed to the Abrahamic covenant regarding Christ, are called &ldquo;the children of the flesh&rdquo; (Rom. 9:8). Similarly those under the Law are paralleled with the son of the bondwoman &ldquo;born after the flesh&rdquo; (Gal. 4:23). Paul reasons: &ldquo;Are you now made perfect by the flesh?... received you the Spirit by the works of the Law?&rdquo; (Gal. 3:2,3) &ndash; as if &ldquo;by the flesh&rdquo; is equivalent to &ldquo;by the law&rdquo;. Now we can understand why Heb. 7:16&ndash;18 speaks of &ldquo;The Law of a carnal commandment... The weakness and unprofitableness thereof&rdquo;. Not only is the word &ldquo;carnal&rdquo; used with distinctly fleshly overtones elsewhere, but the law being described as &ldquo;weak&rdquo; invites connection with phrases like &ldquo;the flesh is weak&rdquo; (Mt. 26:41). Rom. 8:3 therefore describes the Law as &ldquo;weak through the flesh&rdquo;. See on Rom. 8:3.</p><p><i>Having blotted out the bond written in ordinances</i>- Gk. 'to wash out', an allusion to baptism. The same word is used about the blotting out of our sins (Acts 3:19), of our tears (our lament for our sins, Rev. 7:17; 21:4). Our sins are blotted out in that the law itself has been blotted out. We are saved through being &quot;in Christ&quot;, counted as Him- and not on the basis of any legal obedience to any law. This is Paul's argument in Romans; not simply the Law of Moses, but any legal code which is against us has now been taken away. 'Law' in the sense of 'legality', and not only the law of Moses, has been replaced by salvation by faith in grace. But the reality of salvation by such pure grace is not lawlessness and indulgence in sin, but rather being utterly bound by the principle or law of being &quot;in Christ&quot;. Our response to such grace will make us in fact more self controlled and consciously obedient to Divine principles than any system of binding laws, resulting in our being judged according to our obedience or disobedience.</p><p><i>That was against us, which was contrary to us, Christ did away with it by nailing it to the cross</i>- Legal terms, reminiscent of the argument in Romans, that the Law stands in court accusing and condemning us by our failure to obey it; but in Christ we are declared in the right. Paul says here that this Law has been taken away, or as he says in Romans, where is now our accuser? He has fled the court room, there is none to accuse us if we are in Christ. Hence &quot;took it out of the way&quot; means literally in Greek to take away from the midst, away from the foreground- from the middle of the courtroom.</p>