ERASE - 20 Amazing Bible Words To Know: (EXALEIPHO)
ERASE - 20 Amazing Bible Words To Know: (EXALEIPHO)
Have you ever been to court or owed a debt to someone? One of the most exciting things in life is when your debt is payed off or the court says that you have made things right again.
In the Ancient Greek world, they had a way of telling you that you had satisfied the requirements of the law. They would “chiazo” your certificate of debt. A “chi” is a Greek X. Chiazo meant they would write a big, black X over your document to show that it was no longer in effect.
In Colossians 2:14, Paul expresses just how great this experience is when he writes about our sin being cancelled out by God:
Colossians 2:13-14
“When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
That’s a great passage of scripture, isn’t it? But Paul didn’t saying God “X’d out” our sin. He didn’t use the normal word for cancelling a debt. He chose a different word. He used the Greek word “exaleipho”. Let me tell you why that is significant.
You see, when you write an X over something, it satisfies the law but the original debt is still there. It hasn’t changed anything, it just tells the courts that you did what was required. Your debt just has a big X over it.
Exaleipho is different. It means to wipe the slate clean. It is used to describe what happens when you whitewash something or wipe it completely away with no sign of it remaining. When Paul used that word he was saying that you are not just paid up, not just absolved, but your debt has been completely erased. It has been wiped out. Your debt has been scrubbed clean and it doesn’t even exist any more! There is no longer any record of your past indiscretions and wrongdoings.
God doesn’t just forgive and forget. He changes the equation. We are new creatures and He never looks back. Our sin is gone. Obliterated. Erased.
And, boom! Just like that, we are made clean and whole. Can I get an amen?