We’ve been forgiven

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.— COLOSSIANS 2:13,14,  

The language of these verses picks up on the legal concepts in the ancient world. When a person was crucified, the list of their crimes was nailed to the cross to demonstrate to everyone the reason they were there. With that imagery, the apostle Paul says the indictment against us as sinners, the handwriting of the laws we had broken, was taken and nailed to a cross. But we didn’t have to die for them because Jesus was nailed there under our sins. We were dead in sins. We were without cleansing. But we’ve been forgiven all our trespasses. We’ve been taken out of death and made alive because Jesus was nailed under our sins. He paid the penalty. Our crimes have been nailed to the Cross so that the whole world could see the violations are placed on Jesus Christ, the sinless One, who satisfies the just wrath of God for us. And this is why there are so many songs and hymns written about the Cross, because we can never stop singing its praises.