What was nailed to the cross was not God's law but the record of our sins, the "handwriting of requirements" (cheirographon tois dogmasin), a note of debt that stood against us. In Colossians 2:14 this phrase restates "having forgiven you all trespasses," so it refers to the written record of our transgression of the law, not to the law itself. The pronoun "it" in "having nailed it to the cross" is singular and points back to the singular "handwriting," not to the plural "requirements." Historically only two things were nailed to a crucifixion stake: the condemned person and an inscription naming his crimes. Pilate's inscription on Jesus' cross, "This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," replaced the customary accusation of guilt, which would have been fixed to the crosses of the two malefactors. When the Father forsook Christ, our sins were symbolically nailed to the cross in His body. Peter says He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and Paul says God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. Christ paid in His own body the debt we owed for breaking God's law, and that debt was taken out of the way. The law itself is holy, just, and good, and a blessing to those who keep it. Colossians 2:14 therefore teaches justification through faith in Christ's sacrifice, not the abolition of the law.