The Triumph of the Cross
Colossians 2:13-15, the cross as victory, as the early church read it
Paul describes the cross as two things at once: the cancelling of a debt, "the handwriting… that was against us" blotted out and nailed to the cross, and a victory parade, Christ "having spoiled principalities and powers… triumphing over them." Chrysostom rises to it ("Nowhere has he spoken in so lofty a strain"): the bond that condemned us is not merely forgiven but torn in two on the cross, and the dark powers are publicly disarmed and led in triumph. This is the early church's great "Christus Victor" reading. The Father in his own words below, with a plain restatement.
The Father's words are verbatim and attributed (Chrysostom, Homilies on Colossians, NPNF, public domain; selected from the running prose, footnote apparatus omitted). The box marked "In plain terms" is our own restatement, never the Father's words.
Colossians 2:13-14 · KJVAnd you, being dead in your sins… hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
"'Having forgiven us all our trespasses'… He even wiped them out; He did not scratch them out merely; so that they could not be seen… Blotting out is an advance upon remission; again he saith, 'And hath taken it out of the way.' Nor yet even so did He preserve it, but rent it even in sunder, 'by nailing it to His Cross.'"
St. John Chrysostom"We all were under sin and punishment. He Himself, through suffering punishment, did away with both the sin and the punishment, and He was punished on the Cross. To the Cross then He affixed it; as having power, He tore it asunder."
St. John ChrysostomThere was a "bond" against us, the record of our debt to God, the legal case we could not answer. Chrysostom traces Paul's escalating verbs: God did not merely forgive it, He blotted it out, then took it out of the way, then nailed it to the cross and tore it in two. And note he does not flinch from the cost: "He was punished on the Cross", the debt was not waved aside but discharged. The case against us is gone, not ignored but cancelled in Christ's own death.
Colossians 2:15 · KJVAnd having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
"'Having put off from himself the principalities and the powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.' Nowhere has he spoken in so lofty a strain."
St. John ChrysostomThe same cross that cancelled the debt also defeated the dark powers, the spiritual enemies who had held us. Paul's image is a Roman triumph: the conqueror parading his beaten foes in public disgrace. On the cross, which looked like Christ's defeat, He actually stripped the powers and led them as captives in His victory procession. Chrysostom can only say: nowhere does Paul soar higher than this.
Where this stands among the traditions
This is less a point of division than a recovery of breadth. For its first thousand years the church saw the cross chiefly as Chrysostom reads it here, victory and rescue: Christ defeating sin, death, and the devil, and tearing up the bond against us ("Christus Victor"). The medieval West, following Anselm and later the Reformers, developed the language of penal substitution, which is also present in this very passage ("He was punished on the Cross," the debt discharged). The traditions all affirm the cross deals with sin; the drift to watch is the narrowing of a many-sided victory down to a single courtroom metaphor. The early church held them together: the debt cancelled and the powers conquered, forgiveness and triumph. (See the letter What Did the Cross Do?)
Patristic text from Chrysostom's Homilies on Colossians (NPNF, public domain), selected from the running prose with footnote apparatus omitted; nothing added or paraphrased within the quotation marks. Scripture in the King James Version; the plain-language lines are our own restatement. This passage in the Study Bible; Colossians 2 at BibleHub.