Note 19 at Col. 2:15: The word "spoiled" used here is the Greek verb APEKDUOMAI, and means "to divest wholly oneself, or (for oneself) despoil" (Strong). One of the words that made up this compound Greek word meant "to strip." What Paul is saying is that Jesus totally despoiled or stripped Satan and all his powers. Satan is now naked and powerless. Praise the Lord!

It was a term used for the disarming of a defeated foe. "The picture is that of the triumph of a Roman general. When a Roman general had won a really notable victory, he was allowed to march his victorious armies through the streets of Rome and behind him followed the kings and the leaders and the peoples he had vanquished. They were openly branded as his spoils. Paul thinks of Jesus as a conqueror enjoying a kind of cosmic triumph, and in his triumphal procession are the powers of evil, beaten forever, for everyone to see" (DSB, by William Barclay, p.143).

Satan's only weapon against us is deception (see note 4 at Eph. 6:11, p. 1142; note 23 at 2 Cor. 11:14, p. 1136; note 32 at Col. 1:13, p. 1189; and note 1 at Mt. 24:4, p. 453).

Note 20 at Col. 2:15: The word "shew" means "to exhibit" (Strong). Satan and his forces are forever on display as a conquered foe. Those who know and believe this enjoy the show. Those who are not yet convinced of Satan's defeat are still subject to bondage because of their fear (Heb. 2:15).

The Phillips Translation renders this phrase as, "...he exposed them, shattered, empty, and defeated, in his final glorious triumphant act!"

Note 21 at Col. 2:15: What is the "it" that Jesus triumphed in over Satan? The answer is that "it" was the law ("the handwriting of ordinances that was against us"-see note 17 in v. 14). The devil had used our failure to fulfill the law as a club to beat us up and convince us that God would never accept us. In that sense, the law was one of Satan's greatest tools for separating us from God.

But Jesus used the very thing that Satan had used to minister condemnation, to condemn Satan. Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law and used it to satisfy all God's demands for justice by bearing our sins. The just died for the unjust and thereby liberated us from the jurisdiction of the law.