WASHED
ELEVATION RHYTHM
Read
Colossians 2:13-15 · the full passage
more about this song
the bridge of WASHED, about Jesus taking our shame and nailing it to the cross, echoes Colossians 2:13-15, where Paul says the record of what we owed was wiped out and nailed to the cross.
Slow down
it's sunday, a good day to slow down. find a quiet spot, put your headphones in and listen to the song once as worship.
The line
“washed in the water, washed in the blood”
from WASHED, ELEVATION RHYTHM
What it's about
Colossians 2:14 uses a Greek word for a handwritten IOU, a paper someone signed to admit what they owed. Paul says God wiped that record out and nailed it to the cross, out in the open where it could be seen as dealt with. verse 13 says this happened while we were dead in our sins, before we could do anything about it, and verse 15 says Jesus won over every power that stood against us.
Josh Holiday, one of the song's writers, told Billboard that the line about Jesus taking our shame and nailing it to the cross was one of the last ones they wrote. the washing the song keeps singing about is in Titus 3:5, where Paul says God saved us by his mercy, washing us and making us new through the Holy Spirit.
if you had a handwritten list of what you owe God, what's on it that you still act like you have to pay off?
Jesus, thank you for forgiving all of it and nailing it to the cross. when the shame comes back, help me remember it's paid for. amen.
Listen again
play the song once more and listen for the bridge about shame and the cross, now that you've read Colossians 2:14.
