χειρόγραφος

From the study of Colossians 2:14

Range of meaning

Literally 'hand-written': a document written or signed by someone in their own hand. In practice it was the standard term for a certificate of indebtedness, an IOU in which the debtor acknowledged a debt and promised repayment. It could also mean a contract, a receipt, or any autograph document. In law it was evidence a creditor could produce against the signer.

Against the English

KJV/YLT/WEB 'handwriting' is literally correct but now suggests penmanship. Modern versions say 'record of debt' (ESV), 'certificate of debt' (NASB), 'charge of our legal indebtedness' (NIV), or 'debt' (BSB). These recover the financial and legal sense but lose the detail that the debtor signed it himself.

How it drifted

In 1611 'handwriting' could still mean a signed legal instrument. Modern English has lost that sense, so the word now suggests a person's script.

Used elsewhere in the period

Very common in Greek business papyri for loan agreements and IOUs (Moulton–Milligan, Deissmann). In the Greek Old Testament, Tobit 5:3; 9:2, 5 use it for the signed bond Tobit holds against Gabael for money left on deposit. Paul writes the same kind of pledge in Philemon 19: 'I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay.' Jewish writings of the period picture heavenly records of human deeds. Dan 7:10 has 'the books were opened', and in the Apocalypse of Zephaniah an accusing angel holds a manuscript listing the seer's sins. Some scholars read Paul's image against that background.