So what is the bottom line related to belief in Christ and legalism? In Colossians Chapter 2 , Paul gets to the bottom line of the gospel shortening our faith statement and the law into 3 short verses that covers the gospel story in as few of words as possible.
In verses 13-15 we read... 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
The Message Translation puts it this way.... When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive-right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
I like the way the Message translation states it...Bottom Line.... All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's cross. One word Translation...Grace. Grace is the Bottom line for you and I. Thanks be to God for saving us on the Cross of Calvary.