📖 Biblical Definition
Nails in Scripture move from horror to grace. Jael drove a tent peg through Sisera's skull (Judg 4:21). Ezra prayed for a nail-firm place in the restored temple (Ezra 9:8). And finally the nails that pierced the hands and feet of Jesus (John 20:25 — Thomas: "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails"). Paul's theology: God "forgave us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross" (Col 2:14). The nails that pierced Christ also nailed the record of our debt there — our indictment hung with Him.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
NAIL, n.
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NAIL, n. [Sax. nægel.] A small pointed metal fastener. In Scripture, nails run from Jael's tent peg through Sisera's skull, to Ezra's prayer for a secure place in the restored temple, to the nails through the Savior's hands and feet on Calvary. Paul joins the images: the cross nailed not only the Son but the record of our debt, canceling its legal demands forever.
📖 Key Scripture
Colossians 2:14 — "By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross."
John 20:25 — "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe."
Ezra 9:8 — "For a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within His holy place."
Judges 4:21 — "But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
The nail-prints are the eternal proof of the cost. Thomas touched them; the risen Christ carries them forever.
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Revelation pictures the Lamb standing "as though it had been slain" (Rev 5:6) — the wounds are eternal. The nail-prints are not erased by resurrection; they are consecrated by it. The risen Christ carries the scars forever as the measure of the love that bought us. Your sin was nailed to His cross; His nail-prints mark Him in glory. The cost has a receipt in His hands.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
G2247 — hēlos.
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G2247 — hēlos (ἧλος) — nail; John 20:25.
H3489 — yathed (יָתֵד) — tent peg, nail.
Usage
"The nails that pierced Christ also nailed the record of our debt there. The indictment hung with Him."
"The nail-prints are eternal. The Lamb stands in glory with scars; the cost has a receipt."