In Ephesians 2:15 Paul tells us that through His death on the cross, Christ abolished the law of the commandments in ordinances. In the Old Testament there were many ordinances. The main one was circumcision, which divided the Jews from Gentiles. The Jews even used the term “uncircumcision” in referring to the Gentiles, while they considered themselves the circumcision. Circumcision was, therefore, a mark of separation. The Jews also kept the seventh day, another ordinance which made them different from the Gentiles. Both these ordinances Christ abolished on the cross (Col. 2:14, 16).
Other ordinances of the Jews were the dietary regulations. In Acts 10, however, while Peter was praying on the housetop, a vision came to him (vv. 9-16). The Lord told Peter to eat the animals that he considered common and unclean. Thus, circumcision, the Sabbath, and the dietary regulations were all abolished. These ordinances had been a strong and high wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles, but now it was torn down. There is no longer any separation. The Jews and the Gentiles can be built together as the Body of Christ.
The ordinances have been abolished, but what about the differences between the races, such as the difference between blacks and whites? In Christ’s complete redemption all these differences have also been abolished. He has done away with all the enmity. Yet many do not live according to this. The Jews still keep circumcision, the Sabbath, and the dietary regulations. Even many Christians still have enmity.
Through His one death Christ took away our sins and sin, He crucified the old man, He terminated the old creation, and He abolished the differences between the races. Now we are not in ourselves—we are in Christ. In Him there are no sins. In Him there is no sin. In Him there is no old man and no old creation. The church is simply Christ (1 Cor. 12:12). The very content, the constituent, of the church is Christ (Col. 3:10-11). In the new man there is no Greek and no Jew, no social rank, no racial distinctions, no national differences; Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11). In Christ sins, sin, the old man, the old creation, and all the ordinances are done away.
The flesh was crucified with Christ. Because the flesh is related to Satan, in crucifying the flesh Christ destroyed Satan. This is why Hebrews 2:14 says that through His death He destroyed the Devil. From John 12:31 we know that when Christ was crucified, He cast out Satan, the ruler of the world, and He judged the world.
Around 1935 I heard a message given by Brother Watchman Nee in Shanghai. He said that if you went to a young believer and asked him who died on the cross, he would say that his Redeemer had died on the cross for both his sins and his sin. If you went to another one who was more advanced and asked him who had died on the cross, he would say that Christ died there, bearing his sins, sin, and himself (Gal. 2:20). Someone still more advanced in the Christian life would tell you that Christ died on the cross for his sins, sin, and himself with all of creation. A fourth category of Christians would say that Christ died on the cross not only for their sins, sin, and themselves will all of creation, but also in order to destroy Satan and judge the world.
Later I began to see that there was the need for further advancement in realizing the death of Christ, that is, the abolishing of the ordinances. All the ordinances—the habits, customs, traditions, and practices among the human race—were abolished on the cross. Christ’s crucifixion was the universal termination of all negative things. Hallelujah for such a termination!