All the ordinances were abolished by Christ on the cross. When He was crucified, His death abolished, annulled, the different ordinances of human life and religion. Furthermore, the differences among the races and the differences of social rank have been abolished by the death of Christ.

Ephesians 2:14 says, “He Himself is our peace.” The word “our” refers to both Jewish and Gentile believers. Through the blood of Christ we have been brought near both to God and to God’s people. Christ, who has accomplished full redemption for both Jewish and Gentile believers, is Himself our peace, our harmony, in that He made both one. Because of the fall of mankind and the call of the chosen race, there was a separation between Israel and the Gentiles. Through Christ’s redemption, this separation has been removed. Now the two are one in the redeeming Christ, who is the bond of oneness.

In the law of Moses there were two kinds of commandments: moral commandments, such as the commandments concerning stealing and the honoring of parents, and ritual commandments, such as the commandments concerning the keeping of the Sabbath. The commandments regarding circumcision and the eating regulations were ritual commandments, not moral commandments. The moral commandments will never be abolished, not in this age nor in the millennium nor in eternity. The ritual commandments, on the contrary, are not permanent. By the middle wall of partition Paul meant the law of commandments in ordinances, the ritual commandments related to circumcision, the Sabbath, and diet. The law of ritual commandments was a middle wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles. Actually, any ordinance or ritual is a middle wall of partition.

In Ephesians 2:15 Paul tells us that Christ abolished “in His flesh” the law of commandments in ordinances. Because mankind became flesh (Gen. 6:3) and was thus kept from God and His purpose, God ordained His chosen people to be circumcised from the flesh. This ordinance was given because of man’s flesh. It was in the flesh that Christ was crucified. When He was crucified, His flesh, which was typified by the separating veil in the temple, was rent (Heb. 10:20). By breaking down the middle wall of partition on the cross, Christ has made peace.

Christ brought all the races and nationalities with their different kinds of ordinances, habits, and regulations, to the cross. Then on the cross He put the old creation to death and abolished all the ordinances among the old creation. This Christ did in order to create in Himself the one new man.
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