Ephesians 2:15

He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups (Ephesians 2:15 NLT).

This verse begins with “He did this …”, which begs the question, “He did what?”  We find the answer in the previous verse – He united Jews and Gentiles into one people.  How did He do that?  He did it by ending the system of the law with its commandments and regulations.  Yet we also know that He did not abolish the law because He told us that was not what He came to do:

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.  So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:17-20 NLT).

So are we under the law or under grace?  The answer is yes, because it is not an either or from the standpoint of Scripture.  Titus 2 tells us that grace is our ability to say no to unrighteousness, but how do we know what is unrighteous without the law which was given so that we could know what God’s standard of righteousness is and by grace say no to anything that is not in line with the law.   

What Jesus did away with at the cross, therefore, was not the law itself, but the commandments and regulations that had become the implementation of the law by the Jews.  Instead of an outward observance through “do’s and don’ts,” and an exclusive need of lineage, Jesus leveled the playing field to inward criteria of faith and love and a relationship with God that included “whosever will.”  This new group would now include Jews and Gentiles who operated from a base of grace and who would display a righteous life that was never going to come from the law because of our natural flaw:

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3-5 NKJV).

Today I will walk according to the Spirit in a righteousness that is not my own.

Be sure to check out Gennarino's devotion on Ephesians 2:15.