When God gave Israel the law through Moses, and the Jews agreed to keep those many commands established in the Old Covenant, it was meant only for that race and nation who would be called God’s people at that time. The law had never been given to us Gentiles, who were considered unclean, far off and separated from God without a covenant. After the New Covenant was established by Jesus Christ, Gentiles were coming to God by faith in Jesus, and the leadership from the church in Jerusalem agreed that Gentiles would not need to be troubled or burdened with what their fathers had been unable to bear under that heavy and impossible law. Plus, the Jews who had been under the law were made free from it, and became dead to it as they married another and became the bride of Christ. You can’t live by something that doesn’t give life. That’s why the old way had to be removed completely and replaced with a better covenant.
In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul explains the gospel in the context of two different groups: Those who were born of the Jewish race, and the Gentiles who were born from another tribe or nation, outside of Israel. The Jews were under the law and had a hope within their (first) covenant with almighty God. We who would have been considered Gentiles were without a covenant, without hope, and without God in the world. The Jews were near, Gentiles were far off. What is it that divided or separated these two groups? It was the law of commandments found in ordinances. The Jews pursued righteousness through their works under the law but could not attain it, because “the law is not of faith.” Jesus broke down this wall of separation (the law and commandments) and brought the two together as one man, into one body (the body of Jesus Christ). Instead of works, it is through faith that Jews are made righteous, and we Gentiles are no longer far off or strangers and aliens, but are now members of the household of God.
