Ephesians 2: 15: “Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandment contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace”.
The law as it were was to serve as a conscience, a wall for His people Israel and bring about a separation between them who have the law (a type of those circumcised) and those not having the law (a type of the uncircumcised). God called the nation of Israel to Himself (Israel is my firstborn, Exodus 4: 22) and gave them a law to make them distinct and separate from other nations.
The law given was to reveal sin and its consequences and to stop Israel in the track of sin that Israel, by law, should not trust in the flesh but to consecrate themselves continually to God, which was, the essence of the Sabbath. Knowing the law, the consequences of offence against the law; (for an offence in one law is an offence against all the laws); and that the wages of sin against the law is death was God’s providence to preserve His chosen people. This reality was to cause Israel to be separated from other nations round about them and to put their trust in God in continual holy consecration.
It was in the heart of God to make Israel a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to Himself as a shadow of things to come for the church, the body of Christ. In Exodus 19 verses 5 and 6 we read: “Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed and keep my covenant (the law), then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine. And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shall speak unto the children of Israel “. This was the purpose of the law, to make Israel the people of God given the law to be distinct, a peculiar treasure, separated from all people. The law was the wall of partition (Ephesians 2: 14), between Israel having the law (they were entrusted with the oracles of God: Romans 3: 2) and other nations around them, hence the enmity. Like the dividing curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from other sections of the sanctuary, separating God from the sinful man. Our Lord Jesus, who came to abolish the wall of partition (first between God and man and between Israel and the Gentiles) and in whom the law was fulfilled said in Matthew 5: 17 -18: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them”. And in Matthew 10:34 said further: “Do not think that I came to bring peace to the earth; I came not to bring peace, but a sword (a division)”. So the principle of separation of God’s people from the world remains.
Paul in Galatians 3:19 asked: “Why was the law given? It was given because of transgressions, till the Seed (Jesus Christ) should come to whom the promise was made”. The law was not given to give life for it cannot, was the law then bad?, by no means no for the law is holy, righteous and good (Romans 7:12). The law was given to show the moral ruin of the human race, the sinfulness of man. It was a wake-up call for man to desist from letting sin reign in his mortal body through lust (Romans 6: 12) and to separate himself unto God for the promise of grace, even of life which is in Christ. Galatians 3: 22 says: “But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ”. Our Lord Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14: 6 ); He said further in John chapter 8 verse 32 “and you shall know the truth (Christ), and the truth shall make you free”.
By reason of his sinful flesh and heart that is deceitful above all things, man could not succumb to the law in the flesh, for it was weak. The scripture highlights this in the book of Romans chapter 8 verse 3: “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh”. Man could therefore not be justified by law because it was weakened by his sinful flesh. The book of Romans chapter 7 verse 8 reveals: “But sin, taking occasion of the law (which is holy, righteous and good) wrought in me all manner of concupiscence (evil, forbidden desires)” and verse 18 of this same chapter says: “For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing; for to will is present with me, but to do what is good find not”.
The law therefore was our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ that we may be justified by faith in Christ (Galatians 3: 24). Christ fulfilled the law, and He that knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made righteous in God. Our faith in Christ and in His death and resurrection gives us life and makes manifest the righteousness of the law.
Do we abolish the law now that we are in Christ? By no means, no. Those in Christ are not lawless. What we could not do in the outward flesh that is, in the carnal man, we are now able to do with a reborn spirit, an inward man by the resurrection power of God. So we are no more of the flesh, but we are newborns (born again: 1 Peter 1: 23; John 3: 7) that are born of the Spirit of God. The Spirit has been given to us that we should be separated (John 3: 6: that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit) from the world for as it is written, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free (separated) from the law of sin and death (Romans 8: 2). Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 6: 14-15 wrote: “For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?” Unlike the law, written on tablets of stone, God has given us of His Spirit and by His Spirit has written the law in our hearts.
This God has done to make every believer in Christ, Jews and Gentiles alike, peculiar treasure unto Himself. Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2 verse 9 echoes the message God told Moses to rehearse in the ear of the nation of Israel: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light”. Both the giving of the law and the giving of the Spirit were to bring about a separation of God’s people, the Church, that is those who now have the law written in their hearts by the Spirit of God to do them, not in their futile carnal strength but by the power of the Spirit; from those unbelieving.
Separation of God’s people from the world is not a call to aloofness; while we are in this world we are not of this world (John 17:14), our distinctness must appear to all men. Our Lord Jesus was not aloof in the days of His flesh, He was called a glutton and a winebibber because he identified often with the people, yet He never lost sight or the power of His consecration to God. The will of the Father was first and uppermost for Him.
He who has the law rules, as it is written in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 6: “Having a readiness within us to avenge all disobedience when our obedience is fulfilled”. This is possible from the evidence in Philippians 3 verse 3: “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh”. We are the circumcision, that is, those separated unto God who live not according to the law of the flesh but live after the law of the Spirit of life and worship God in the Spirit rejoicing in Christ. We are to rule in the midst of this lawless generation; such is the privilege and the authority that we have as those separated unto God (custodians of the law of God) through the operation of the law and the Spirit.
Separation from the world unto God ensures that our thoughts, words and actions are in synch with God, and we are able to walk in His power like Christ and exercising His dominion on earth. God delights in making us a peculiar treasure unto Himself, and He has given us His law written in our hearts by His Spirit. The book of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 7 says: “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way”. The call to be separated and “come ye from among them” (2 Corinthians 6: 17) is more resounding today than when it was first sounded by Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah52: 11). It is time to be more intentional about our separation from the world unto God. Separation and not aloofness is our call and this through daily consecration by the word, by prayers and the blood of Jesus, having no confidence in the flesh and living in holiness unto the Lord, bearing fruits of righteousness which are by the Spirit of Christ unto the praise of God. Our separation means that we are not to be partakers of the disobedience and lawlessness already at work in the world, but walking in grace, which has brought us salvation and life.
