In the lifetime of a Christian, we will often hear the conversation of Christ doing away with the law. But how do we explain what it mean that Jesus fulfilled the law? Christianity is a perfect example of peace coming out of chaos. As sinners, every person at some point in their life is an enemy of God. Until we accept His free gift and find fellowship and love with Christ, we are on the opposite team. When we accept Jesus’ blood on the cross and choose to follow Him, we are reconciled to Him and enter into His peace out of the chaos. This transition from chaos to peace is described in the first century church in Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians chapter 2 verses 14-16.

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

Ephesians 2:14-16

Who Is The Target Audience?

Paul is writing to the Jews about gentiles. He is explaining that the dividing wall, the law, has been taken down by Jesus. However, at that time the Jews were very reluctant to accept this. Paul’s description of “hostility” is putting the matter lightly. The Jews were being persecuted by gentiles from all sides and had been for years. At the time of this writing, their homeland was occupied by the Romans and heavily taxed. They were ridiculed mercilessly for their faith and customs. Antisemitism was commonplace and publicly acceptable. They were involved in quite the hostile relationship with non-Jews. Hostility was a way of life in that time.

Furthermore, the Jews returned that hostility openly and fervently. This was no one-sided aggression and hatred. The Jews avoided gentiles at all costs. To even come in contact with a gentile’s shadow was considered an unclean act. In Jewish custom, they alone had the ability to access the one true God because they alone had been given the law. Therefore, they held non-Jews in contempt.

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What It Means That Jesus Fulfilled The Law

Now we get to find out what it means that Jesus fulfilled the law. The thing is, the Jews at that time distinguished themselves by keeping the law. They believed the law separated them from the gentiles and gave them access to God. However, when Jesus died, He removed that barrier and allowed everyone to have access to God through the death on the cross. Therefore, in doing so, Jesus fulfilled the law by paying the consequences of sin for us.

Think about it

When think deeper about what it means that Jesus fulfilled the law, we may wonder why the Jews were so resistant to this concept. However, to understand this we have to understand their long-term investment in their old ways. When Moses went up onto Mount Sinai, he brought down the law to the Jews. This law was exclusive to them as they were God’s chosen people. Therefore, they clung to that law. They believed their heritage was what would save them. However, this belief was challenged by the Gospel and testimony of Jesus. The teaching of Jesus, and the apostles after His death, discarded the notion that the Jews could claim an exclusive relationship with Christ by means of their ancestry. After the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, Jews and gentiles alike can now access all the gifts of God through faith in Jesus.

Therefore, the barrier of the law was removed. This is why some say the death of Jesus abolished the law. For peace to exist, the barrier to peace must come down. In this case, the barrier to peace was the Jews’ claim to the law. With the law as savior replaced by Jesus as the savior, Jews and gentiles can access communion with God in harmony and peace.

Jesus Did Not Abolish The Law

Although Jesus did not do away with the law as some like to say, it certainly felt that way to the Jews. This is the meaning of Matthew 5:17, “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.” By paying the price that the law demanded for disobedience, Jesus fulfilled it. He removed that barrier to entry. He was not handing us freedom to disobey the law, He was simply paying the price. Therefore, what he was abolishing was the consequences we were supposed to pay. However, the consequences are still there. The consequences were paid for, and that’s what it means that Jesus fulfilled the law.

The barrier to entry

By removing the consequences and barrier to entry, access to Him was now granted to the whole world. This was, and still is today in some cases, an affront to Jewish culture. This is why the traditional Jewish religion continues to hold to the old covenant because it gives them significance based on their birthright. If everyone is allowed to enter the Kingdom of God based on Jesus’ death on the cross, then the core of the traditional Jewish religion is in question, because their access is granted through obeying the law and their heritage. (I’m not an expert on Jewish culture, so I’ll leave this be. Feel free to correct me.)

Back to the point. There was a wall, the law, dividing the world. Think about it like the barriers to entry put into place by modern day laws. Here’s a real world example of barriers to entry: I cannot go start advertising counseling services and start a therapeutic practice next week. Why? I am not a licensed therapist by the state. I don’t have sufficient education deemed necessary to practice therapy and charge clients for it. I have not gone through any certifications that validate my ability to counsel. I may have gifts of counsel and I may have the ability to help someone heal just as much as any counselor does, but I have not achieved the obligations that the people who regulate that classification have deemed appropriate. In short, I have not earned the right of passage, therefore I cannot pass the barrier to entry.

We Can Only Imagine

Let’s get hypothetical. Imagine if a man came speaking with authority and counseling others. That man completely dispelled the notion that one needed to be approved by the state to have a therapeutic practice. Although the practicing counselors of influence tried to stop him and badger him with the law, he could not be stopped. Now, I’m not going too far down this analogous road because it will just get more and more ridiculous, but follow me for argument’s sake because there’s a point. If that man succeeded in removing the barrier to entry into the world of counseling, the current counselors who had gone through that training and attained their license by traditional means would fight that notion. Furthermore, they would continue to look down at new counselors who had not gone through such a process of entry into the world of therapy. Therefore, with this analogy we can see how the Jews had such a hard time accepting the new covenant because it relegated useless their right of passage. The barrier to entry that they had been practicing and upholding for years was gone.

Remember, using this analogy, wouldn’t it still be silly for the newer wave of counselors to ridicule those who did go through the barrier to entry? Of course it would, because there is still meaning in that education. There are still benefits to keeping the laws.

What’s The Point?

With a proper understanding of why there is a tension between the law keepers and those who are not bound by the law, we can understand some of the tensions in today’s church. However, we have to always understand we are all reaching for the same God. Furthermore, the law is not a bad thing and keeping is is commendable, but it is not a barrier to entry into fellowship with Christ.

I encourage you to think about the human aspect and speak in love when dealing with this issue. There is no reason to ridicule either side. Live in the truth and freedoms that Christ’s death on the cross has afforded you, but do not use them to look down on others who don’t feel they have the same liberties you do. Not every Christian has been afforded the same liberties for various reasons.

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