The Death of Christ

Christ Abolishing the Ordinances

Christ’s death on the cross was a critical step in the fulfillment of God’s purpose. God’s purpose is to have a Body for Christ, composed not only of Jewish believers but also of Gentile believers. The defining characteristic of this Body is oneness (Eph. 4:4). As long as the Jews and the Gentiles were at enmity though, there could be no oneness. The Jews and the Gentiles had long been divided from one another primarily due to the God-ordained commandments in the Jewish ordinances, including circumcision, the Sabbath, and the dietary regulations. Therefore, in order for these two groups of people to be united in Christ, all such ordinances had to be completely annulled. On the cross, Christ abolished these ordinances and thereby broke down the middle wall of partition long dividing these two peoples (Eph. 2:14-15; Col. 2:14-15; Matt. 5:17-18). Through the abolishment of these religious ordinances, it is now possible for all believers to become the one Body of Christ.

The one Body of Christ is one of the central, crucial revelations of the New Testament. Why, then, are there so many divisions among Christians today? These divisions exist primarily because many believers do not experience the practical application of the crucifixion of Christ to their religious ordinances, their respective cultures, their preferred ways of worship, and many other personal preferences. Only through the cross of Christ can the believers genuinely be one. In Colossians 3:11 Paul states that in the new man there cannot be Jew or Greek, slave or free, circumcision nor uncircumcision, but that Christ is all and in all. Such a one new man is possible because everything of the old creation was terminated. Following his all-inclusive death, only Christ resurrected from the dead, leaving everything else in the tomb. Not only did He rise from the dead as the Head of the Body, he also raised up His mystical Body in resurrection. In order to experience the reality of the Body of Christ, the one new man, whose primary attribute is oneness, the believers must apply the death of Christ to their culture, their rituals, their traditions, and everything else that is of the old creation and thus, not of Christ.

[The Old Man] [Sin] [The World] [The Devil] [Ordinances]

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