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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
What is meant by "Having abolished by ordinances?" For he makes a wide distinction between "commandments" and "ordinances." He either then means "faith," calling that an "ordinance," (for by faith alone He saved us,) or he means "precept," such as Christ gave, when He said, "But I say unto you, that ye are not to be angry at all." That is to say, "If thou shalt believe that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." And again, "The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thine heart. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
Lest anyone should say: what then, if having been freed from the former transgression of the law, we are again compelled to observe it? – he says that He abolished it as well. For having given us the law for our strengthening, instead of punishing us when we did not keep it, He abolished the law entirely, just as if someone, having entrusted a child to a tutor, when he did not obey, took him away from the tutor. …
Theodoret of Cyrus
Christ dispelled the enmity between us and God. He gave his own flesh as a ransom for us. Once this was done, he put an end to the things that separated you and them. For this is what he means by "the law of ordinances." He has not annulled the Decalogue.… For Christ the Lord himself held these up to the one who wanted to know the way to eternal life. But by doctrines he meant the gospel teaching, since the realizing of full maturity lies in the responsive choices of the will.… Yet these gospel teachings are not laid down as laws. …
Western Saints
Thomas Aquinas
A problem arises here since he says "breaking down the barrier of partition" and, on the contrary, Matthew 5:17 states: "Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill." I reply. The Old Law contained both moral and ceremonial precepts. The moral commandments were not destroyed by Christ but fulfilled in the counsels he added and in his explanations of what the Scribes and Pharisees had wrongly interpreted. …
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