Fathers

Ephesians 2

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You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience. We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them. Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision” (in the flesh, made by hands), that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility through it. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

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What the Fathers say

Ephesians 2:15

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. …

Homily on Ephesians 5 ↗

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. …

Commentary on Ephesians ↗

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. …

Interpretation of the Epistle to the Ephesians 2.14-15 ↗

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. …

Commentary on Ephesians ↗