Ephesians 2:15

“Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.”

Part of the Torah Eternal study — examining every passage cited to argue the Law has been abolished.

The Common Reading

Christ abolished the entire Law of Moses, removing the barrier between Jew and Gentile by ending Torah observance. The “enmity” was the Torah itself, and the cross eliminated it so that a unified church could exist without any distinction of commandments.

What the Passage Actually Says

The Dividing Wall

The verse before identifies what was broken down:

“For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.” — Eph 2:14

G3320 mesotoichon — middle wall, dividing wall. G5418 phragmos — fence, partition, barrier. This compound phrase — “the middle wall of the partition” — is unique in the New Testament. It appears nowhere else.

But it was well known in the first-century world. The Jerusalem Temple had a physical stone barrier (the soreg) separating the Court of the Gentiles from the inner courts. Josephus describes it explicitly: a stone balustrade with inscriptions in Greek and Latin threatening death to any Gentile who passed beyond it (Antiquities 15.417; Jewish Wars 5.193–94). Two of these warning inscriptions have been recovered by archaeologists — one in 1871 (now in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum) and a fragment in 1935.

This wall was not commanded by Torah. The Tabernacle had no such barrier. Solomon’s Temple had no such inscription. The soreg was a Second Temple addition — a man-made structure erected during the Herodian renovation. It was a physical embodiment of the hostility between Jew and Gentile, but it did not come from God’s instructions.

Torah Welcomes Strangers

If the Torah itself were the barrier, one would expect it to exclude Gentiles. It does the opposite:

“One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.” — Exod 12:49

“One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.” — Num 15:15

“And if a stranger sojourn with you, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land.” — Exod 12:48

“Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” — Deut 10:19

The Torah prescribes one law for both native-born and sojourner (Lev 19:33–34; Num 15:15–16, 29; Deut 29:10–15). Gentiles who joined Israel kept the same Sabbaths, the same festivals, the same laws. The barrier was man-made; the welcome was God-given.

The Greek: Dogma, Not Nomos

The critical word in v.15 is G1378 dogma — decree, ordinance, edict. Paul writes: “the law of commandments contained in G1378 dogmasin” (τὸν νόμον τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐν δόγμασιν).

Dogma in the New Testament refers to human or imperial decrees:

• Lk 2:1 — “a decree (dogma) from Caesar Augustus” — a Roman edict
• Acts 16:4 — “the decrees (dogmata) that were ordained of the apostles” — the Jerusalem Council decisions
• Acts 17:7 — “contrary to the decrees (dogmata) of Caesar” — imperial regulations

It is never used as a synonym for Torah (G3551 nomos). Paul had nomos available — he uses it 119 times in his letters. If he meant the Torah itself was abolished, he would have written “abolished the nomos.” Instead, he uses dogma — human-issued decrees and regulations.

The phrase “law of commandments in decrees” describes commandments as expressed through or encoded in human regulatory structures — the formal, authoritative rulings that created the enmity and the partition. These are the same “traditions of men” Jesus condemned (Mk 7:8), the same “commandments and doctrines of men” Paul warns against in Col 2:22.

What Was the Enmity?

G2189 echthra — enmity, hostility. Christ abolished “the enmity” — not the law, but the hostility that the man-made application of the law created between Jew and Gentile. The wall, the death-threat inscriptions, the rabbinic rulings that treated Gentiles as inherently unclean — these produced enmity. Torah’s actual instructions produced welcome.

The purpose: “for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace” (v.15). Jew and Gentile become one — not by erasing Torah, but by removing the human barriers that prevented Gentiles from joining Israel’s commonwealth on equal terms.

The Context Confirms This

Three verses later, Paul tells the Gentile Ephesians what they have gained:

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” — Eph 2:19

G4847 sympolitēs — fellow citizen. Gentiles are now citizens of the same commonwealth. If Torah were abolished, there would be no commonwealth to join. Instead, Paul describes Gentiles being included in Israel’s covenant community — the same inclusion Torah itself prescribes for sojourners.

And later in the same letter, Paul quotes Torah as authoritative instruction:

“Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise.” — Eph 6:2 (quoting Exod 20:12)

If Paul had just declared Torah abolished three chapters earlier, citing its commandments as binding in chapter 6 is incoherent. If the wall was man-made and the enmity was the human misuse of Torah, everything harmonizes.

Harmony

1. The “middle wall of partition” was the Temple’s soreg — a man-made barrier with death-threat inscriptions, confirmed by Josephus and archaeology. Torah never commanded it.
2. G1378 dogma means human decrees — imperial edicts, authoritative rulings. It is never used for Torah itself in the New Testament.
3. Torah explicitly welcomes strangers as equal participants under the same law (Exod 12:49; Num 15:15–16).
4. Paul quotes Torah approvingly in the same letter (Eph 6:2 = Exod 20:12) and elsewhere calls it “holy, and just, and good” (Rom 7:12).
5. The result is inclusion, not erasure — Gentiles become “fellowcitizens” of Israel’s household (Eph 2:19), which requires a covenant community to join.

Greek Reference