Former gentiles, because Messiah abolished the Law?

So last week we looked at a curious Pauline quote from the Christian Scriptures that suggests something profound:

Gentiles who believe in Messiah have undergone a metamorphosis. They’re no longer far off from God, they are no longer aliens to Israel, no longer foreigners to the covenants God made with Israel.

You fine blog readers sure had your opinions on these bits!

Reader Societvs was convinced Paul is not saying gentiles become Jews,

“I do not believe we become Jewish at all – this is not what happens in real life. I do not become a Christian and all of a sudden ‘poof’ I am Jewish too.”

Longtime reader Efrayim brings up the point about our fuzzy understanding of Jew and gentile, and how they fit into God’s people Israel,

Before you can have any meaningful discourse about this subject you must first define your terms.

What exactly is a "gentile"?

What exactly is a "Jew"?

And most important of all, Who is Israel?

Another reader, Jeff, also comments on the blurry understanding of Jew and gentile,

I often have fun with this statement of Paul. I ask "What is the opposite of a Gentile?" The answer is usually "Jew". Then I show them this quote of Paul where we are to be former Gentiles. Then I watch their head spin. :)

Longtime reader and friend Lou Vasquez comments on the confusion surrounding terms like Jew and gentile,

Most of the confusion comes from the English translations and doctrine over the past 2000 years. It’s like the word “law” in scripture. Every time it is said it does not necessarily mean Torah. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.

So too with the word Gentiles. Sometimes it means “Physical bloodline” other times it means “Nations that don’t know God”.

Look at the scripture,

Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

Does this mean that when we are “in Christ”, woman are no longer female? Of course not.

So I believe that what is being said by Paul is God is about reconciling, and they have now (Gentiles) come into the household of God.

Messianic Jew Gene Shlomovich has a different take on things,

I do not interpret that passage in the way you did, nor I believe that Paul meant for it to be interpreted this way at all - to say that Gentiles are no longer such.

All it says, the Gentiles in the flesh were once (formerly) alienated from the covenants of Israel. The formerly part speaks about their lost CONDITION, not their past or current ethnic identity. It doesn't say that they are no longer Gentiles.

And not to be forgotten, Todd, our resident Catholic, adds his 2¢,

The early church fathers often divided people into 3 categories: Jews, Christians, and Gentiles. In Greek the third word is literally translated "nations" I believe. And could also be translated as heathen or pagan. But as you probably know, the oldest Jewish term of the non-Jewish people is probably "the nations". Basically, from their Jewish-Christian teachers the gentile Christians learned that they had become something else...in that sense they were "former gentiles". And of course in a mysterious sense they were joined to Israel and in another sense the "New Israel".

Wow! So we have a lot of varying opinions. My own opinion of this Scripture is something I’m working out as I continue to study this and align it with the rest of Scripture.

Before we interpret the first part, however, we must understand the whole of what Paul’s saying. Here is the rest of Ephesians 2, which contains some big theological swords!

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

-Paul, in his letter to Ephesus

Uh oh.

Houston, we have a problem.

I guess I should stop celebrating the Father’s feasts, because it looks like Paul is saying Messiah has abolished the Torah, which includes the Feasts I’ve been so gung-ho about. And somebody better tell all those Jews who are keeping the Torah because God said it would be an "everlasting, eternal convenant" with Israel - I guess God just meant "eternal, until Jesus comes".

Didn’t Paul get the memo where Messiah said he wouldn’t abolish the Torah? Are Paul and Messiah in conflict?

Stay tuned. Later on we’ll get out our scalpel and dissect this sucker.

In the meantime, what do you fine blog readers think Paul is saying here? Has Messiah abolished the Torah so that Jews and gentiles can together become one?