Therefore, because God is making dead people alive in a way that excludes human boasting in self, the saints remember that they were at one time separated from Christ. We were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hop and without God in this world. Since it is easy for us to forget our previous estate, we actively remember. It is good that we remember the darkness from which we came. Since it is good for us to remember, I think we will even remember in the resurrection. We were far from God, but we have been brought near by the blood of Christ. This work of justification is the reason we have to celebrate. We must remember. We are no longer wretched, but we were. We did nothing to become righteous. Christ did everything necessary to bring us to life.

That is why Christ is our peace. He made the Jewish, who originally received the covenants, and gentile believers into one group and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, just as the prophets foretold (cf. Isaiah 19:22-25) such that all people will be called His people as one group. According to Paul, this has been accomplished in Christ’s crucifixion. Christ made all nations His people on the earth by abolishing the Law of commandments contained in the ordinance in His crucifixion. Notice, Paul does not claim that Christ abolished the Law outright. His claim is more intricate. Christ abolished the commandments such that no one must keep the commandments in order to be saved, but the Law still stands. It has been revealed that no one can keep the Law perfectly. So, Christ abolished such a requirement so that He might save His people. That purpose of the Law was accomplished and points us to Christ who saves His people—past, present, and future—by grace alone. No one can boast for keeping the Law. Thus, because we no longer have to hold people to such an impossible standard, Christ established peace among the nations—a peace that is still being realized more and more as we progress through redemptive history.