I Came Not to Destroy the Law but to… Abolish the Law?

I must make the point that there are not different laws for Jews and Gentiles. Furthermore, the laws were *not* just given to the people that Moses directly spoke to thousands of years ago.
For the first, let’s consider Galatians 2:28-29:
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Also,
“Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” – Galatians 3:7
And…
“The Lord called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.  For the Lord of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of he house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.” –Jeremiah 11:16-17
The above two verses define the “olive tree” as Israel.  Romans tells us that we, as Christians, are grafted into this olive tree:
“And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;” – Romans 11:17
Thus Christians are grafted into Israel.  And therefore, the things that apply to Israel also apply to us.  So the question is certainly not a matter of distinction between Jew and Gentile.  The question must therefore be whether God wants us to continue observing the law in this day and age.
It is written,
“Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.   And all the people shall say, Amen.” – Deuteronomy 27:26
How many of us have lived without sin?  None. So in the Old Testament, we would all be under the “curse” of the law (that we are all guilty and cannot attain righteousness), as none of us are perfect, and therefore all of us would be subject to the above verse.
Galatians continues that thought as follows:
“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident; for, The just shall live by faith.” – Galatians 3:10-11
People that depend on the works of the law to save them are cursed, as they can never attain righteousness.  For us, perfect righteousness can *only* be attained by faith.  We must realize that the law cannot save us.  Does that then mean that the law should be ignored?
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid.  How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”
–Romans 6:1-2
“Do we then make void the law through faith?  God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” – Romans 3:31
This word “establish,” is the following word, according to Strong’s concordance:
histēmi
his'-tay-mee
A prolonged form of a primary word στάω staō (of the same meaning, and used for it in certain tenses); to stand (transitively or intransitively), used in various applications (literally or figuratively): - abide, appoint, bring, continue, covenant, establish, hold up, lay, present, set (up), stanch, stand (by, forth, still, up). Compare G5087.
Therefore, alternate translations could read something along the lines of, “Yea, we continue the law,” or “we abide in the law,” or “we bring the law,” or “we hold up the law.”  It doesn’t particularly sound like the law has been abolished (the phrase “make void” in this verse means to abolish/destroy/make of no effect).
And now we get to the central tenet of this concept of what exactly happened to the law.
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:17-20
Christ did not come to destroy the law.  Rather, he came to fulfill all of the prophecies, and do what no other human being could do – obey all the laws with the perfection with which they were intended to be obeyed.  Christ came to be sinless, as defined by Mosaic law.
What about the food laws? Christians would say they’ve been done away with.
“And He saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?”
But let’s look at the context:
“For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.  And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not.  And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables.  Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?” – Mark 7:3-5
It’s not talking about the food laws that God established, but rather, whether hands have been washed ceremonially (which, by the way, is only a tradition of man – God did not command it).
And here is one final problem to which my attention has been drawn: Ephesians 2:15.
“That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Having abolished in the flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.”
-- Ephesians 2:12-16
“I came not to abolish the law, but to… abolish the law”?  That makes no sense.  So, we turn to the historical background for the verses in Ephesians.

The Christians in Ephesus were Gentiles whose hearts had been worked on by Christ. When they believed in Him and tried to follow Him, most of their teachers were Jewish.  The Jewish teachers had a hard time: gentiles were fully saved by grace via Yeshua (Jesus). They didn’t need to know all of the law in order to be saved, but Jews in the past would have required that.  From day one, they would have required circumcision, full observance of all the holidays and rituals, etc.  This made it extremely difficult for Jewish Christian teachers to reconcile the Gentile believers and Jewish believers.

Though full observance of the law is not required for salvation, the Christian Jewish teachers couldn’t tell the Jews that were following it that it didn’t matter anymore.  And this conflict is what led to Paul writing what he did.

Paul is saying that before Yeshua, these Gentile believers would have had to convert and follow all of the laws in order to fellowship with the Jewish believers. But through Yeshua, one can see that people are saved by faith, not by the law, and therefore Jews and Gentiles can fellowship fully in Yeshua.  Thus, the enmity between Jews and Gentiles is broken down.

After all, righteousness does not come from observing the law, but observing the law comes from righteousness – because the Spirit dwells in believers, they have a desire to do things that would please God.  The inside of the vessel is cleaned, and the outside will follow, but not the other way around.
Peter said, in Acts 15:19-21:
“Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollution of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.”
Peter is saying something very interesting… In prior verses, he had said that Gentiles are pure in heart through the cleansing of God.  They don’t need the law for their salvation.  So Peter makes very few requirements of them (just the things that they really need to do to not be shunned from the synagogues -- by the way, two of those things are food laws), and goes on to say that the reason he makes so few requirements is because they’ll hear the rest in the synagogues.  He’s saying not to make them do things for the sake of salvation, but rather, when they hear the Torah being taught, their hearts will be convicted by the Holy Spirit.

“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin *is the transgression of the law.*” – 1 John 3:4
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” – Romans 6:1-2