Grace and the Law:
It has become very popular these days to say that since we are living in the times of grace (John.1:17), we are freed from the law and that all the commandments, especially the Ten Commandments, are done away with. There is no need to follow / obey the Ten Commandments. People quote Col.2:14 and tell you very earnestly, that the Ten Commandments are nailed to the cross along with the other laws and ordinances.
First, let us see the meanings of the word ‘ordinances’.
Strong’s Concordance G1378: dogma: From the base of G1380; a law (civil, ceremonial or ecclesiastical): - decree, ordinance.
Thayer Definition: 1) doctrine, decree, ordinance -1a) of public decrees, 1b) of the Roman Senate,1c) of rulers 2) the rules and requirements of the law of Moses; carrying a suggestion of severity and of threatened judgment 3) of certain decrees of the apostles relative to right living.

The Bible certainly says that we are not under the law, but does that imply that we are free from the obligation to obey it? Rom. 6:14, 15. “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” After stating that we are not under the law but under grace, he asks, “What then?” This simply means, “How are we to understand this?” Then, he says, “Shall we sin (break the law) because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid.” In the strongest possible language Paul states that being under grace does not give a license to break the law. Yet this is exactly what millions believe today, and they totally ignore Paul’s specific warning. His words do not mean that you can break the law because you are under grace.

Supposing a man is held for robbery and murder. He is legally tried and sentenced to death. Even though the man realized he had made a terrible mistake and was sorry for what he had done, the severity of the crime required a death sentence be given to him based on the laws of the country. This prisoner is on death row awaiting execution. But in a spirit of forgiveness and grace (unmerited favor), the President of the country grants the man a full and unconditional pardon and has him released from prison.
Does this pardon received by the prisoner now cancel the legal code of the country? Would the man be able to break any and all laws carelessly after his release? Would he be able to quit paying income tax, or even murder another citizen, without having to worry about the consequences of his actions?
The man would now be more careful to be a law-abiding citizen, because only his past crimes have been forgiven.

Writing around 90A.D, John says in 1John.3:4,’Sin is transgression of the law’. This was much after Paul wrote to the Colossians! If there were no law, then John was wasting his time telling us all this. The truth, as Paul said, is that the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.(Rom.712). Rom.3:31.’We establish the law.’

Messiah himself said that he came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it. (Matt5:17). Having these words of the Creator himself, would Paul say that the law is nullified or nailed to the cross? He did not.
Gal.3:19,’wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made…’  We see here that the law was added. What is the added law? Turn to Deut.5:22. Here you can see that after the finger of Yahweh wrote the Ten Commandments, ‘he added no more’. So the added laws are the laws and ordinances given by Moses. That is why Paul says in Col.2:16, ‘let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:’ He did not say let none judge you in respect of the Ten Commandments, he also did not say ‘the Sabbath’ which is the seventh day Sabbath, but said ‘sabbath days’, which refer to the special sabbath days of the feasts (mentioned in Lev.23).      
What was nailed to the cross are the laws and ordinances of Moses, because the Scribes and the Pharisees added their own interpretations to them and made them ‘burdensome’ to the people.
Read any of the old Bible commentaries and you will find that Col.2:14 does not refer to the Ten Commandments at all.
Col 2:14 .Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances
Adam Clarke – By the hand-writing of ordinances the apostle most evidently means the ceremonial law: this was against them, for they were bound to fulfill it; and it was contrary to them, as condemning them for their neglect and transgression of it. This law God himself has blotted out.
Matthew Henry: It must be understood of the ceremonial law, the hand-writing of ordinances, the ceremonial institutions or the law of commandments contained in ordinances (Eph_2:15), which was a yoke to the Jews and a partition-wall to the Gentiles.
Before the cross there were the Sacrificial Law and the Moral Law. What was sacrificed before the cross for sin? Who became our Passover Lamb? Did Jesus become the Lamb of God and our one and final perfect sacrifice? Did the sacrifice of Christ permanently end the Sacrificial Law? The answer of course is yes. There seems to be the mentality of many Christians wanting to nail everything to the cross. But the only thing nailed to the cross is what was practiced for sin before Jesus replaced this law by becoming our perfect sacrifice.
The first five books of the Bible—the books of the law—deal mainly with the instructions for Israel pertaining to the covenant made with God. The traditional Christianity’s teaches that the Old Covenant was the Ten Commandments. It maintains that Christ came to establish a “new covenant” containing only grace and promises and liberty to do whatever one pleases. Law is not included in this new covenant. The modern religionists have devised a way to “have a good time” and have a clear conscience. They eliminated the source of their nagging guilt. The solution was simple: “Grace alone ‘saves’ men. The burden of commandment-keeping is no longer necessary.”
This cunning teaching would make you to believe that the law of God is cruel. It proclaims that the fault of the Old Covenant was with the law. Christ says to those who follow these false precepts: “Howbeit in vain do you worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, full well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:7-9).

Jude3-4: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” .

Even before the New Testament was completely written, ungodly men had crept into the Church in an attempt to corrupt it by turning grace into lasciviousness. This was exactly the false gospel taught by Simon Magus, Nicholas and other “founders” of counterfeit Christianity.
Lasciviousness means “license to sin”. This means license to do what seems right in one’s own eyes. This attitude has taken roots in the minds of most professing Christians today.

The message from most pulpits falsely tells people that Christ abolished His Father’s law, but the Bible says that no one can be born into God’s kingdom unless he completely submits to God’s authority. Grace is defined as “favor, kindness and mercy.”  No mention is made about grace being license to disobey God’s law. To be “under grace” means to be extended mercy and forgiveness as a result of sincere repentance and resolve to obey God. A person led by God’s Spirit will strive to follow that law. When he occasionally sins, he repents and is forgiven (I John 1:8-10). Because of obedience and grace, he is not under the penalty of the law.
When an individual seeks to obey God and come under the “umbrella” of grace, the blood of Christ forgives all past transgressions. Repentance shows the direction a Christian chooses to take from that time onward, a Christian embarks on a new course in life.
The false idea that “once under grace, we are already saved” is not found in the scriptures.
How plain the Bible becomes when we let it interpret itself! It is very sad that most professing Christians stop at this point and miss the very core of Paul’s statement.
The real issue here is not grace or works. It is not grace opposed to works. It is simply ‘Grace followed by works.’ God extends grace and help to His people, but He expects us to grow in good works, walking in them as a way of life. The law of God is the standard that directs the paths of true Christians.