Ephesians 2:11-12 exhorts believers to remember that they were formerly separated from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. Paul reminds his readers of their former condition as Gentiles who stood outside God's covenant blessings and were spiritually dead in their separation from Him. By remembering who they once were, believers can better understand and appreciate the grace of God that has brought them near and given them a new identity in Christ.
Ephesians 2:11-12 exhorts believers to remember that they were formerly separated from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. In remembering their former lost state, they might better understand and appreciate who they now are in Christ.
Paul began his Gospel account in the place where his Ephesian readers first began: as "children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3) who were "dead in your trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). But God in His mercy made them spiritually alive with Christ, raised up with Him and seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:5-6). This transformation from spiritual death to spiritual life was made possible by God's love, mercy and grace (Ephesians 2:4-6).
Paul told the Ephesians that they were saved from spiritual separation from God, "by grace… though faith" (Ephesians 2:8); and that this salvation was a gift that had nothing whatsoever to do with their works (Ephesians 2:9). Then Paul went on to explain the role of good works within the Gospel—we were created to do good works that God specifically designed for each person long ago in eternity past before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 2:10).
To do the works God laid out for us saves us from the Fall by reconnecting us to our design. Humans were designed to work together as a team to manage the earth in harmony with God and others. All this together is the good news of God's complete restoration of humanity, both our relationship with Him as well as our relationship with each other and with His creation.
With the Gospel arc established (Ephesians 2:1-10), Paul repeats the pattern from hopelessness to hope. He again addresses his Ephesians readers and contrasts their old, former identity before they knew Jesus (Ephesians 2:11-12) with their new identity that they now share in Christ (Ephesians 2:13-22).
Ephesians 2:11-12 is the beginning of a long exhortation (Ephesians 2:11-22) to remember and understand. The two main exhortations of this longer passage are to remember who you were before you met Christ (Ephesians 2:11-12) and to understand who you are now that you are in Him (Ephesians 2:13-22).
This commentary of Ephesians 2:11-12 will discuss the specifics of what Paul wants his readers to remember phrase-by-phrase and word-by-word within each phrase, but first it will look at the overall message the apostle is communicating in these verses.
Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (vv 11-12).
The progression of thought in Ephesians 2:11-12 can be understood as follows:
Paul Initiates his Exhortation to Remember: Therefore remember that formerly you… (v 11a).
Paul Interjects a Description of his Gentile Audience:
the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands— (v 11b).
Paul Resumes his Exhortation to Remember:
remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (v 12).
The upshot of this exhortation is to remember whoyouwere (and are no longer) so that you can understand whoyou truly are nowin Christ. This remembering and understanding helps form the foundation for Paul’s practical exhortations for life in the later part of this epistle (Ephesians 4-6) as he calls them to "be imitators of God" (Ephesians 5:1), "walk in love" (Ephesians 5:2) and to "walk as children of Light" (Ephesians 5:8).
There is a fundamental choice left to believers to decide whether to walk in the newness of life as a new creation inChrist, or go back to our old way of life and live as slaves to sin. This is a constant theme of Paul's, urging believers to make choices that lead to life rather than death. Making life-giving choices begins with remembering who you are.
With this overarching outline in mind, we can now dive into the particulars of what Paul is saying throughout Ephesians 2:11-12.
After his statement of the Gospel (Ephesians 2:1-10), Paul immediately calls upon his Ephesian readers to remember their former selves and who they were before they believed in Jesus.
1. Paul Initiates his Exhortation.
Therefore remember that formerly you (v 11a).
The word Therefore connects what Paul has just said about the Gospel in Ephesians 2:1-10 with what he is about to say concerning the believer’s identity in Christ in Ephesians 2:11-22.
The pronoun you specifically refers to Paul's primary audience, who are Gentile believers living in ancient Ephesus. More generally though, you can refer to all of Paul's readers who are believers in Jesus Christ.
The verb remember is an exhortation calling on the Ephesians to remember who they were, but are no longer. Remember is in the imperative mood, which means it is a call to action. To remember means to recall, think back, or to be mindful of something.
Paul is exhorting his believing readers to remember who you formerly were before they knew Jesus. The specifics of what Paul wants his readers to remember is explicitly stated after his interjection in verse 12. They were slaves to sin, estranged from God, dead in their sin. They were lost, living in darkness. Now they are free, joined with Christ, made alive in Christ, who is the light of the world.
The adverb—formerly—explicitly indicates that the thought Paul is calling them to remember no longer applies to their identity or situation. Both their identity and situation have changed because of what God has done for them by the blood of Jesus.
But before Paul describes the things he wants his Ephesian readers to remember, he interrupts his command with a brief parenthetical description of his audience.
2. Paul's Interjection
Paul's interjection is: the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands— (v 11b).
Paul describes his Ephesian readers as the Gentiles in the flesh.
The term Gentiles describes anyone who is not genetically descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was renamed Israel by God (Genesis 32:28). In Paul's day, anyone who was not Jewish (or Samaritan) was considered Gentile. Gentiles was also used to describe all the nations outside God's ongoing covenants ofpromise with the people of Israel. Most of the citizens of Ephesus were not Jewish, nor Samaritan, and were therefore Gentiles.
The reason Paul called the Ephesians Gentiles in the flesh was because they were not biologically descended from Israel and their physical bodies were uncircumcised. Paul emphasizes in the flesh because all who believe are grafted into the promises God gave to Israel (Romans 11:17).
As part of God's covenant with Abraham, his male descendants were physically circumcised on the eighth day after their birth (Genesis 17:10-12). Circumcision entails the removal of the foreskin from the penis. All male Israelites were physically circumcised—circumcised in the flesh. Circumcision was a physical sign that someone was part of the covenants of God (Genesis 17:13).
This sign was part of thecovenants and was included in the Law of Moses (Leviticus 12:3,John 7:22). Paul argues that what physical circumcision did for the Law of Moses, faith in Christ does for Gentiles who believe in Jesus. Those who believe in Jesus are set apart (sanctified) through Christ and made a part of the new covenant in His blood. Those who were circumcised were set apart to belong to the covenant of Abraham through the blood of circumcision.
The question of whether Gentile believers were required to be circumcised became a major issue in the early church. "Some men came down from Judea" and argued that Gentiles could not be saved unless they received circumcision and kept the Law of Moses (Acts 15:1, 1:5). The Apostles and elders gathered in Jerusalem to consider this important matter.
After hearing testimony from Peter, Paul, and Barnabas concerning how God had given the Holy Spirit to uncircumcisedGentiles through faith, the council concluded that circumcision was not necessary for Gentiles to be "saved." In this case "saved" referred to receiving the Gift of Eternal Life (Acts 15:7-11, 19-20). Salvation from spiritual death to spiritual life comes through the grace of the Lord Jesus and not through the work of circumcision nor any other work of the Law (Acts 15:11,Ephesians 2:8-9).
Despite the Apostles' conclusion, some Jews and/or circumcisedGentiles continued to spiritually harass uncircumcised Gentile believers for not circumcising themselves. Their core slander was that believing uncircumcised Gentiles were either not part of God's family or were somehow less significant than those who were physically circumcised. Part of their harassment was to refer to these believing Gentiles as the "Uncircumcision."
Paul directly addressed the slander about circumcision in the Book of Galatians and again in Romans where he affirmed the Council of Jerusalem’s conclusions about circumcision recorded in Acts 15 (Romans 2:27-29).
In the epistles of Romans and Galatians, Paul argued that anyone who was physically circumcised was accountable to keeping all the requirements of the Mosaic Law (Galatians 5:3). If a person failed to keep the entire Law, their circumcision becomes a sign of judgment and was of no spiritual value to them (Romans 2:25).
And he warned that if a person's hope for being united with Christ was in their circumcision and their ability to keep the Law instead of being placed in Jesus, then they were not living in reality (Galatians 5:2). Paul told the Galatians that "you have been severed from Christ" if they were seeking to be justified through circumcision and their ability to keep the Law (Galatians 5:4). He pointed out the foolishness of seeking to be justified by keeping the Law after Jesus had justified them through faith and freed them from condemnation under the law (Galatians 2:17).
In Romans 2, Paul distinguished external, physical circumcision done on the body and performed by the hands of men from internal, spiritual circumcision of the heart, which is done by God. Paul wrote:
"For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God." (Romans 2:28-29)
The more significant circumcision is the inward circumcision "of the heart" which is done by God's Spirit and not the outward circumcision of the flesh performed by the hands of men (Romans 2:29). Again, circumcision is a means of entering the covenant of Abraham. With the new covenant in Christ the means is faith, which is of the heart.
In Ephesians 2:11, Paul similarly says that physical circumcisionis performed in the flesh by human hands to show that it is a work and therefore does not make us spiritually alive or connect us to God. Because circumcisionis a work performed by human hands, it does not save from spiritual death (Ephesians 2:9). The circumcision of the fleshperformed by men is a physical identity. And as he does in Romans 2 andGalatians 5, Paul is using the superficial sign of physical circumcision in verse 11 to set up and contrast their spiritual reality and the Ephesian believers' true identity which is in Christ.
Paul mentions and addresses the slander against the believing Gentiles by those who claim to earn their righteousness by means of circumcision and the Law in verse 11 when he tells his Ephesian readers that they are: you… who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision."
Notice that Paul does not refer to the Ephesian believers as "Uncircumcision." Paul simply says they are called Uncircumcision by their slanderers who want to exclude them from God's family and/or participating in the Messiah's kingdom.
Paul also reframes and turns their own slander against these self-righteous accusers, when he refers to them as the so-called "Circumcision."
There are two clear inferences to Paul's reframing.
First, by referring to the believing Gentiles of Ephesus as you… who are called "Uncircumcision" by the slanderous men, he is indicating that they really are circumcised by God, of heart, and belong to Christ and God's family. Paul will emphasize this point in verse 13.
And second, by referring to the slanderers as the so-called "Circumcision" indicates that their chosen identity is in their physical circumcisionby the hands of men. Their circumcision in the flesh gives them no benefit before God. What God cares about is to be spiritually circumcised in their hearts by God's Spirit. To the extent any believer trusts in their own deeds they are seeking to accomplish something that is already completed. Jesus paid for all sins and all who believe are justified freely through faith (Colossians 2:14,Romans 3:23-24).
3. Paul Resumes his Exhortation:
remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (v12).
Paul began this exhortation: Therefore remember that formerly you… (v 11a).
Then Paul resumes his exhortation: remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (v12).
The expression: remember that in verse 12 indicates that Paul is resuming the exhortation he started in verse 11a before his interjection in verse 11b.
Paul wanted his readers to remember their former condition before they believed in Jesus and received God's Gift of Eternal Life. There are five specific things that Paul wanted them to remember about themselves at that time before they believed in Jesus. The five things Paul wanted them to remember were:
That you were separate from Christ;
That you were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel;
That you were strangers to the covenants of promise;
That you were having no hope;
That you were without God in the world.
Collectively, these five things describe the spiritual death that Paul first mentioned in Ephesians 2:1 when he wrote: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins."
Death means separation. Life is connection. James describes the separation of bodily death when he writes: "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). In James's example, death occurs when the spirit is separated from the body. Death is therefore not the end of existence, but the separation of something from what it was designed to be joined to.
Spiritual death follows this same pattern. Spiritual death is our separation from God. It is to be cut off from fellowship with Him and disconnected from the life and good design He created us to enjoy. Sin causes spiritual death (Romans 6:23,Ephesians 2:1). Accordingly, spiritual life is restored connection with God through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:5, 13).
Paul's phrases in Ephesians 2:12—separate from Christ—having no hope—without God in the world—are all various descriptions of spiritual death.
1. You were separate from Christ;
That you were separate from Christ means that before they believed in Jesus, the Ephesians were separated from the Messiah and did not share in the life and blessings He came to bring.
The term Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for "Messiah," which means "Anointed One." The Messiah was the LORD's Anointed, the promised King and Deliverer whom God foretold throughout the Old Testament. Jesus is the Messiah, which is why Paul refers to him as Christ Jesus (v 13). See also Ephesians 1:1, 2:6, 7, 10, 20, 3:1, 6, 11, 21).
To be separated from Christ was to be spiritually dead. Because death means separation, to be separatedfrom Christ means dead to Christ. It means being disconnected from the One through whom God was bringing redemption, reconciliation, and life to the world. Before they believed, the Ephesians had no personal relationship with the Messiah and no participation in the blessings that come through Him.
Paul wants his readers to remember that they were once separated from Christ so that they might better understand and appreciate the reality that they are now united with Him.
In Ephesians 2:13-18, Paul will specifically contrast the present connection his readers now have "in Christ" (Ephesians 2:13) with their former separation from Christ.
2. You were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel.
That you were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel describes how the Gentiles were outside the covenant nation through whom God revealed Himself and carried out His redemptive purposes.
The term commonwealth refers to a citizenship, community, or political body. The commonwealth of Israel refers to the covenant people descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob whom God chose as His special nation. God gave Israel His Law, His promises, His temple, and His covenant blessings. As Gentiles, the Ephesians were not members of this covenant-community by birth and therefore stood outside many of the privileges Israel enjoyed.
Paul wants his Ephesian readers to remember this exclusion so they might better understand the magnitude of what God has done for them through Christ. Those who were once outsiders have now been brought near and incorporated into God's people through faith in Jesus.
3. You were strangers to the covenants of promise.
That you were strangers to the covenants of promise describes how the Gentiles were when they were outside the covenant promises God made to Israel.
Strangers are people who do not belong and have no claim upon a particular relationship or inheritance. The Ephesian Gentiles were strangers to God’s covenants and His promise of eternal life before they believed in Jesus.
The covenants of promise include God’s covenants and commitments to:
The covenants of the promise also include the New Covenant that culminates in the Messiah and His coming kingdom (Isaiah 49,Jeremiah 31:34,Ezekiel 36:25-28,Matthew 5-7). These covenants revealed God’s plan to bless the world through Israel.
Jesus is the fulfilment of these covenants of God's promise to redeem the world through the Messiah (Matthew 5-7,Luke 1:72-73,John 4:42,Acts 13:47,Romans 11:25-26,Ephesians 3:6, 8-9). Through Jesus, "the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people" (Titus 2:11). The believers of Ephesus to whom Paul is writing in this epistle are among the first Gentileswho were grafted into the covenants of promise through the Messiah.
Before coming to Christ, the Ephesian Gentiles stood outside of God’s covenant promises and had no claim upon them.
The slanders of the so-called "Circumcision" against the Gentile believers of Ephesus, namely that they are outside the covenants of the promise, was true at that time before the Ephesians received the Gift of Eternal Life through faith in Jesus. But because of God's great mercy, those slanders are no longer true nor valid.
Paul wants his Ephesian readers to remember that they were strangers to these promises so that they better understand the extraordinary privilege they now possess. Through Christ, believing Gentiles have become fellow heirs of the blessings God promised to His people. Nothing more is needed, they are now heirs to these promises.
In Ephesians 2:19-22, Paul will specifically contrast the fact that though his Gentile readers were once strangers to the covenants of promise they now "are no longer strangers and aliens… but are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household" (Ephesians 2:19).
4.You were having no hope.
That you were having no hope means that when they were apart from Christ the Gentiles had no opportunity or realistic expectation that their condition of spiritual death would ever be reversed.
In the Bible, hope is more than wishful thinking. Hope is the confident expectation that God will do what He has promised to do. Because the Ephesians were separated from Christ and strangers to the covenants of promise, they had no basis for such confidence. They had no promise of redemption, resurrection, reconciliation, or participation in God’s coming kingdom. They lived in a world marked by sin and death without any hope of deliverance.
Instead of an expectation of blessing from God, the Ephesians (before they encountered Christ) would have either been naïve or had an expectation of dread from God. Instead of hope, they would have had fear.
Paul wants his Ephesian reader to remember their former hopelessness so that they might better understand and cherish the true hope they now possess in Christ. The Gospel transformed them from people without hope into people who possess true hope and (through faith) its certain expectation of eternal life and future glory.
5.You were without God in the world.
That you were without God in the world means that before they believed in Jesus, the Ephesians were alienated from the one true God and separated from fellowship with Him.
The expression without God translates a Greek term that literally means "godless." Paul is not saying that the Ephesians lacked religion or spiritual beliefs. Ephesus was filled with temples, idols, and religious activity. Rather, he means that they were separated from the one true God who created them and who alone is the source of life. To be without God is to be cut off from the very One by whom and for whom humanity was created. It is an expression of spiritual death and separation from God.
Paul wants his readers to remember that they were once without God so that they might better understand the greatness of their reconciliation. Through Jesus Christ they have been "brought near to God" (Ephesians 2:13), adopted into His family, and restored to fellowship with Him. Remembering that they were once without God helps them appreciate the immeasurable grace that has made them His children. It also helps them resist the attempts to capture them into a false teaching that they need to add to Christ’s death their own efforts in order to be saved from the spiritual death of separation from God.
In Ephesians 2:11-12, Paul exhorts his readers to remember their hopeless state of being separated from Christ, outside the covenants of promise, excluded from Israel, without God. He wants them to remember these former things so that they could better understand who they now are because of Jesus.
Throughout the rest of Ephesians 2 (Ephesians 2:13-22) , Paul will contrast their old and former state with their present and eternal reality. In the next section (Ephesians 2:13-18), Paul will specifically contrast how the Ephesians were formerly separated from Christ, but are "now in Christ" and "have been brought near by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13).
Ephesians 2:11-12
11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—
12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
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Ephesians 2:11-12 meaning
Ephesians 2:11-12 exhorts believers to remember that they were formerly separated from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. In remembering their former lost state, they might better understand and appreciate who they now are in Christ.
In Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul presented the full arc of the Gospel.
Paul began his Gospel account in the place where his Ephesian readers first began: as "children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3) who were "dead in your trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). But God in His mercy made them spiritually alive with Christ, raised up with Him and seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:5-6). This transformation from spiritual death to spiritual life was made possible by God's love, mercy and grace (Ephesians 2:4-6).
Paul told the Ephesians that they were saved from spiritual separation from God, "by grace… though faith" (Ephesians 2:8); and that this salvation was a gift that had nothing whatsoever to do with their works (Ephesians 2:9). Then Paul went on to explain the role of good works within the Gospel—we were created to do good works that God specifically designed for each person long ago in eternity past before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 2:10).
To do the works God laid out for us saves us from the Fall by reconnecting us to our design. Humans were designed to work together as a team to manage the earth in harmony with God and others. All this together is the good news of God's complete restoration of humanity, both our relationship with Him as well as our relationship with each other and with His creation.
With the Gospel arc established (Ephesians 2:1-10), Paul repeats the pattern from hopelessness to hope. He again addresses his Ephesians readers and contrasts their old, former identity before they knew Jesus (Ephesians 2:11-12) with their new identity that they now share in Christ (Ephesians 2:13-22).
Ephesians 2:11-12 is the beginning of a long exhortation (Ephesians 2:11-22) to remember and understand. The two main exhortations of this longer passage are to remember who you were before you met Christ (Ephesians 2:11-12) and to understand who you are now that you are in Him (Ephesians 2:13-22).
This commentary of Ephesians 2:11-12 will discuss the specifics of what Paul wants his readers to remember phrase-by-phrase and word-by-word within each phrase, but first it will look at the overall message the apostle is communicating in these verses.
Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (vv 11-12).
The progression of thought in Ephesians 2:11-12 can be understood as follows:
Therefore remember that formerly you… (v 11a).
the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands— (v 11b).
remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (v 12).
The upshot of this exhortation is to remember who you were (and are no longer) so that you can understand who you truly are now in Christ. This remembering and understanding helps form the foundation for Paul’s practical exhortations for life in the later part of this epistle (Ephesians 4-6) as he calls them to "be imitators of God" (Ephesians 5:1), "walk in love" (Ephesians 5:2) and to "walk as children of Light" (Ephesians 5:8).
There is a fundamental choice left to believers to decide whether to walk in the newness of life as a new creation in Christ, or go back to our old way of life and live as slaves to sin. This is a constant theme of Paul's, urging believers to make choices that lead to life rather than death. Making life-giving choices begins with remembering who you are.
With this overarching outline in mind, we can now dive into the particulars of what Paul is saying throughout Ephesians 2:11-12.
After his statement of the Gospel (Ephesians 2:1-10), Paul immediately calls upon his Ephesian readers to remember their former selves and who they were before they believed in Jesus.
1. Paul Initiates his Exhortation.
Therefore remember that formerly you (v 11a).
The word Therefore connects what Paul has just said about the Gospel in Ephesians 2:1-10 with what he is about to say concerning the believer’s identity in Christ in Ephesians 2:11-22.
The pronoun you specifically refers to Paul's primary audience, who are Gentile believers living in ancient Ephesus. More generally though, you can refer to all of Paul's readers who are believers in Jesus Christ.
The verb remember is an exhortation calling on the Ephesians to remember who they were, but are no longer. Remember is in the imperative mood, which means it is a call to action. To remember means to recall, think back, or to be mindful of something.
Paul is exhorting his believing readers to remember who you formerly were before they knew Jesus. The specifics of what Paul wants his readers to remember is explicitly stated after his interjection in verse 12. They were slaves to sin, estranged from God, dead in their sin. They were lost, living in darkness. Now they are free, joined with Christ, made alive in Christ, who is the light of the world.
The adverb—formerly—explicitly indicates that the thought Paul is calling them to remember no longer applies to their identity or situation. Both their identity and situation have changed because of what God has done for them by the blood of Jesus.
But before Paul describes the things he wants his Ephesian readers to remember, he interrupts his command with a brief parenthetical description of his audience.
2. Paul's Interjection
Paul's interjection is: the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands— (v 11b).
Paul describes his Ephesian readers as the Gentiles in the flesh.
The term Gentiles describes anyone who is not genetically descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was renamed Israel by God (Genesis 32:28). In Paul's day, anyone who was not Jewish (or Samaritan) was considered Gentile. Gentiles was also used to describe all the nations outside God's ongoing covenants of promise with the people of Israel. Most of the citizens of Ephesus were not Jewish, nor Samaritan, and were therefore Gentiles.
The reason Paul called the Ephesians Gentiles in the flesh was because they were not biologically descended from Israel and their physical bodies were uncircumcised. Paul emphasizes in the flesh because all who believe are grafted into the promises God gave to Israel (Romans 11:17).
As part of God's covenant with Abraham, his male descendants were physically circumcised on the eighth day after their birth (Genesis 17:10-12). Circumcision entails the removal of the foreskin from the penis. All male Israelites were physically circumcised—circumcised in the flesh. Circumcision was a physical sign that someone was part of the covenants of God (Genesis 17:13).
This sign was part of the covenants and was included in the Law of Moses (Leviticus 12:3, John 7:22). Paul argues that what physical circumcision did for the Law of Moses, faith in Christ does for Gentiles who believe in Jesus. Those who believe in Jesus are set apart (sanctified) through Christ and made a part of the new covenant in His blood. Those who were circumcised were set apart to belong to the covenant of Abraham through the blood of circumcision.
The question of whether Gentile believers were required to be circumcised became a major issue in the early church. "Some men came down from Judea" and argued that Gentiles could not be saved unless they received circumcision and kept the Law of Moses (Acts 15:1, 1:5). The Apostles and elders gathered in Jerusalem to consider this important matter.
After hearing testimony from Peter, Paul, and Barnabas concerning how God had given the Holy Spirit to uncircumcised Gentiles through faith, the council concluded that circumcision was not necessary for Gentiles to be "saved." In this case "saved" referred to receiving the Gift of Eternal Life (Acts 15:7-11, 19-20). Salvation from spiritual death to spiritual life comes through the grace of the Lord Jesus and not through the work of circumcision nor any other work of the Law (Acts 15:11, Ephesians 2:8-9).
Despite the Apostles' conclusion, some Jews and/or circumcised Gentiles continued to spiritually harass uncircumcised Gentile believers for not circumcising themselves. Their core slander was that believing uncircumcised Gentiles were either not part of God's family or were somehow less significant than those who were physically circumcised. Part of their harassment was to refer to these believing Gentiles as the "Uncircumcision."
Paul directly addressed the slander about circumcision in the Book of Galatians and again in Romans where he affirmed the Council of Jerusalem’s conclusions about circumcision recorded in Acts 15 (Romans 2:27-29).
In the epistles of Romans and Galatians, Paul argued that anyone who was physically circumcised was accountable to keeping all the requirements of the Mosaic Law (Galatians 5:3). If a person failed to keep the entire Law, their circumcision becomes a sign of judgment and was of no spiritual value to them (Romans 2:25).
And he warned that if a person's hope for being united with Christ was in their circumcision and their ability to keep the Law instead of being placed in Jesus, then they were not living in reality (Galatians 5:2). Paul told the Galatians that "you have been severed from Christ" if they were seeking to be justified through circumcision and their ability to keep the Law (Galatians 5:4). He pointed out the foolishness of seeking to be justified by keeping the Law after Jesus had justified them through faith and freed them from condemnation under the law (Galatians 2:17).
In Romans 2, Paul distinguished external, physical circumcision done on the body and performed by the hands of men from internal, spiritual circumcision of the heart, which is done by God. Paul wrote:
"For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God."
(Romans 2:28-29)
The more significant circumcision is the inward circumcision "of the heart" which is done by God's Spirit and not the outward circumcision of the flesh performed by the hands of men (Romans 2:29). Again, circumcision is a means of entering the covenant of Abraham. With the new covenant in Christ the means is faith, which is of the heart.
In Ephesians 2:11, Paul similarly says that physical circumcision is performed in the flesh by human hands to show that it is a work and therefore does not make us spiritually alive or connect us to God. Because circumcision is a work performed by human hands, it does not save from spiritual death (Ephesians 2:9). The circumcision of the flesh performed by men is a physical identity. And as he does in Romans 2 and Galatians 5, Paul is using the superficial sign of physical circumcision in verse 11 to set up and contrast their spiritual reality and the Ephesian believers' true identity which is in Christ.
Paul mentions and addresses the slander against the believing Gentiles by those who claim to earn their righteousness by means of circumcision and the Law in verse 11 when he tells his Ephesian readers that they are: you… who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision."
Notice that Paul does not refer to the Ephesian believers as "Uncircumcision." Paul simply says they are called Uncircumcision by their slanderers who want to exclude them from God's family and/or participating in the Messiah's kingdom.
Paul also reframes and turns their own slander against these self-righteous accusers, when he refers to them as the so-called "Circumcision."
There are two clear inferences to Paul's reframing.
First, by referring to the believing Gentiles of Ephesus as you… who are called "Uncircumcision" by the slanderous men, he is indicating that they really are circumcised by God, of heart, and belong to Christ and God's family. Paul will emphasize this point in verse 13.
And second, by referring to the slanderers as the so-called "Circumcision" indicates that their chosen identity is in their physical circumcision by the hands of men. Their circumcision in the flesh gives them no benefit before God. What God cares about is to be spiritually circumcised in their hearts by God's Spirit. To the extent any believer trusts in their own deeds they are seeking to accomplish something that is already completed. Jesus paid for all sins and all who believe are justified freely through faith (Colossians 2:14, Romans 3:23-24).
3. Paul Resumes his Exhortation:
remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (v12).
Paul began this exhortation: Therefore remember that formerly you… (v 11a).
Then Paul resumes his exhortation: remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (v12).
The expression: remember that in verse 12 indicates that Paul is resuming the exhortation he started in verse 11a before his interjection in verse 11b.
Paul wanted his readers to remember their former condition before they believed in Jesus and received God's Gift of Eternal Life. There are five specific things that Paul wanted them to remember about themselves at that time before they believed in Jesus. The five things Paul wanted them to remember were:
Collectively, these five things describe the spiritual death that Paul first mentioned in Ephesians 2:1 when he wrote: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins."
Death means separation. Life is connection. James describes the separation of bodily death when he writes: "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). In James's example, death occurs when the spirit is separated from the body. Death is therefore not the end of existence, but the separation of something from what it was designed to be joined to.
Spiritual death follows this same pattern. Spiritual death is our separation from God. It is to be cut off from fellowship with Him and disconnected from the life and good design He created us to enjoy. Sin causes spiritual death (Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:1). Accordingly, spiritual life is restored connection with God through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:5, 13).
Paul's phrases in Ephesians 2:12—separate from Christ—having no hope—without God in the world—are all various descriptions of spiritual death.
1. You were separate from Christ;
That you were separate from Christ means that before they believed in Jesus, the Ephesians were separated from the Messiah and did not share in the life and blessings He came to bring.
The term Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for "Messiah," which means "Anointed One." The Messiah was the LORD's Anointed, the promised King and Deliverer whom God foretold throughout the Old Testament. Jesus is the Messiah, which is why Paul refers to him as Christ Jesus (v 13). See also Ephesians 1:1, 2:6, 7, 10, 20, 3:1, 6, 11, 21).
To be separated from Christ was to be spiritually dead. Because death means separation, to be separated from Christ means dead to Christ. It means being disconnected from the One through whom God was bringing redemption, reconciliation, and life to the world. Before they believed, the Ephesians had no personal relationship with the Messiah and no participation in the blessings that come through Him.
Paul wants his readers to remember that they were once separated from Christ so that they might better understand and appreciate the reality that they are now united with Him.
In Ephesians 2:13-18, Paul will specifically contrast the present connection his readers now have "in Christ" (Ephesians 2:13) with their former separation from Christ.
2. You were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel.
That you were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel describes how the Gentiles were outside the covenant nation through whom God revealed Himself and carried out His redemptive purposes.
The term commonwealth refers to a citizenship, community, or political body. The commonwealth of Israel refers to the covenant people descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob whom God chose as His special nation. God gave Israel His Law, His promises, His temple, and His covenant blessings. As Gentiles, the Ephesians were not members of this covenant-community by birth and therefore stood outside many of the privileges Israel enjoyed.
Paul wants his Ephesian readers to remember this exclusion so they might better understand the magnitude of what God has done for them through Christ. Those who were once outsiders have now been brought near and incorporated into God's people through faith in Jesus.
3. You were strangers to the covenants of promise.
That you were strangers to the covenants of promise describes how the Gentiles were when they were outside the covenant promises God made to Israel.
Strangers are people who do not belong and have no claim upon a particular relationship or inheritance. The Ephesian Gentiles were strangers to God’s covenants and His promise of eternal life before they believed in Jesus.
The covenants of promise include God’s covenants and commitments to:
The covenants of the promise also include the New Covenant that culminates in the Messiah and His coming kingdom (Isaiah 49, Jeremiah 31:34, Ezekiel 36:25-28, Matthew 5-7). These covenants revealed God’s plan to bless the world through Israel.
Jesus is the fulfilment of these covenants of God's promise to redeem the world through the Messiah (Matthew 5-7, Luke 1:72-73, John 4:42, Acts 13:47, Romans 11:25-26, Ephesians 3:6, 8-9). Through Jesus, "the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people" (Titus 2:11). The believers of Ephesus to whom Paul is writing in this epistle are among the first Gentiles who were grafted into the covenants of promise through the Messiah.
Before coming to Christ, the Ephesian Gentiles stood outside of God’s covenant promises and had no claim upon them.
The slanders of the so-called "Circumcision" against the Gentile believers of Ephesus, namely that they are outside the covenants of the promise, was true at that time before the Ephesians received the Gift of Eternal Life through faith in Jesus. But because of God's great mercy, those slanders are no longer true nor valid.
Paul wants his Ephesian readers to remember that they were strangers to these promises so that they better understand the extraordinary privilege they now possess. Through Christ, believing Gentiles have become fellow heirs of the blessings God promised to His people. Nothing more is needed, they are now heirs to these promises.
In Ephesians 2:19-22, Paul will specifically contrast the fact that though his Gentile readers were once strangers to the covenants of promise they now "are no longer strangers and aliens… but are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household" (Ephesians 2:19).
4. You were having no hope.
That you were having no hope means that when they were apart from Christ the Gentiles had no opportunity or realistic expectation that their condition of spiritual death would ever be reversed.
In the Bible, hope is more than wishful thinking. Hope is the confident expectation that God will do what He has promised to do. Because the Ephesians were separated from Christ and strangers to the covenants of promise, they had no basis for such confidence. They had no promise of redemption, resurrection, reconciliation, or participation in God’s coming kingdom. They lived in a world marked by sin and death without any hope of deliverance.
Instead of an expectation of blessing from God, the Ephesians (before they encountered Christ) would have either been naïve or had an expectation of dread from God. Instead of hope, they would have had fear.
Paul wants his Ephesian reader to remember their former hopelessness so that they might better understand and cherish the true hope they now possess in Christ. The Gospel transformed them from people without hope into people who possess true hope and (through faith) its certain expectation of eternal life and future glory.
5. You were without God in the world.
That you were without God in the world means that before they believed in Jesus, the Ephesians were alienated from the one true God and separated from fellowship with Him.
The expression without God translates a Greek term that literally means "godless." Paul is not saying that the Ephesians lacked religion or spiritual beliefs. Ephesus was filled with temples, idols, and religious activity. Rather, he means that they were separated from the one true God who created them and who alone is the source of life. To be without God is to be cut off from the very One by whom and for whom humanity was created. It is an expression of spiritual death and separation from God.
Paul wants his readers to remember that they were once without God so that they might better understand the greatness of their reconciliation. Through Jesus Christ they have been "brought near to God" (Ephesians 2:13), adopted into His family, and restored to fellowship with Him. Remembering that they were once without God helps them appreciate the immeasurable grace that has made them His children. It also helps them resist the attempts to capture them into a false teaching that they need to add to Christ’s death their own efforts in order to be saved from the spiritual death of separation from God.
In Ephesians 2:11-12, Paul exhorts his readers to remember their hopeless state of being separated from Christ, outside the covenants of promise, excluded from Israel, without God. He wants them to remember these former things so that they could better understand who they now are because of Jesus.
Throughout the rest of Ephesians 2 (Ephesians 2:13-22) , Paul will contrast their old and former state with their present and eternal reality. In the next section (Ephesians 2:13-18), Paul will specifically contrast how the Ephesians were formerly separated from Christ, but are "now in Christ" and "have been brought near by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13).