One of the most striking developments in middle eastern politics as of late is the statement by Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu, at the end of his reelection campaign. In the last gasp of the campaign, Netanyahu announced a change of mind. He was now opposed to a Palestinian state. He’s decided it would provide a base for attacks on Israel. (http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/03/20/robert-fulford-bibis-backtrack-on-the-two-state-solution/)
In the first century, when a Jew entered Palestine he would often shake the dust off his sandals and clothing in order not to contaminate the Holy Land with Gentile dust. Jewish contempt for Gentiles often had justification from a human standpoint, because throughout their history they suffered recurrent oppression and persecution from Gentiles—who frequently looked on Jews as a slave people to be exploited.
As Jesus entered Jerusalem during his triumphal entry that first Palm Sunday, He came in ushering a new reality as the messianic King. This true king ushered in His kingdom on the back of a donkey. He inaugurated and established His dominion by taking upon himself the form of a servant. As he fulfilled prophecy in this entry it was His coming to the Jews and Gentiles as a sign of the Covenant of Promise.
As conflict emerged in first century Ephesus, the disunity within the Ephesian church was primarily between Jewish and Gentile believers. The establishment of a new kingdom ethic proclaimed by Jesus that first Palm Sunday would be the answer to their conflict. Instead of clinging to tradition, humble service would need to rule their hearts and fellowship. Converted Jews had difficulty breaking from the ceremonial laws such as Sabbath observance and the eating of unclean animals. Converted Gentiles had difficulty with such things as eating meat that had been offered as a sacrifice to a pagan deity. In many such ways, Jewish and Gentile believers stumbled over their former traditions and beliefs, and in doing so they also stumbled over each other. What was of extreme importance to one group was inconsequential to the other. Christ's entry into Jerusalem, brought the promise of the Gospel, for Jew and Gentile alike.
In Ephesians 2:11–12 Paul shows the need for the work of Christ, the Promise of the Gospel of reconciliation, for Jew and Greek by First, Describing the former Social (Ephesians 2:11) then Spiritual alienation of Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:12).
1) Social Alienation (Ephesians 2:11)
Ephesians 2:11 [11]Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- (ESV)
This important section begins with the word therefore, indicating that the next line of thought regarding the new identity of these Gentile Christians is built on what Christ has done to give them life and eternal blessing, as described in verses 1–10. It is as if Paul is calling them to be so grateful for their deliverance from their old situation that they come to fully appreciate their new situation of union with all other believers. Nothing more inspires gratitude in a saved sinner than a look back to the pit from which he has come.
Paul calls his readers Gentiles in the flesh in order to emphasize the physical, external nature of the distinction, and he calls on them to remember who they had been before coming to Christ. The privileges now enjoyed by Gentile believers in Christ would be appreciated all the more gratefully if they bore in mind the state of life from which they had been delivered Whether they are recent converts or those of long standing, they are told to keep on remembering (the verb is in the present tense) the change in their position. Since what has happened in the past (the exodus, the cross) creates the present, ...here believers are not summoned to recollect the great things God has done externally in the past but what he has done in their own lives: once they were outside his people, now they are within (Best, E. (1998). A critical and exegetical commentary on Ephesians (p. 237). Edinburgh: T&T Clark International.).
• Today we remember a historical event of Christ's entry into Jerusalem. But it points to the present and future reality that Gentiles now enjoy through the covenant of Promise.
• This idea of remembering is one that should characterize Christians of all ages. There is of course first and foremost the ‘remembering’ that we engage in as we take communion and remember how and at what cost our redemption and forgiveness was won by Christ. But we should also remember from what we were saved, for this drives us to thanksgiving and praise and to a deeper recognition of God’s grace in taking us from without hope to being near to God (Gardner, P. (2007). Ephesians: Grace and Joy in Christ (p. 60). Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications.).
As far as Jews were concerned they were outcasts, referred to as the Uncircumcision, a term of derision, defamation, and reproach. Paul carries a tone of disdain for such Jewish hatred, as evidenced in his choice of words to describe Jews—the “Circumcision which is made in the flesh, by hands”. He thereby takes exception to Jewish boasting by emphasizing that circumcision is also only external (cf. Lev. 26:41; Deut. 10:16; Jer. 4:4; Ezek. 44:7). For Jews circumcision, which had been given by God to Abraham (Gen. 17), was the physical sign of their covenant with the Lord, the God of all the earth. It pointed to the particular and exclusive relationship which Israel had with the God of the covenant. The uncircumcision of Gentiles was evidence of their estrangement from God, which in Jewish eyes could only be dealt with if a Gentile became a proselyte to the Jewish faith (O’Brien, P. T. (1999). The letter to the Ephesians (p. 186). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
• For those who perhaps have not grown up in a Christian household, it is easy to feel that things Christians do is foreign. The Covenant of Promise inaugurated by Christ points to an internal reality that transcends any biological heritage.
Please turn to Romans 2 (p.940)
But circumcision had never been a mark of personal relationship to God, for Jews or anyone else. Paul makes much of that truth in the book of Romans:
Romans 2:12-29 [12]For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. [13]For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. [14]For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. [15]They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them [16]on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. [17]But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God [18]and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; [19]and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, [20]an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth-- [21]you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? [22]You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? [23]You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. [24]For, as it is written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." [25]For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. [26]So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? [27]Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. [28]For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. [29]But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. (ESV)
• All will be judged according to the standard they had. For those who have not formally heard the law of God, since God’s law is written on human hearts, consciences attest to what is right and what is wrong in behavior. For those who have heard God's moral standard, and fail to adhere to it, a greater condemnation results. When people are identified with God, like the Jews here, their sin leads other, like the Gentiles here, to dishonor the God whom the sinful Jews claimed to follow.
• For those who trust in any religious practice for standing before God, like circumcision here, such misplaced confidence shows one as being outside the covenant and therefore destined for judgment.
Illustration & Explanation
Circumcision symbolized the need for cleansing if the holy God was to enter into relationship with an unholy people. Circumcision was to be performed on the eighth day after birth (Gn 17:12; Lv 12:1–3; see Gn 21:4; Lk 1:59; 2:21; Acts 7:8; Phil 3:5), customarily by the boy’s father (Gn 17:23; 21:4; Acts 7:8), at which time a name would be given (Lk 1:59; 2:21). ... Medical research has determined that prothrombin, a substance in the blood that aids in clotting, is present in greater quantity on the eighth day than at any other time in life. Circumcision had to do with the fulfillment of God’s promise concerning Abraham’s descendants (Gn 17:9–12). Because it was applied to the reproductive organ, the sign involved the propagation of the race. Its application to the eight-day-old infant demonstrates the gracious character of God’s promise to Abraham’s descendants and indicates that God’s people are in need of cleansing grace from birth (Lv 12:1–3). The promises of the covenant were reaffirmed to each generation before the recipients were able to respond in either faith or unbelief; nothing in the hearts of the chosen people could either bring about or thwart the ultimate fulfillment of the promises given to Abraham and his posterity (Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (pp. 462–463). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.).
2) Spiritual Alienation (Ephesians 2:12)
Ephesians 2:12 [12]remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (ESV)
A much more important Gentile alienation was spiritual. Although there was no moral difference between Jew and Gentile (as vv. 1–10 show), there was a difference in God’s dealing with them as people. Before Christ came, the Jews were the people of promise from God, but the Gentiles as a people were cut off from God in five different ways.
First, they were Christless, separated from Christ, the Messiah. They therefore had no messianic hope of a Savior and Deliverer. Their history had no purpose, no plan, and no destiny—except the ultimate judgment of God, of which they were unaware. The Ephesians worshiped the goddess, Diana, and, before the coming of the Gospel, knew nothing about Christ. Those who claim that pagan religions are just as acceptable to God as the Christian faith will have a problem here, for Paul cites the Ephesians’ Christless state as a definite tragedy. But then, keep in mind that every unsaved person, Jew or Gentile, is “outside Christ” and that means condemnation (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 22). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.).
Second, the Gentiles were spiritually alienated because they were alienated/excluded from the commonwealth of Israel. God had made His chosen people into a theocracy, a nation of whom He Himself was King and Lord. He gave that nation His special blessing, protection, and love. He gave them His covenants, His law, His priesthood, His sacrifices, His promises, and His guidance (see Deut. 32:9–14; 33:27–29; Isa. 63:7–9; Amos 3:2). The psalmist said that God “has not dealt thus with any nation; and as for His ordinances, they have not known them” (Psalm 147:20). Had the Gentiles accepted the true God they, too, could have been a part of that blessed nation. But because they rejected God, they forfeited His national blessing. They had no God–blessed community or kingdom and no divine benefactor. They received no special blessing or protection, because they were outside the personal care of God. Gentiles could never fully partake of the spiritual privileges promised to Israel, God’s chosen people. While Gentiles could become Jews after an extensive training period, followed by circumcision and baptism, the sense of “exclusion” was never fully removed. Gentiles could never truly be citizens of Israel (Barton, B. B., & Comfort, P. W. (1996). Ephesians (p. 50). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.).
• What Christ is brining us in the Covenant of Promise is the reality that our citizenship in heaven is complete the moment we believe. There is not a tier citizenship for clergy, or those who were raised in Christian households etc.
Please turn to Genesis 12 (p.8)
Third, the Gentiles were spiritually alienated because they were without a covenant with God, strangers to the covenants of promise. The supreme covenant of promise was the one given to Abraham:
Genesis 12:2-3 [2]And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. [3]I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (ESV) (cf.17:7; 26:3–5; 28:13–15).
• The repetition of the verb bless (vv. 2–3) underscores the hope that through Abram people everywhere may experience God’s favor (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 71). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.)
• A divine covenant is an agreement in which God binds Himself to carry out His personal promise to His people, to redeem them from sin and bless them forever. God’s invitation to Abram challenges him to abandon the normal sources of personal identity and security: his family and country. To obey, Abram must trust God implicitly; all human support is largely removed. The promised outcomes are conditional on Abram’s obedience(Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 71). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.).
• Faith and obedience are the marks of the person who experiences the fulfillment of the covenant. Within the covenants God gave and renewed His promises to bless, prosper, multiply, save, and redeem Israel. Within them He promised to give His people a land, a kingdom, and a King; and to those who believed in Him He promised eternal life and heaven.
• Inherent within that one great covenant were the Mosaic, Palestinian, and Davidic covenants—and even the New Covenant (Jer. 31:33). The covenant with Abraham surrounded and determined all of God’s dealing with Israel (Rom. 9:4). God’s promise is reiterated and expanded as time passes (13:14–17; 15:4–5; 17:1–14; 18:18; 22:16–18; 26:2–5; 28:13–15; 35:10–12). The inclusion of all the families of the earth anticipates the spread of the gospel and salvation in Christ to the ends of the earth (Matt. 28:18–20; Acts 1:8; Gal. 3:8). (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 71). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.).
Fourth, the Gentiles were spiritually alienated because they were hopeless, having no hope. Those who have no Christ, no commonwealth, and no covenants of promise also have no hope. “Covenants” is plural in this verse, but the word “promise” is singular, referring to the promise of God to be the God of the covenant people. But the covenants that compose this promise were many. In historical sequence we remember that God made a covenant with Adam, with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, and with David. He renewed covenant promises with Joshua, Ezra, Nehemiah, and others. Through his prophets God covenanted to send a Redeemer. But these covenants of promise that united the nation to God also were woven into the fabric of the life of Israel. This was a covenant people. Land was divided and secured by covenant. The people covenanted to provide for priests, and priests to intercede for the people. A man and a woman lived in a covenant of marriage. A father covenanted to bless children, and children to maintain aging parents. The covenants of promise were not only the basis of Israel’s relationship to God, but also the social glue that united neighbors, worship communities, and families. To be foreigners to the covenants of promise was to live without intimacy in community, worship, and family. Paul’s purpose is to remind us that any who live outside of covenant commitments are deprived of the most precious relationships this life can offer...By analogy he wants us to remember that living outside covenant commitments, in a state of sin and alienation from God, ultimately isolates us from intimacy with all we hold precious (Chapell, B. (2009). Ephesians. (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.) (pp. 97–98). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing).
True hope can be based only on a true promise, on confidence in someone who can perform what they promise. Hope is a profound blessing that gives meaning and security to life. Living without hope of future joy and enrichment reduces people to a piece of meaningless protoplasm. Hope is the consummation of life, the confident assurance that we have a blessed future in the plan of God. The Gentiles, had no such promises and therefore had no ground for hope. Most Gentiles of Paul’s day either thought that death ended all existence or that it released the spirit to wander aimlessly in some nether world throughout the rest of eternity. Although God had planned and promised to include them one day, they did not know it, and therefore had no hope to sustain them (Stott, J. R. W. (1979). God’s new society: the message of Ephesians (p. 95). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
Israel was able to have complete hope in God’s promises because He had every resource at His disposal and because He cannot lie. They had God’s promises, and they knew He was able and trustworthy to fulfill them. The fact that they often failed to hope in those promises was due to their own unfaithfulness, not God’s.
• Whenever we get to the point of discouragement it is because we look to our self-worked resources and ability. I believe that God often will allow us to fail to show us the futility of relying on ourselves.
Fifth, and most importantly, the Gentiles were spiritually alienated because they were without God [atheos] in the world. It was not that they were intellectual atheists, because most of them believed in many gods. Some were pantheists, believing that divinity was in everything, animate and inanimate. The problem was not that the Gentiles had no god but that they did not have the true God. Though believers have many hardships and trials in the present sinful world and are continually surrounded by Satan’s system, they have the sure hope of a future world that is sinless and perfect. But to be caught in that evil system without God is to be hopeless. Paul reminded the Gentile converts in Galatia that, before they came to know the Lord, they “were slaves to those which by nature are no gods” (Gal. 4:8), which is why every person without Christ is without hope (1 Thess. 4:13).
The Gentiles were without God in the world because they did not want Him. The Lord did not reject the Gentiles, “for there is no partiality with God” (Rom. 2:11). They did not have God’s law given to them on stone tablets as did the Jews, but they had it written in their hearts and consciences (Rom. 2:15). They had the revelation of His nature “evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:19–20). The Gentiles rejected God by suppressing the truth about Himself that He had made abundantly evident. The problem was that, “even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Rom. 1:21).
The word which describes all of this is alienation. The Gentile dilemma (which is the world’s dilemma) produces alienation from God and alienation from man with all its dehumanizing and debilitating results. This is a root of racism. It is the basis for the great national cleavages in Ireland and Korea and Europe and Africa. But here in Ephesians, Paul told the Gentile Christians to remember what it felt like to be treated that way, to be seen as unworthy outsiders … and he told them not to return the favor. He called on them to remember where (and what) they were when God found them: separated from Christ, excluded from his promises, without hope and without God. A bleak picture indeed—but God changed all that by his mercy. Therefore, all Christians (including us) should extend that grace to others, even former antagonists. (Barton, B. B., & Comfort, P. W. (1996). Ephesians (p. 51). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.)
As Jesus entered Jerusalem during his triumphal entry that first Palm Sunday, He came in ushering a new reality as the messianic King. This true king ushered in His kingdom on the back of a donkey. He inaugurated and established His dominion by taking upon himself the form of a servant Christ's entry into Jerusalem, brought the promise of the Gospel, for Jew and Gentile alike.
(Format note: Outline & some base commentary from MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1986). Ephesians. Chicago: Moody Press.)
