Thoughts From Ephesians – Number 12

Alienation: Who We Once Were (Eph. 2:11-12)

Verses 11-12 follow the  pattern of  verses  1-3. They  paint  for us the dark picture of  what  life  apart from  Christ involves.  Praise  God that  our Father loved us  so much that He sent His  Son to  redeem us.

Paul wants his readers and us to  remember  how separated they were from God’s people and  His blessings and  what it  took to bring them back into a  right  relationship with Him.

“You were  Gentiles in in the flesh.” Paul is  highlighting the physical difference  between a  Jew and a Gentile.  In  verse 12 Paul goes on to  elaborate on the pre-Christian past of the  Gentiles.  Paul  gives  us  5  ways that the  Gentiles were separated.

Guy Orbison, Jr., writes these  words, “[1] separate-no national hope of a  Messiah and  what the ‘anointed One’ would  accomplish; [2] excluded from the  commonwealth-Israel was the  covenant name and the Gentiles were  not  included; [3] strangers, i.e. is foreigners to the covenants-they had no access to the arrangements and promises  God made through the  chosen people; [4] having  no  hope-no expectations of future glory or  exaltation by  God; [5] and  without  God in the world– no meaningful relationship with  the  living God.”

Before  we became  Christians we were in the same tragic position as these Ephesian Gentiles.  We need to  reflect  and remember how things  were  outside of Christ. By remembering where we came  from, we will live with  constant gratitude toward God and love towards  His people. Praise  God for the  word “but” in  verse  13.

-Larry Miles, May 2, 2015 in Mangum, OK

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