Ephesians 2:11-12 - The way we were (redux)

"Therefore, you [all] be remembering that formerly you [all], the nations in flesh, the [ones] being called uncircumcision by the [ones] being called circumcision, in flesh [being] hand-made...that you [all] were being at that time without Christ, having been alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and godless in the world.’’

-A command to remember something means we are apt to forget it, when keeping that something in mind will actually help us.  Here Paul tells (us) Gentiles to keep in mind that at one time we were not part of God’s chosen people, not part of His family.  The way we were.  Remembering the way we were helps us to appreciate where we are, as well as what has been accomplished in order to bring us to this different way-better place, helps us to be grateful for and even humbled by the work which was done as well as who did it.  The way we were - the point of that old song is that the hard stuff tends to fade from our memories, we forget the bad and the ugly or gloss over it, but when we do we lose the understanding of how hard or bad off things really were.  And to be sure, we were without Christ, far from the life of God, no access to Him whatsoever.  In fact we had no real god and had no real hope.  We perhaps lived under a delusion of hope, possibly devoted ourselves to some false idol, but it was emptiness.  We were aliens, strangers, completely shut off and shut out from the blessings and promises which God gave to His people.

-It’s interesting to note how Paul here shines a light on the historical distinction between Gentiles and Jews.  For hundreds of years, only one group of people enjoyed any kind of a real relationship with the one true God, and it was marked by the rite of circumcision, the physical cutting off of the foreskin of every male 8 days after their birth.  Only the Jewish nation did this as part of demonstrating that they were God’s people, a part of His family.  At the time Paul wrote this, some of the distinction still remained in that circumcised Jews were still calling the other nations ‘uncircumcised’, but the distiinction had been rendered surface only.  Physical circumcision was now something which man did with his own hands, relevant only to the ones who prided themselves on having been circumcised.

-One might ask if a delusion of hope, a false hope, might actually be a better or more preferrable state than having no hope.  Being hopeless.  Paul says we had no hope.  For many people, up to their necks in brokenness, life is indeed hopeless.  They feel hopeless.  But I think false hope is a far worse state, because you are apt to be less (or totally) unaware of your neediness.  You may have no clue as to the desperate nature of your situation.  When I am hopeless I am far more likely to reach out for help, driven out of desperation to find a remedy.  Which is exactly what Christ did...